For cinema iconMark Hamill, 2025 could easily be considered to be the year ofStephen King. This weekend, theStar Warslegend welcomesThe Life of Chuck, his latest collaboration with filmmakerMike Flanagan, based on King’s novella of the same name. Then, in September, Hamill will stay in pace with the theme, thanks to the theatrical arrival ofFrancis Lawrence’s adaptation of King’s 1979 novel,The Long Walk. In it, the actor who will go down as one of the greatest heroes of all time transforms himself into a bootlicking, depraved, absolute menace known only as the Major. Under his sadistic and tyrannical watch, a group of young men set forth in a contest to see who can walk the farthest. Should they stop or slow to less than three miles per hour, they’ll be executed on the spot.
Recently sitting down with Hamill to chat aboutThe Life of Chuck, Collider’sPerri Nemiroffpicked his brain about the choice to strap into the boots of such a maniacal character — after all, itisquite the departure from Luke Skywalker. Reflecting on how and why the piece called to him, Hamill said:
“It’s interesting because it’s, I think, the second thing [Stephen King] ever wrote when he was17, under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman. I’m fascinated with Stephen King. I think he’s written 60 novels, and I know I’ve read over 40. That one was pretty difficult.The premise alone is so ghastly, and I don’t like extreme. I don’t go see slasher movies or any of that, and it’s not that.”
Like many works by the famed genre writer,The Long Walkis much more than what meets the eye — it digs into the humanity of its characters and how they’re shaped by this horrific shared experience. Praising the direction of filmmakerFrancis Lawrenceand the performances from an up-and-coming cast that includesDavid Jonsson,Cooper Hoffman,Garrett Wareing, andJoshua Odjick, Hamill continued:
“The story is really about these young men.They’re the heart and soul of the story.I’m nominally the antagonist because the state is the antagonist, but I represent the state. Even though I read it, I wasn’t around to see this young cast of actors, and when I finally saw it put together, I told Francis Lawrence it’s so effective. It really belongs to this young cast of actors that I’d never seen before. Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson, and all of them down to the people that have one or two lines, even the background people, were perfectly cast, and that’s where the real emotion was. So, it didn’t really impact me until I saw it all put together. But I just show up occasionally to torment them and be a giant A-hole.”
Legends Meeting Legends
Sharing how his path crossed with King’s for the first time, Hamill recalled, “I was shocked because they sat me next to Stephen King at the screening ofThe Life of Chuckat the Toronto Film Festival. I went to sit down, and he looked up at me, and went, ‘The Major!’ I thought, ‘How does this guy know I’m in his movie?’”
In recent years, projects like Flanagan’sDoctor SleepandOz Perkins’The Monkeyhave done right by their source material, but when King was at the very beginning of his tango with Hollywood, he found himself burned several times.Stanley Kubrick’sThe Shiningis probably themost famous exampleof this, but there wereplenty of other adaptationsthat rubbed the author the wrong way. It was for this reason that he knewexactlywho Hamill would be portraying inThe Long Walk.
“It turns out later that he has control over everything. He has control of casting, director,everything. After some unpleasant experiences early on in his career, he demanded that, and obviously, he deserves it. But like I said, I was astonished that he knew because we hadn’t even started filming it.”
The Life of Chuckis now in cinemas.The Long Walkstrolls into theaters on September 12. you’re able to check out the rest of Nemiroff’s chat with Hamill and Benjamin Pajak now.
“I Wish He Were My Real Grandson”: Mark Hamill Calls This Co-Star From Mike Flanagan’s ‘The Life of Chuck’ a “Complete Natural”
Hamill also discusses his next Stephen King project, playing The Major in ‘The Long Walk.’
The Long Walk
