Star Warsicon and everyone’s favorite Jedi, Mark Hamill, has joined stand-up comedian Bert Kreischer’sThe Machine, which will take inspiration from a viral clip from one of Kreischer’s shows. Hamill will star in the movie in the movie as Kreischer’s father, with the movie based on a supposedly true story where the comedian somehow accidentally got involved with the Russian mafia while studying abroad in college.
The Machinehas been described as “The HangovermeetsMidnight Run,” which sounds like a combination that is primed for a whole host of comedic shenanigans. The stand-up routine thatThe Machineis taking inspiration from went viral some time ago and has since been viewed more than 85 million times. The clip involvesBert Kreischerregaling the audience with the story of his wild misadventures while in Russia during his college days. Though he had no interest in learning Russian or any studying of any kind, Kreischer did a semester in Russia just to get an easy minor, and somehow ended up drunk and joining theRussian mobby mistake, earning himself the nickname “The Machine”.
Rather than retell this story, the movie will instead find Bert’s Russian mob links catch up to him some 20 years later, when he and his father (played byMark Hamill) are kidnapped by those whom Bert wronged several decades ago while drunk on a college semester abroad in Russia.The Machinecomes courtesy of Legendary, with Peter Atencio, known for his work on the sketch show seriesKey & Peeleand the big screen comedyKeanu, on board to direct.
The movie certainly has a lot of potential for ahilarious knockabout comedy, and it should it meet the “HangovermeetsMidnight Run” comparison, could end up a modern classic of the genre. The addition of the treasure that is Mark Hamill makesThe Machinean extremely appealing project, with the actor having proven over the years that he has a real penchant for comedy and is delightfully charming in anything he puts his name to.
Mark Hamill is, of course, best known for his role in theStar Warsfranchise, havingplayed the role of Luke Skywalkerin both the original trilogy and Disney’s more recent outings. He recently reprised the role once again for a surprise cameo during the finale of the popular Disney+Star Warsseries,The Mandalorian, with CGI and de-aging technology taking the actor back in time to his days as a badass Jedi Knight.
Hamill can currently be seen in Amazon’s animated superhero series,Invincible, based on the comic book of the same name byThe Walking Dead’sRobert Kirkman. The series is an adult animated series (things get very violent at times) based on the Skybound/Image comic about a teenager whose father is the most powerful superhero on the planet. Hamill will continue his animated adventures as Skeletor in Netflix’sMasters of the Universe: Revelation, a reboot of the classicMasters of the Universefranchise focusing on unresolved stories of the iconic characters, picking up where they left off decades ago. This comes to us courtesy ofThe Hollywood Reporter.
