Mark Hamill: Luke Skywalker Wore Levi’s
To heck with midichlorians, it’s all in the jeans….
You may remember the song. Merle Haggard’s 5:01 Blues.
Image: Levi’s
I used to watch that old clock on the wall
Wishin’ I could make time fly
But ever since you walked out on me
Quittin’ time just make me wanna cry…”
Image: Lucasfilm
Imagine: The Haggard song playing over the “Twin Suns” scene in the original Star Wars; maintains a certain poignancy, no?
And it might be even more so when you understand that Luke Skywalker was actually wearing Levi’s jeans (which possibly inspired the song).
Recently, Mark Hamill reiterated that his costume in A New Hope was, well, cheap.
Those WERE bleached-out Levi's in the 1st movie. After that, all wardrobe was made to order. One of my favorite George Lucas quotes about the original #StarWars was when he called it: "The most expensive low-budget movie ever made." 😆 #TrueStory https://t.co/LJ2iSmJBqf
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) May 28, 2021
Hashtagging his reply with the words #TrueStory, Hamill wrote, “Those WERE bleached-out Levi’s in the 1st movie. After that, all wardrobe was made to order.
“One of my favorite George Lucas quotes about the original #StarWars was when he called it: ‘The most expensive low-budget movie ever made.'”
Luke’s wardrobe could be in your closet!
Now, Mr. Hamill LOVES this story and told it in 2019.
I'm surprised Levi's did not officially release Luke's Levis for the busy Jedi…
— Kareem (@CrispyKareem) November 25, 2019
Hamill is very consistent, and explained, “The pants I wore in the 1st film were just Levi bluejeans- bleached-out, with the back pockets removed. George called #StarWars “The most expensive low-budget movie ever made” & every penny spent had to show up on the screen.
“I think they started with my costume,” he added.
In the above thread, two of the best replies came from a worker at Levi’s.
Here’s the proof: pic.twitter.com/YMaYMR8x92
— Amanda Spezzano (@AmandaFSpezzano) December 18, 2019
Here is a close up of the archive explanation:
Image: @AmandaFSpezzano on Twitter.
Of course, they weren’t 501s. But they were darn close, according to the LS&CO. Archives.
“By the way, those pants I wore were just bleached Levi’s with the tag still in them,” was how Levi’s archives quoted Hamill.
They added:
These look like bellbottom jeans, in this newspaper photo.
Hamill said this about this costume in the original 1977 ‘Star Wars’ movie. For the film, Hamill wore white STA-PREST Levi’s that were cut near the ankle.”
By the way, on eBay you can find a pair for $30.
Finally, as I sit here thinking of the simple pleasure of watching the original Star Wars, I think it’s so cool that one of the biggest pieces to one of the most famous movie costumes ever were Levi’s.
Image: Lucasfilm
Feature Image: Lucasfilm
