Mark Hamill Was Concerned About Luke's Role in 'The Force Awakens'

— -- "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" director J.J. Abrams told Chris Rock at the Tribeca Film Festival last week that crafting the biggest movie of 2015 was a balancing act.

"I know it's derided for this, but we very consciously tried to borrow familiar beats, so the rest of the movie could sort of hang on something we knew felt like 'Star Wars,'" he told Rock of borrowing a lot of themes from 1977's "A New Hope."

Abrams said all the new characters like Rey, Finn and Kylo Ren needed to exist in something "that preexists them."

"This movie was a bridge," Abrams continued.

"It was incredible," Rock said of the film.

But Abrams said there was one person who wasn't sure about the script when he first got his hands on it -- Mark Hamill, who famously plays Luke Skywalker.

"We knew getting to Luke was the whole story," Abrams said.

Spoilers Ahead!

If you've seen "The Force Awakens," you know that Luke is not really seen until the end.

"It was a tricky thing to do and at first, in all honestly, Mark Hamill was a little resistant," he said. "Imagine reading 'Star Wars.' Imagine being Mark Hamill. And you get the script for the new 'Star Wars.' The crawl is good [where the movie starts with what's happening], then page 2. 'What the f--- is going on,'" Abrams mimed Hamill's joking reaction.

"I'm three pages before the end, the last what!" Abrams continued. "He was so kind to do it."

Abrams said Hamill was concerned that his limited screen time might seem silly to fans.

"I said to him, 'I don't think it will,'" he said. "This whole movie is all about him, it could be this sort of great, fun drum-roll."

Abrams, himself, said filming that epic final scene brought him to tears.

"I'm looking at him and I realize he's the same age Alec Guinness was when he played Obi-Wan," he said. "I'm looking at him as the mist is clearing ... I'm listening to this music and looking at Mark Hamill wearing these robes and I literally start tearing up."