Mark Hamill shared how memories of living on a Marines base in high school gave him useful material to play The Major in "The Long Walk," in theaters Friday.

Mark Hamill, seen at the 2025 CinemaCon in Las Vegas in April, stars in "The Long Walk." File Photo by James Atoa/UPI UPI Mark Hamill, seen with wife Marilou Hamill at the 2025 Academy Awards in Los Angeles, drew on his memories for "The Long Walk" performance. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI UPI Mark Hamill, seen at 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, stars in "The Long Walk." File Photo by Chris Chew/UPI UPI Mark Hamill plays The Major in "The Long Walk," in theaters Friday. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate UPI Mark Hamill (L) speaks with director Francis Lawrence on the set of "The Long Walk," in theaters Friday. Photo courtest of Lionsgate UPI

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Mark Hamill says he had suppressed memories resurface as he prepared to play The Major in The Long Walk, in theaters Friday. The villainous character leads a race in which 50 young men walk until only one remains alive.

The Major rides in his military jeep to supervise the Long Walk, an annual contest in a dystopian United States. Contestants who slow down or stop are given three warnings before they are shot and killed by the Major's troops.

Based on the Stephen King novel, The Long Walk brought back memories for Hamill of his time on a Marines base. In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Hamill, 73, shared how he spent junior and senior high on a base where his father, a Navy captain, was stationed.

The Star Wars actor said he witnessed sergeants training men in ways he described as "inhuman."

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"I saw a guy vomit and the sergeant said, 'You eat that, dogface,' and he gave him a spoon and he had to eat what he expelled," Hamill said. "I couldn't put it together. Why would that be a good thing for a soldier to have to experience?"

Hamill said he had suppressed that memory, which only resurfaced as he prepared to play the Major.

"This is not something that you talk about or remember until you need it for your work," Hamill said.

That type of inhumanity inspired Hamill to dehumanize his character. He covered up important signifiers of the Major's face by wearing a cap over his hair, covering his face with stubble, and hiding his eyes behind sunglasses.

"Compassion comes through your eyes," Hamill said. "That's a good way to make him inhuman."

As in the book, The Long Walk is set in a future some 19 years after a war that caused an economic collapse.

Since wrapping production, Hamill believes recent real-life events have resembled aspects of the movie. Hamill said images he saw of National Guard troops and ICE agents in Los Angeles reminded him of the film.

"It's like watching some weird Twilight Zone, some futuristic authoritarian government," Hamill said. "It's extraordinary but I think that will reverberate in a way it wouldn't have if we didn't see it with our own eyes."

In the movie, the Major praises the contestants for taking initiative and joining the race. He attributes the state of the country to citizens losing their work ethic, despite the war being the primary reason for the loss of jobs.

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That speech also reminded Hamill of current political rhetoric, he said. Pro-deportation pundits call immigrants a drain on the economy despite studies showing immigrants performing hard labor, particularly with farm work, Hamill said.

"Immigrants are the lifeblood of our economy and they're finding out the hard way," Hamill said. "I've never understood that anyway because we're all immigrants. We're a nation of immigrants. The only people that should have an issue should be Native Americans."

Though the Major spearheads a deadly contest, Hamill was relieved to learn the film would not be graphic. Speaking with director Francis Lawrence, Hamill said the two agreed on the points that would be emphasized about King's story.

"I was so appalled by the premise of the thing, I thought, good lord, I don't know if I'd even be able to see this movie much less be in it," Hamill said. "Once you read the whole novel, you go, oh, that's just a device to get your attention because the real story is the journey of these young men in these extraordinary circumstances. It's not about blowing people's brains out."

For all his talk, the Major does not walk alongside the contestants. Hamill said he could not have accepted the role if it had involved walking, and expressed his admiration for the cast - - including Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson and Ben Wang - - who walked during every take of every scene.

"To see the Polaroids of them on the first day, bright eyes and washed hair and handsome, and then as they go along by the end, oh my God, dark circles under their eyes, filthy air, dirty fingernails, but I think it really worked for the film," Hamill said.