Mark Hamill will always be best known as Luke Skywalker, but he’s a man of many talents. He’s renowned as a voice actor: most famously bringing the Joker to life in multiple projects, but more recently doing a fantastic job as Chucky in the Child’s Play remake.
His latest project is Shudder’s animated anthology Creepshow. “The Things in Oakwood’s Past” was released yesterday and tells the tale of a town with a dark secret that comes to light when a time capsule is reopened. Hamill plays the mayor of the town and discussed the role in an interview with ComicBook.com that touched on his horror credentials.
Hamill began by saying he’s been a horror fan since he was a kid:
All my life I’ve loved horror. I discovered the old black-and-white Universal films, they were on television when I was a kid, I loved all of those. Branched out to Hammer films. I loved stop-frame animation, Ray Harryhausen and Willis O’Brien. Like I say, I built the Aurora Monster Model Kits. Up until The Beatles came, that was my life, just horror movies. My dad didn’t like us having comic books, he thought those were rubbish and shouldn’t be in the household. We could get classic, illustrated … They had the adaptation of Frankenstein, so I had that one.
He went on to talk about reuniting with horror legend Greg Nicotero, who he previously worked with on Body Bags with John Carpenter in ’93:
I first worked with him back doing John Carpenter’s Body Bags and we hit it off and became friends. I hadn’t seen him in years and when my agent said, “They want you for an episode of Creepshow,” I said, “Is Greg Nicotero still doing that?” and they said, “Yes,” and I said, “I’ve gotta do this,” before I read the script.
As for his Creepshow character, Hamill revealed his primary inspiration was from another legendary thriller:
When I read it, he was very much like Murray Hamilton in Jaws, he’s a politician who puts his own career and appearances ahead of public safety, so, even though he doesn’t think of himself as a villain, he’s doing something that really leads to catastrophe. I think he really shows his true colors through the way he treats his daughter, which is really dreadful. He should have listened to her more carefully, but then if he did, you wouldn’t have a story. Or you’d have a story that takes longer to tell. This is really economical storytelling at its best. They establish the premise, they have four or five minutes of her investigating and finding out what she finds out, and then, of course, you have this over-the-top, bonkers, armageddon climax.
Hamill also talked about striking up a friendship with Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, revealing that the pair were neighbors and have spent time hanging out together. Could we see a Hamill cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? Hamill refused to be drawn on the question:
I’d never put him on the spot like that, so we’ll see what happens. But he doesn’t need me, his movies are really well cast and I just really enjoy watching them.
Shudder is rapidly turning into a must-have subscription for horror fans as their library of classic and original content continues to grow. Creepshow in particular is a great watch, featuring a huge variety of stories from many different creators. If you’re craving unnerving content this spooky season be sure to check it out.