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This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

Arts & Entertainment

Get Your Tissues Out For Lovely 'Star Wars' Tribute To Carrie Fisher

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The Star Wars Celebration, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the beloved movie franchise, kicked off Thursday in Orlando. There's already been plenty of star power, with the likes of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, George Lucas and more (Hayden Christensen? Sure) making appearances. While we likely have to wait until tomorrow, at the earliest, to see the first trailer for the next movie in the Skywalker saga, fans were treated to a lovely tribute video to Carrie Fisher, who died at the age of 60 last year.

The tribute video, which includes some of her most iconic Star Wars moments plus behind-the-scenes and interview clips (including this classic featuring her beloved dog Gary), was introduced by her daughter Billie Lourd. Watch it below.

Lucas had a lot of lovely things to say about Fisher as well: "She played a part that was very smart, and she was having to hold her own against two big lugs, goofballs that were screwing everything up," Lucas said. "She was the boss. It was her war and when I cast it, I said I want somebody young to play the part. I want somebody very young. When Carrie came in, she was that character. She was very strong, very smart, very funny, very bold, very tough, and there really wasn't much of a question. There are not very many people like her. They are one in a billion. For this particular part, it was absolutely perfect … she wore a dress through the whole thing, but she was the toughest in the group."

"She was very challenging in terms of pointing out that certain pieces of dialogue were a little hard to say," he continued. "She was brilliant and obviously we will all miss her, but she will always be the princess who took command and never backed down. Never was in jeopardy. She was always helping the other guys get out of the messes she created. We'll all love her forever and ever."

The video also included a behind-the-scenes look at Fisher on the set of Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi with director Rian Johnson.

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You can watch the entire panel below.

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