Kevin Smith Writes Beautiful Tribute To His Friend Carrie Fisher

12/27/2016 05:21 pm EST

In his debut feature film Clerks, indie film icon and professional geek Kevin Smith established a voice for himself that included off-kilter riffs on mainstream pop culture like Jaws and Star Wars.

Both of those properties would become recurring elements in his film for decades, particularly Star Wars, culminating when, in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Carrie Fisher appeared as a nun and the title characters engaged in an honest-to-goodness lightsaber duel with Mark Hamill.

It's probably no surprise that Smith became friendly with both of his childhood heroes: when ComicBook.com recently spoke with Mark Hamill, he praised Smith and, when we related the message to Smith during a subsequent interview, he said of the Star Wars and The Flash actor "I doff my cap to Hamill" as an oral storyteller.

With the passing of Fisher, Smith took to social media to deliver something a little more elaborate and a lot more profound.

"As a boy, I dreamed of marrying Carrie Fisher," Smith writes, in part. "As a young filmmaker, I dreamed of casting Carrie Fisher. As an adult, I dreamed of being as sharp-witted and prepossessed as Carrie Fisher. And now that Carrie Fisher is gone, I'll dream of my friend Carrie - whose entire magnificent career I was lucky enough to witness, whose honesty made me a better person, and whose spirit - like The Force - will be with us always."

You an see the full Instagram post below.

Fisher starred as Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy and reprised her role as Leia, now a General of the Resistance, in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Fisher's final performance as Leia will be seen in Star Wars: Episode VIII in 2017.

Harrison Ford's Statement / Kathleen Kennedy's Statement / Star Wars Cast Reacts / Hollywood Reacts / Fan's Respond / Fisher's Best Roles /Fisher's Most Memorable Quotes / Most Memorable Leia Moments

Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.