Mark Hamill on Carrie Fisher: 'We should picture her looking down from the stars and extending her middle finger'
The Star Wars actor was talking before the 2017 Tony Awards
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Your support makes all the difference.While the 71st Annual Tony Awards featured numerous speeches lambasting current President of the United States, Donald Trump, there was also a moment to remember all those great actors who graced stages around the world.
Star Wars’ actor Mark Hamill introduced the emotional "In Memoriam" segment, telling the audience: "This past year, we lost many beloved members of our theatrical family. Legends of the stage, artists from behind the scenes, princes of show business, and a princess.”
Of course, Hamill was talking about co-star Carrie Fisher, who died late last year, her mother, Debbie, passing away soon after.
Speaking about the segment before the show, Hamill told The Hollywood Reporter: “Carrie would never want us to be sad. Mentally we should picture her looking down from the stars and extending her middle finger to us.
“That was Carrie; she knew how to have fun and not take everything so seriously.”
Speaking about the role Fisher was going to take in Episode IX, Hamill said: “Usually her timing was exquisite, but among the reasons it’s terrible that she won’t be with us is that she was the pivotal character [in that film].”
He continued: “And I also look at it selfishly: She was just hilarious. Sometimes I wouldn’t want to go out and do certain things to promote [The Force Awakens], but then I’d find out Carrie would be there, and I’d say OK, because then I knew it would be fun.”
In a recent interview, LucasFilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy said Fisher’s role in Episode IX was supposed to be fairly significant.
“She was having a blast [on The Last Jedi],” she said. “The minute she finished, she grabbed me and said, ‘I’d better be at the forefront of IX!’
“Because Harrison [Ford] was front and centre on VII, and Mark [Hamill] is front and centre on VIII. She thought IX would be her movie. And it would have been.”
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