Simon Pegg has been featured in many major franchises from Star Trek to Mission: Impossible, and he also had a fun little role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The actor played Unkar Plutt, the Crolute we see trading with Rey for portions on Jakku who the future Jedi eventually stole the Millennium Falcon from. Recently, Pegg chatted with Vanity Fair about his time on the first sequel movie’s set and revealed how much it meant to spend time with Carrie Fisher, who was his first crush.
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“I started going down to the set and I got all my makeup design and met everybody, and being around that set was just amazing for me as a fan of Star Wars growing up, ’cause it felt very much like the Star Wars I grew up with. And, of course, Carrie Fisher was there, and Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford, and these are the people that I idolized as a kid, and so, to get to be hanging out with them was a real dream come true. I had such a huge crush on Carrie Fisher when I was a kid… My first sort of stirrings of romantic love was for Carrie Fisher.”
He added, “I got to spend a little time with her. We had a lovely day when we sort of wandered around the set of the Resistance base together, arm in arm, and we were just [laughs] sort of chatting, and I turned around, we were looking at each other, and I was looking into her eyes and it was like the same eyes, you know [laughs]. It sounds really obvious to say it, bit it was like I was looking into those eyes that had so, sort of, captivated me as a kid. And I said, ‘You know, I’ve always loved you.’ And she grabbed my hand and looked at my wedding ring and said, ‘F**k you.’ [Laughs] It was the best day of my life.”
Before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker came out last year, Pegg talked about playing his character and joked about returning to the franchise: “I play Unkar Plutt, who is essentially like a scrap metal merchant.” Pegg said of his character. “Unkar was an interesting role for me because it was a fully synthetic fat suit, silicone mask, with CG-augmented features. It was a tough call because I was in the deserts of Abu Dhabi in 50 degree heat, and then in Pinewood Studios in similar heat, because we were in a studio.”
He added, “It was great, it was great to play such an important part in the Star Wars universe.” Pegg joked. “And I hope I’m not spoiling it for anyone to say that Unkar Plutt, in Episode 9, will become something of a significant character. And he is actually The Force, and as such, means more than any other Star Wars character. Particularly Han Solo… or Luke Skywalker.”
All nine movies in the Skywalker Saga are currently streaming on Disney+.
