HOLLYWOOD -- Mark Hamill lives in fear of an inevitable encounter.

"Some day a tiny tot is going to come up to me and ask if I'm Luke Skywalker's grandfather. That's my greatest fear because I know it's going to happen.

"The Star Wars movies have an incredible shelf life. I've already been asked if I'm Luke's father," said Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the first Star Wars trilogy, in a recent interview.

Though he didn't camp out for days before opening day of the newest Star Wars film, Phantom Menace, like thousands of diehard fans of the series, Hamill did eventually catch the first instalment of the second trilogy.

"It didn't work as well as it could have because there's no cynic in it. We had Han Solo to keep our films from being too sugary and upbeat."

Unlike Harrison Ford, who played Han Solo, Hamill's film career did not go into orbit after Star Wars. He made several forgettable features such as Corvette Summer, Midnight Ride, Black Magic Woman and Time Runner before finding a lucrative second career as a voice-over artist and stage actor. He now lends his voice to such animated series as Batman, Powerpuff Girls, Scooby-Doo, Spiderman and Wing Commander and has starred on Broadway in The Elephant Man, Amadeus and The Nerd.

In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, opening Friday, Hamill has what he had hoped would be an uncredited cameo, but writer-director Kevin Smith insisted on giving him a credit just as he had insisted only Hamill could play the role of the futuristic light-sabre swordsman Cock-Knocker.

Hamill's character is featured prominently in the trailers and TV spots for Jay and Silent Bob.

"I really didn't think people should know I'm in the movie. I felt it should be a big surprise and one that not everyone would necessarily get.

"I'm in enough of a disguise that some people might wonder if it really is me or someone spoofing me."

Smith wanted people to know he had both Hamill and Carrie Fisher in the movie, conceding he "grew up with those movies. I had all the toys. I have been wanting to work with Mark, Carrie and Harrison from the day I dreamed of being a filmmaker. I want people to see what a coup we made getting them into the film.

"The fan base we have attracted with the Jay and Silent Bob characters are also Star Wars fans so I needed to pay tribute in this final chapter of their career."

Hamill says he spent his couple of days on the movie "picking scenery out of my teeth. I've never chewed up scenery this ferociously before.

"I played my character as a pompous actor who feels he's slumming, which is certainly not how I felt doing Jay and Silent Bob."

Hamill knew exactly what he was getting himself into when Smith sent him the script for Jay and Silent Bob.

"The movie is relentlessly stupid. It lowers your IQ in the process of watching it and that's what makes it such a refreshing experience. It has an infectious enthusiasm about it. It also has a lack of a mean streak that seems to permeate most teen comedies these days."

This is not the first time Hamill has spoofed his Star Wars image. He was in a Simpsons episode playing himself.

"I'd have done anything, including camping out in the parking lot, to do a Simpsons. It's one of the voice-overs I'm most proud of."


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