The Force is strong with this one -- Mark Hamill, the man who brought Luke Skywalker to life, speaks exclusively to Star Wars Insider as he talks about the role that made him a household name, working with Sir Alec Guinness and whether he would consider playing Luke again....

There is another... Carrie Fisher, also known as the feisty Princess Leia offers a regal selection of her own special brand wit and wisdom, as she waxes lyrical on her part in the saga.

Also in this issue we chat with LucasArts Project leader Haden Blackman, and "Secret Apprentice" actor Sam Witwer to get the low down on the next chapter of the Star Wars saga: The Force Unleashed. And of course we have all of your favorite regulars, news, letters and features.

For more information visit www.titanmagazines.com/starwars

Read on for an extract from our Mark Hamill interview....

Mark, the original Star Wars was 30 years ago and it was one of your earliest acting jobs.

Lets see, how long had I been in the business? About six years, and I had mostly TV credits and Star Wars was actually my first film. I didn't anticipate its eventual commercial success, but I knew it was going to be great! The script was wonderful. It was the first kind of fantasy film that had that kind of sly humor, that ironic kind of self-mockery. Usually sci-fi is so dry. Star Wars has these really human moments. One of the things that just floored me was after we rescue the Princess, she says "You came in that?" It's just like a teenage girl would be. My sister used to ask my dad to drop her off two blocks away from high school so she wouldn't be seen with us in our beat-up old car -- so it's relatable. The fact that the robots are the most human characters in the movie is, again, hilarious.

Now you're known worldwide as Luke Skywalker.

I would have much rather played the robot [C-3PO] or Han Solo than Luke! Luke is the bland audience surrogate -- he's not extraordinarily talented or physically imposing. That's the whole point. It's to appeal to that 10-year-old who'll go "Oh I could do that!" It's almost like the way Robin was added to Batman, to make it more accessible to the target audience. When I went for the screen test, I felt for sure that Han Solo was the lead character, like Buck Rogers, and I was the sidekick kid. It can't be the other way around -- why would the kid be the protagonist? Even the marketing people couldn't live with it. You see Luke on the posters and they decided to give him this massive chest. It's not me. Finally, after it had made a huge mark and it was hugely popular, then they got comfortable enough to make a poster where Luke looked like me. Isn't that funny?! It had to make $60 million before I finally got the part!

As a young actor, working with Alec Guinness must have been amazing.

Incredibly intimidating, although he was the one that took me out to lunch and got me over being so tongue-tied. He wouldn't let me call him Sir Alec. He said (in Alec Guinness voice), "I want to be known by my name, not my accolades." I said, "Well, what do you want me to call you? Big Al?!' When I relaxed I could use my humor, which is sort of irreverent. All I wanted to talk about was The Ladykillers, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Man in the White Suit. "No, I want to hear about your career," he said. I replied: "What do you want to hear about first? The soap opera or the dog food commercial?!" I had much more work than that, but that was my way of making the point that [the level of] my career was ridiculous compared to his. Like I say, he loved to laugh. His wife one time was sketching a mosque in North Africa and one of the local gendarmes noticed and freaked out and started screaming in Arabic. He pulled her art book away and ripped the page out. We were all taken aback. Later on, his wife said "What was that?" and I said, "I've no idea, unless it's the local art critic." She didn't laugh at that, but Alec did!

When the film became so big, what effect did that have on you, personally and professionally?

You're in the eye of the hurricane. You want to reinforce that nothing has really changed, except the outside world. It's nothing that you've done. It's hard to describe, really. You hunker down and focus on something else. At that time I did a play, and I did Corvette Summer. I think you try and reassure yourself that the world hasn't slipped off it's axis despite everyone going bananas. I'm one of seven kids, so they really wouldn't let me [get away with it] if I'd started coming off [superior], or changed for the worse. They'd knock me down a few pegs. I always had a sense of humor about things and I think it's the only way you can get through life.

Read the full interview in Issue 97 of Star Wars Insider, on newsstands October 23. Visit www.titanmagazines.com/starwars for more information.