Writer reveals how Mark Hamill went above and beyond for sick fan

LUKE Skywalker has a heart of gold and so too does the man who plays him, Mark Hamill. The 66-year-old went above and beyond for a sick fan.

WITH so many men in Hollywood making headlines for the all wrong reasons lately, it’s nice to be reminded that there are some decent people left in the industry.

Take for example Mark Hamill, best known for playing Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars movies.

The 66-year-old actor was praised overnight by writer and producer Ed Solomon who shared a touching story about Hamill and the lengths he went to please a sick fan.

In a series of tweets called “Why I will love @HamillHimself forever,” Solomon wrote:

“When a friend’s son (who was, so tragically, dying from an incurable illness) made a wish: to meet Luke Skywalker, it fell on me — the only person the dad knew who worked in the film business — to make a call.

“Not knowing Mark, I called his agent and explained that this lovely boy watched Star Wars every day and wanted to meet NOT Mark Hamill, but, rather, the actual CHARACTER that he played (the boy’s own mental state had devolved past the point of being able to grok that Luke was fictional).

“The agent begrudgingly said he’d call Mark, but also said not to get my hopes up. 90 seconds later I got a call from @HamillHimself, who immediately said yes and gave me his home address.

“He not only met with the boy, but spent hours answering question after question (sometimes the same ones repeatedly), AS ‘Luke.’ Even posting this now makes me teary. He was compassionate, kind, and patient. And it literally meant the world to this kid and his family.”

Mark Hamill will once again reprise his role as Luke in Star Wars: The Last Jedi which will be released in Australia on December 14.

Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

It’s expected he’ll have much more screen time that he did in Star Wars: The Force Awakens when he appeared in just the final few minutes of the film.

Hamill recently told The Sunday Times he freaked out when the read the script for the 2015 Star Wars movie and realised how brief his role was.

“I was in such a state of shock,” Hamill said.

“I hate to seem to take it so seriously, but it was traumatising. My wife had gone to bed, and I woke her up, opened the last page and said, ‘Look!’”

The actor was particularly upset about his short screen time because he’d worked hard to shed more than 22kg for the movie.

“It was torture,” he said about losing the weight.

“I never missed a session, not like some people, ahem, Carrie Fisher. I went to the gym, they went to her house. She’d had all this equipment installed. Sometimes they’d come and she’d say, ‘Oh, I forgot, it’s today. Not today.’ And she’d close the door. Only Carrie could get away with that.”