The Last Jedi‘s Mark Hamill hasn’t been shy about stating his initial concerns over the film, but in a recent tweet, he confessed that he wishes he hadn’t made his worries public.
The Rian Johnson-directed movie has proven quite polarizing for fans. Johnson shook up the Star Wars universe and evolved some key characters in surprising ways. At first, this worried Hamill, and he wasn’t shy about expressing his concerns.
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Of course, Hamill was very quick to praise the film as a whole, but Johnson’s plans for Luke Skywalker worried the actor. However, after seeing the way his comments fostered contention in the Star Wars fandom, Hamill took to Twitter to set the record straight.
I regret voicing my doubts & insecurities in public.Creative differences are a common element of any project but usually remain private. All I wanted was to make good movie. I got more than that- @rianjohnson made an all-time GREAT one! #HumbledHamill https://t.co/8ujJfBuEdV
— @HamillHimself (@HamillHimself) December 26, 2017
Hamill had expressed that Johnson’s changes to Luke Skywalker were so hard for him to accept, he almost had to think of Luke as a different character entirely. Fans upset about Luke’s story arc in The Last Jedi were bolstered in their hatred of the film by Hamill’s comments, and used that as ammunition in online attacks of Johnson and the film.
For better or worse, social media has vastly changed the way fans and creators interact, and a negative comment from someone like Mark Hamill can take on the life of its own. However, despite fandom contention, The Last Jedi is dominating at the box office. According to Deadline, the film earned $800 million globally.