Anyone worried that Carrie Fisher would get some awkward or even distasteful send-off in “The Last Jedi” can relax. At least that’s what John Boyega says. The “Star Wars” star is making the interview rounds for “Detroit” — a very different movie, about a horrific moment in race relations during the 1967 Detroit riot, in which white cops killed three innocent black men and got off scot-free. The delicacy of the subject matter, the despairing relevance of the tale, hasn’t stopped reporters from asking about that movie about ligthsabers.
Granted, Boyega couldn’t say much; the force is most powerful when it comes to keeping secrets. But when asked, he did open up a teensy little bit.
“This movie, it sends her off in an amazing, amazing way,” Boyega told ABC News. “And she is still kept alive in this franchise. That’s the beauty of it: She lives forever, in a sense.”
And that’s it! He did reveal his character, Stormtrooper-turned-rebel Finn, does share a few scenes with Fisher’s General Leia Organa, and you’ll just have to imagine what those scenes are like until the film’s Dec. 15 release.
Boyega also opened up about how he reacted to the news of Fisher’s death last December. “It was a strange, strange feeling,” he recalled. “I felt like everyone in the cast went silent for a bit after that.”
We can only hope Fisher will get a better send-off than others who died mid-filming. Back in 1999, Oliver Reed passed while shooting “Gladiator,” requiring techies to devise a weird, shadow-heavy CGI death for his character. Then there’s “Furious 7,” which tried to give Paul Walker, who perished in an automobile accident before shoot’s end, a bittersweet farewell, but came close to CGI cheese. But we trust these filmmakers will figure it out in the five months before the film’s release.
