Mark Millar is no stranger to celebrity cameos in his comic books. After all, getting Samuel L. Jackson to agree to his likeness being used in The Ultimates was what resulted in the actor being brought on to play 'Nick Fury' in 2008's Iron Man! In The Secret Service, Mark Hamill (best known for playing 'Luke Skywalker' in Star Wars and voicing 'The Joker' in numerous animated series and video games) made a brief, but extremely memorable, appearance as himself and told Media Mikes all about that (and his cameo in Matthew Vaughn's planned adaptation) in a recent interview.
"Mark contacted me via email and wanted to know if he could use my likeness in a comic book and beyond that to kill me in it. Well I thought that it was a very interesting idea. I am a huge fan of his and Dave Gibbons from 'Watchmen'. I have a great friendship with him now. He asked me if I wanted to be in the movie and I said 'Sure'. I don’t know what the details are yet. But it sounds like a lot of fun."
"The last time I played myself was in 'The Simpsons', back in 1998. It is very unnerving to play yourself because you have to analyze. 'Well who am I?'. I really don’t think about myself except in the roles I play. When I was getting ready to do 'The Simpsons', I was walking around the house asking 'Do I sound like this' or 'Do I sound like this' (both in different voices)."
"I became very self-conscious but once I saw the advance concepts for the comic book from Mark, I thought it was such a brilliant concept combining the fantasy world of James Bond and contrast that with the drab lower-class English background that this guy comes from. It is such a wonderful paradox combination of elements in and of itself. It is not a major role but I never look at things like they need to be about me. I think about if it is good and if it is good I want to be a part of it. As far as I know, it is all a-go, we haven’t signed contracts or talked about a deal but I am sure it is going to happen."