J.J. Abrams Thinks Mark Hamill Will Win an Oscar for ‘The Last Jedi’
The Oscars haven’t even been over for a day, and already the predictions for next year are rolling in. The latest comes from J.J. Abrams, director of The Force Awakens, who doesn’t know for sure who’s winning at next year’s Academy Awards, but he thinks Mark Hamill definitely should.
Hamill had an extremely bit part in 2015’s Star Wars revival, only appearing onscreen for one shot and not saying any lines. But he’ll definitely have a bigger part to play in the next installment, as he either mentors Rey or he doesn’t, and we learn exactly who the “last Jedi” are. While speaking with the New York Daily News, Abrams said he thought Hamill’s performance in particular is something special:
I think we are all going to be very upset if he does not win an Oscar, and no one more upset than Mark.
Genre movies — especially sci-fi movies — never have an easy time at the Oscars, but this wouldn’t be the first time a Star Wars movie made it to the ceremony: Alec Guinness was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars. And the Oscars have become more genre-friendly in the last few years: Arrival and Mad Max: Fury Road were both nominated for Best Picture. But would a Star Wars movie exhibit the kind of artistic chops the Academy usually looks for? Obviously, we won’t know the answer until the Academy announces this year’s crop of nominees and the whole circus starts up again.