OH GOD OUR HEARTS. The world premiere for Star Wars: The Last Jedi took place on Saturday night, and pretty much the entire cast – plus director Rian Johnson – took the opportunity to pay tribute to the last Carrie Fisher.
“I want to dedicate tonight to Carrie,” said Johnson, “who is up there right now flipping me the bird, saying ‘Dammit Rian, don’t you care make this night a solemn tribute.”
Fisher died in late 2016, shortly after completing filming as General Leia Organa, making The Last Jedi her last film.
The latest Star Wars trilogy has been putting women front and centre of the story, and the women in the film – Daisy Ridley, Gwendoline Christie, Laura Dern and newcomer Kelly Marie Tran – paid tribute to their late co-star.
Speaking at the press conference, Christie, who plays Captain Phasma, said that watching Fisher on screen stayed with her during her “formative years”.
“She’s really interesting, she’s really smart, she’s really funny, she’s courageous, she’s bold, she doesn’t care what people think, and she isn’t prepared to be told what to do,” she said. “And she doesn’t look the same as a sort of homogenised presentation of a woman that we had been used to seeing. So what was really instrumental to me, as someone who didn’t feel like they fit in that homogenised view of what a woman was supposed to be, that there was inspiration there–that you could be an individual and celebrate yourself and be successful without giving yourself over, without necessarily making some sort of terrible, huge compromise.”
Dern, who plays Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, said that Fisher was “without shame”, and paid tribute to Johnson for capturing her personality.
“And that’s what moved me the most about the icon she gave us, but also what she gave us individually and personally, which is to carry who she was so directly, and to be without shame and to share her story and to expect nothing less from any of us,” she said. “And the privilege of watching how [Johnson] has so beautifully captured all of that, and her grace, in this amazing, beautiful, pure performance.”
Tran, who plays Rose Tico – a new character in The Last Jedi – said she admired Fisher’s courage for being so utterly true to herself.
“Something about Carrie that I really look up to is something I didn’t realize until recently–just how much courage it takes to truly be yourself when you’re on a public platform,” Tran said. “She was so unapologetic, and so openly herself, and that is something that I am really trying to do, and it’s hard. And just like Daisy said, and Laura said, and Gwendoline said, I think that she will always be an icon as Leia, but also as Carrie. What an example, and I am so fortunate to have met her, and I think that she will really live on forever.”
And Ridley, hearing these tributes, said that Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd embodied all of the qualities that made people love her mother.
“Carrie’s daughter Billie is, I think, all of those qualities,” she said.
If you weren’t already crying, then consider this: Fisher’s dog Gary has a cameo in the new film, as some kind of three-eyed space dog.
https://twitter.com/Gary_TheDog/status/938564650790260736
The Last Jedi – which is out THIS THURSDAY OH MY GOD – ends with a tribute to everyone’s space mum.
“In loving memory of our princess, Carrie Fisher.”
BRB, sobbing forever.
