Anytime you have a fellow artist say, ‘Loving the new Luke Bryan album,’ that’s awesome.
I saw ‘Star Wars’ for the first time when I was four years old. Sure, I thought Princess Leia was awesome. But the character I identified with most was Luke Skywalker. I left the theater certain the Force was strong with me, that I could train to be a Jedi and wield a lightsaber just like Luke.
Every Luke Skywalker needs his Darth Vader.
Every hero must return home. Starks to Winterfell. Harry to Privet Drive. Luke Skywalker to Tattoine. Katniss to District twelve. The fun is in seeing how they return.
I am not walking around looking like Luke Cage does at all.
For me, I was never really obsessed with Luke Cage. My obsession was Wolverine.
One of my earliest memories is my father telling me to behave because I’m about to meet and work with the greatest actor of all time. Then this old guy comes out and I was like, ‘Pfff, he doesn’t look anything like Luke Skywalker, I don’t know what my dad is trying to tell me here.’
Every single day I wrote a song, I was hoping somebody like Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean or whoever would record the song. It’s tough to do because there are so many great songwriters in Nashville, and I was lucky enough to get some songs recorded before I got my record deal.
There are people out there who are into traditional country music and for those people you have artists like Brad Paisley and Josh Turner and Alan Jackson. Then you have artists with a progressive style of country music, like myself and Eric Church and Luke Bryan and Miranda Lambert.
I started getting interested in the craft and watching old movies, and they’re the ones that reach out to me the most – films like ‘Cool Hand Luke’ and ‘On the Waterfront.’ So I start watching all of these, and I was getting educated, and I started being interested in this acting thing, if that’s what they call it.
The search for inventive ways of telling the tale of Christ’s birth has been going on a long time; in a way, difference was there from the start with Luke and Matthew.
Even to this day, when I think about the fact that I’m in this ‘Star Wars’ world, that I’m a half-brother to Darth Vader and an uncle to Luke Skywalker, it’s too hard to wrap my head around.
I would watch even five minutes of ‘Gilmore Girls’ a day when I was going through a tough time because I was like, ‘I just need to return to where life is simple, and you can get your waffles at Luke’s, and everybody knows your name.’
I beat Luke Rockhold, he’s a great fighter. I knocked him out.
Not being white has never prevented me from enjoying Luke Skywalker or Han Solo. These are heroes of mine.
There was a point – when I was a kid – where I said I wanted to be like Luke Skywalker, with blond hair and blue eyes. My mom right there told me to never be ashamed of who I am.
I grew up really religious, and my family still is, but I’m not so much. That scene in ‘Cool Hand Luke’, it just destroyed me.
I think anyone in New York City could look at Luke Cage and say, ‘Hey, this guy could help me out.’ I don’t want him to just seem like a relevant hero for only black people.
I wanted Luke Cage to very much be an African American superhero rather than a superhero that happens to be black. I felt it was important to give him that cultural grounding but also show that it doesn’t make him an obtuse or one-sided character.
I didn’t sit around thinking, ‘I’d love to play Luke Cage,’ but when the character was presented, I did my research, and I was just like, ‘This is a real gift. He’s a great character, and I’m happy to have a chance to take a crack at him.’
I wanted Season 2 of Luke Cage to be Ice Cube’s ‘Death Certificate,’ or Fugees’ ‘The Score,’ or Public Enemy’s ‘It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,’ or my favorite, ‘The Low End Theory’ by A Tribe Called Quest.
‘Cool-Hand Luke’ is one of my favorite movies.
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