ROYAL TRIBUTE

Friends and family remember the saga’s beloved princess, Carrie Fisher

“She [ was] a brilliant writer, with an incredible mind. I’d go to her house and we’d sit on her bed for hours going through the [Episode VIII] script… then, at the end of six hours, there would be this four-word line of dialogue that would be the distillation of all that. That was brilliant.” Rian Johnson

“I’ve been trying to deal with [ her death]. And just when I’ve gotten to acceptance, I bounce back to anger, because I’m mad. She should be here. When I go to sleep at night, there’s never a day when I don’t think of her. When I think of her, she’s looking down from the celestial stratosphere with those big brown eyes, that sly smile on her face as she lovingly extends me the middle finger. That’s how I want you to think of her. That was Carrie.” Mark Hamill

“When Carrie came in, she was [ Leia]. Very strong. Very smart. Very funny. Very bold. Very tough. There weren’t really many people like her. One in a billion. It was a hard part to play and she pulled it off brilliantly. 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.” George Lucas

“My mom used to say she never knew where Princess Leia ended and Carrie Fisher began. She went from being an unknown actress to Princess Leia, a character synonymous with the idea of the ultimate strong woman: a soldier, a fighter, a beyond-capable, independent, sensible woman in control of her own destiny, a rebel who resisted the norm. My mom, like Leia, wasn’t ever afraid to speak her mind and say things that might have made most people uncomfortable, but not me and not you. That was why she loved you, because you accepted and embraced all of her. Thank you for loving her and for carrying on what she stands for. I’m beyond grateful.”

Billie Lourd ML