Mark Hamill to Join the Cast of The Secret Service?

It was inevitable that, with the attention surrounding the new Star Wars films, movie offers would begin to pour in for Hamill. Hamill's reported role in the upcoming film adaptation of Mark Millar's comic book, The Secret Service, however, isn't a new development.

It was reported in November that Hamill, whose likeness was used in the comic book series, would play himself in the movie. Hamill's connection to the comic book project comes as no surprise--he's a well-known convention geek, dating back to the backroom days when the crowds numbered in the hundreds and his face wasn't yet recognizable to the vast majority of attendees.

Here's a new bit of news on the project, though: The Secret Service will apparently also feature a cameo by rocker Elton John. Despite John's advanced age and the fact that he's currently recovering from an appendectomy, the buzz is that we'll be seeing him in a fight scene in the film.

The movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio (and possibly Michael Caine) is due out in November, 2014.

Gene Shallit Interviews the Cast of Star Wars

This short clip from 1977 shows Gene Shallit chatting with Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fischer about the stunning popularity of the then-new Star Wars movie and how the three of them aren't yet recognizable and can slip unnoticed into a theater to see how the crowd reacts.

Probably the most entertaining moment comes when Shallit, in his introduction, says in wonder that it's not unusual to find a nine or ten year old kid who has "seen this movie five or six times". 

Watch the video here: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fischer and Harrison Ford circa 1977

Mark Hamill Gets a Workout

We heard weeks ago that Carrie Fischer was getting some help recapturing Princess Leia's physique, and now it turns out that Mark Hamill is getting the same treatment.

It makes sense that producers would be offering to help the pair get back in shape: with Fischer largely out of the public eye and Hamill focused on voice work in recent years, neither has had reason to keep up the rigorous diet and exercise program common to big screen stars.  And, the studio wants the two bearing the closest resemblance possible to their first-round portrayals of Luke and Leia, both of whom inspired the adolescent crushes of a generation.

Ford, apparently, is off the hook: remaining an action hero into your seventies has its perks.