If you read Mark Millar’s graphic novel The Secret Service, you knew that Mark Hamill plays a small but significant role at the start of the story. In fact, he plays himself, kidnapped by mysterious thugs and brought to a remote dwelling on a snowy mountainside until he is rescued (after some witty Star Wars chatter, of course). When it was revealed that Millar was getting an adaptation of The Secret Service off the ground, word spread that he hoped to get Mark Hamill for a cameo.
Guess what? It happened.
At the 20th Century Fox panel today in Hall H, Mark Millar introduced a video message recorded by Kingsman: The Secret Service director Matthew Vaughn and everyone’s favorite Jedi, Mark Hamill. The actor was sporting a purple Hit-Girl wig and his Star Wars: Episode VII beard – joking that he really grew it out for his ideal role, that of George Lucas in The George Lucas Story. ("Fingers crossed [that I get the role]," Hamill joked!) Then they showed the scene, which is the opening sequence from the movie. Do you want to know what happened?
The next few paragraphs contain spoilers for Kingsman: The Secret Service, so steer clear if you don’t want to know.
Mark Millar made changes to the initial scene, so Mark Hamill no longer is playing Mark Hamill. Instead, he’s playing a character named James Arnold – though the rest of the scene plays out similarly to how it goes in the graphic novel. He is being detained by some heavy hitters. Then a spy arrives on the scene and eliminates most of the rival killers (in a stylishly directed action scene that has several bodies hitting the ground while a glass of whiskey is passed from hand to hand). Even though I have warned you about spoilers, I want you to see the end result. It’s just worth noting that Mark Hamill found his way into Kingsman: The Secret Service -- only not by playing himself. Here’s how it looked in the book.
Kingsman: The Secret Service ended up being the most enjoyable footage that I have seen at Comic-Con – a bloody (and bloody entertaining) spy thriller about a young recruit (Taron Egerton) lured into the "life" by veteran spy Harry Hart (Colin Firth). The action was lithe, the body count was high, and Firth seems like a bad ass. Yes, I said Colin Firth is a bad ass.
Plus, there are two Jedi in the movie. Wait, two? Watch it for yourself when the movie opens in theaters on October 24.
