Star of the original
Star Wars trilogy and nonchalant acting legend, Mark Hamill, recently detailed two interesting pieces of trivia in regards to the first film in the saga. Both facts relate to behind the scenes changes, specifically an iconic scene being reshot and another's deletion leading to one of the film's most emblematic lines.
Firstly, a relatively well-known piece of trivia is that when George Lucas originally wrote
Star Wars he named his hero Luke Starkiller, before eventually changing the last name to Skywalker. However, many may not have realized just how late that name change took place. Mark Hamill recently revealed, on
Twitter, that the name change took place during so late during production that they had to reshoot the scene in which Luke introduces himself to Princess Leia aboard the Death Star. Here's the actor's tweet:
A fan then asked Hamill whether it was him who suggested the name-change; Hamill humorously admitted that it was in-fact George Lucas who wished to change the name from Starkiller, the name which Hamill seemed pretty accustomed to. Here's his response:
George Lucas has stated in the past that they decided to change the name because it had some unpleasant connotations, seeming more like a villain's name rather than the hero of the story's. And on the topic of Starkiller's ominous impression; the name Starkiller has not gone unused within the
Star Wars universe. It became the name of the protagonist in the
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video games, and when those were excised from canon, it was used as the name of the planet-sized Death Star weapon in
Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
It's hard to imagine Hamill's character being named anything other than Luke Skywalker. It's one of the most popular names in all of pop culture. Though "Luke Starkiller" does sound pretty cool too.
Which name do you prefer? Which ever it is, I'm sure we can all agree that "Luke Flyswatter" was spot-on.