Mark Hamill Writes About Working With Carrie Fisher On Star Wars

Actor Mark Hamill wrote about working with his recently departed co-star Carrie Fisher on the Star Wars sets in a guest column.

In a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter, actor Mark Hamill paid tribute to his recently departed Star Wars co-star, Carrie Fisher.

Image Credit: Lucasfilm

Hamill recalled Fisher fondly. His stories of how they met and how they worked together on Star Wars indicate both the depth of their relationship and Fisher’s enduring personality.

When production on A New Hope began, Carrie Fisher was the last of the three main stars to arrive in London.

"Carrie was the last piece in the puzzle to come to London. So I said to the production office, “I’d like to meet her before we work together.” They worked out that we’d meet for dinner… I was just bowled over. I mean she was just so instantly ingratiating and funny and outspoken. She had a way of just being so brutally candid. I’d just met her but it was like talking to a person you’d known for ten years… She just sucked you into her world."

By the time The Empire Strikes Back filmed, Hamill and Fisher were partners in clowning.

"Once at lunchtime she said, “You should try on my jumpsuit.” I said, “The one-piece white jumpsuit? You’re what, 5’2”? I’ll never get in!” She said, “Just try.” I put on that Princess Leia zipper jump suit and it was so tight I looked like a Vegas lounge singer. If that wasn’t ridiculous enough, she had me put on one of those bald cap masks with the Bozo hair and glasses and nose and then she walked me around the back lot."

“Making her laugh was a badge of honor” – Mark Hamill

I always thought Fisher was most eccentric and funny when she was older. That’s probably because I wasn’t alive when she filmed the original trilogy. I was only old enough to see how hilarious and frank she was when she was in her 50s. But according to Hamill, Fisher was always that shamelessly funny, brutally honest person we all knew and loved.

Thanks, Mark Hamill, for sharing these scenes from the past.

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To read Hamill’s full tribute to Fisher, click here.

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