Tight orbit around his home planet

It’s been nearly 30 years since Mark Hamill first stepped into the space boots of one Luke Skywalker, and his life, as they say, would never be quite the same. The three-film “Star Wars” arc launched Hamill into the pop-culture stratosphere, and this week’s release of “Revenge of the Sith” has Hamill back on the hot-interview circuit, even though the prequel features Luke’s dad rather than Luke.

Hamill, who lives in Malibu with Marilou, his wife of 26 years, and their three kids, has stayed busy with film and TV work, Broadway plays and especially animation projects (such as the “Batman” TV series) that love his malleable voice. This fall he’s scheduled to direct a live-action film, “Black Pearl,” based on his graphic-comic novel. But for a figure whose career has remained so steeped in fantasy and science fiction, his weekends are surprisingly down to Earth.

A family’s castle

Everyone needs a place to get away from it all, and for us, it’s our home. I bought it just after “Star Wars,” and my wife and I were married in the backyard.

We love to hang out here on a Friday and maybe rent a movie at Vidiots on Pico, because they have such esoteric stuff. We might get into a director like David Cronenberg or Sam Fuller, or have a theme night like cooking Italian food and watching episodes of “The Sopranos” in our screening room. We barricade ourselves and make staying home a treasure.

On Saturday morning the kids sleep in and my wife and I have two or three hours of peaceful time. I’ll slip into the pool for a swim, and my wife might go off with a friend on a cook’s tour of a house or do some shopping or something else that I might not be crazy about doing. You can’t stay married this long unless you have some time for yourselves.

I have a big collection of books and movies, and you have to make time for that, otherwise it just slips away. I just finished reading “Ragtime,” and how long ago did that come out?

In the evening, we might go out to Giorgio’s, where my wife will have the grilled salmon or peppercorn steak and I’ll have traditional pastas or lasagna. The owners are neighbors, and they’ll fine-tune the ingredients to just how we like it. We also like Nobu Malibu, where we’ll get the black cod with miso, the yellowtail with jalapeno or the rock shrimp tempura -- delicious. My wife has taught me that not everything has to be drenched in cheese or cream sauce.

After dinner we might head to Rusty’s Surf Ranch at the pier in Santa Monica, where my friends’ band, the Jenerators, play. I got to know Bill Mumy (“Lost in Space”) and Miguel Ferrer (“Crossing Jordan”) through being vintage comics collectors, not through any show business connection.

Dogs and alligators

On Sunday we’ll go walk the dogs up along the back trails of Malibu. We have two little mixed-breed dogs who think they’re Doberman pinschers. Then I’ll go shopping at Gelson’s and get a fantastic layered pecan pastry called an alligator. I’ll also shop for dinner, because we like to have friends over, and Sunday is a good day to make a complete mess of the kitchen.

We used to play board games with the kids on weekends, but then they got older and pretty soon your friends supplant your children. But the kids still like being around here, so having this house, a family that doesn’t hate you and a small circle of good friends, that’s as good as it gets.