When directors and producers should listen

Mark Hamill and Martin Landau spoke out when their iconic characters were
made to act incongruously to the manner they had previously established

Two leading actors in science-fiction franchises, separately and decades apart, expressed instinctive and eerily similar warnings about how their iconic characters were being altered in ways incongruent to their established identities, and that were likely to upset multitudes of loyal fans.

Their misgivings and concerns were flagged up before and during filming to those with influential production roles, but were mostly dismissed. However, they turned out to be prophetically accurate.

In interviews that took place 18 years apart, Martin Landau and Mark Hamill voiced almost identical thoughts on the process they saw unfolding for the well-loved characters they helped create.

Oscar winner Landau spoke about this when interviewed for a French documentary in 1999, as he reflected on his time as Commander John Koenig, the male lead of Space:1999 - a TV series filmed and broadcast during the mid-1970s. Meanwhile Hamill, in a number of interviews last year during the build up to the release of Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, aired concerns about the direction of his character Luke Skywalker.

Landau had deep misgivings about changes in the the second series of Space:1999 that were mostly introduced and forced through by new producer and script editor Fred Frieberger. He spoke of “battles” with Freiberger about the changes, which included characters behaving incongruously to the manner they had established in the first series. There was also unexplained changes of personnel, outfits, and main sets.

Speaking of the second series, Landau said: “I’m not a big fan. I thought he (Frieberger) hurt the show. I thought he hurt Star Trek; the year he did it it went downhill. He certainly didn’t help us. I fought with him all the time. You see, I think an episode should enhance the character and serve the character. Many times in the second year my character had to serve the script and do things that he shouldn’t do. I knew Commander Koenig. I understood him. And in the second year he did things he should never have done to accommodate a story point in the script - I used to fight over that, I would say ‘this is wrong.’”

It was not only his character who was made to act inconsistently to their established identity. Landau said Freiberger “would bring up a script and I would say ‘this is terrible. Helena wouldn’t do this, Koenig wouldn’t do this, Alan wouldn’t do this. These characters would not do this. The only reason they are doing this is to serve this script, and it’s wrong.’ Sometimes I would win these battles, and sometimes I’d lose them. Sometimes there was a re-write, sometimes there wasn’t. I wasn’t happy the second year; I thought we were turning the show into a cartoon - into a Mister Magoo.”

Landau had misgivings about changes to characters and story lines in the
second series of Space:1999. He had "battles" with producer Frieberger

When broadcast, series two was widely-regarded by critics and many fans as a dumbed-down “monster of the week” follow-up to the often thought-provoking episodes of the first year. Many people continue to view the second year as a pale shadow of the first. There was no third series. Years later, when Freiberger made a rare appearance at a Space:1999 fan convention to explain why he made so many changes, he faced robust criticism from the most dedicated supporters of the show.

Landau’s words about “knowing and understanding” Commander Koenig and taking issue with the character being made to do things he would not have done based on his established identity, were mirrored by Hamill when he spoke about his misgivings regarding the character direction for Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi.

In an interview on Nightline ABC in April 2017, Hamill said when he read the script he told writer and director Rian Johnson: “I fundamentally disagree with everything you’ve decided about my character.” He continued: “It was as shocking to me to read what Rian had written as I’m sure it will be for the audience.”

Later in the year he returned to the topic. “I said to Rian, ‘Jedi don’t give up. Even if he (Luke) had a problem he’d maybe take a year to re-group, but if he made a mistake he’d try to right that wrong.’ So right there we had a fundamental difference. But, it’s not my story anymore, it’s someone else’s story and Rian needed me to be a certain way to make the ending effective,” said Hamill.

Expanding on his concerns during the same interview, he said: “That’s the crux of my problem - Luke would never say that. I almost had to think of Luke as another character, maybe he’s Jake Skywalker, he’s not my Luke Skywalker. But I had to do what Rian wanted me to do because it serves the story well. But listen, I still haven’t accepted it completely. But it’s only a movie, I hope people like it, I hope people don’t get upset.”

As the marketing machine went into overdrive for the film’s release, Hamill said he regretted voicing some of his doubts in public. “Creative differences are a common element of any project but usually remain private,” he said, adding that he ultimately appreciated the decisions that had been made.

However, The Last Jedi caused damaging polarization among fans - more so than has been experienced by any blockbuster movie franchise - to the extent that many who had followed the Star Wars saga for 40 years turned away from the series and vowed to avoid future installments. A variety of reasons were given, but head-and-shoulders above all was dismay at how Luke Skywalker, one of the greatest movie heroes of all time, had been portrayed in a way far removed from what had been established in previous films.

On social media and film review sites across the internet the backlash was substantial. I have read and listened to hundreds of options lambasting in particular the framing of Luke. We are now nine months on from the film’s release and the reaction shows no signs of abating. To pick one mild example, posted as a comment on a YouTube video in the past 48 hours, a fan wrote: “I still cannot believe Rian Johnson's script made it to the screen. Surely someone at Disney or Lucasfilm (other than Mark Hamill) pointed out how upset Star Wars fans were going to get."

While innovation in storytelling is always to be welcomed, there are certain boundaries where red warnings flash - as Landau and Hamill flagged up during the production of their respective franchises. For the directors and producers who ignored or overrode the warnings and concerns of their foremost stars, the subsequent fan fallout has been haunting.
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Video: Martin Landau talks about concerns for his Space:1999 character.


Video: Mark Hamill speaks about changes to the character of Luke Skywalker.