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The Surprising Star Wars Connections & Cameos in Hook
Carrie Fisher is in the movie — but you almost need the Force to find her.
People have been arguing for years, with no end in sight, whether Die Hard has what it takes to be a Christmas movie. But over in Neverland, a quieter Christmas-flick debate has been buzzing about Hook (streaming here on Peacock), Steven Spielberg’s charming, live-action fantasy film that put the late, great Robin Williams in Peter Pan’s all-grown-up shoes.
Hook did release in the thick of the 1991 holiday season, and its story does begin at Christmastime. Like the Harry Potter movies, too, there’s tons of warmth and whimsy in Hook that evokes the spirit of the season, elevating its status as a family-friendly favorite that sees plenty of streaming action through the holidays.
Beyond its Christmas-movie bona fides, though, there’s another fun angle to Hook’s enduring appeal, and it has more to do with the galaxy far, far away than with Santa Claus. Among the movie’s huge handful of celebrity cameo appearances is a light-speed appearance from Princess Leia herself — not to mention the iconic creative mind behind the entire Star Wars movie-verse.
How Steven Spielberg snuck Carrie Fisher and George Lucas cameo roles into Hook
Yep, George Lucas and the late Carrie Fisher share a fleetingly brief on-screen moment in Hook, standing together on a London bridge while Tinker Bell (Julia Roberts) flies Williams’ character from the real world into Neverland — all while sprinkling her signature pixie dust from above. They’re even in the middle of a sweet couple’s kiss when the pixie dust scatters around them and works its magic, momentarily lifting the unsuspecting pair up off the ground.
Fans never knew that Lucas and Fisher had the honor of playing Hook’s levitating couple until the film’s 25th anniversary in 2016. Days before Fisher’s death in December of that year, The Wrap confirmed with “two Hook filmmakers — and Fisher herself — that she and the Star Wars creator [Lucas] appeared together in the scene.”
Though Fisher’s work wasn’t credited, she actually had a bigger role in Hook’s development than merely suiting up in cameo costume. Spielberg consulted Fisher on massaging the dialogue written for Tinker Bell, leaning on her well-known skills as a script doctor to add an extra dash of fantasy to Roberts’ character. “As thanks for her revisions to Hook,” reports Screen Rant, “Spielberg decided to give Fisher a cameo in the film. Additionally, Lucas was both a longtime friend of Spielberg and friends with Fisher from their work together on the original Star Wars trilogy, so Spielberg included him in the cameo as well.”
While you can’t see their famous faces in the cameo, Lucas and Fisher aren’t the only celebrities who Spielberg invited onto the Hook set for brief — yet easier to recognize — cameo appearances. Glenn Close turns up as a bearded pirate who Hook (Dustin Hoffman) tosses into a scorpion-filled ”Boo Box” as punishment, while the late Jimmy Buffett appears as the Neverland pirate who tries to pilfer Peter Pan’s shoes. Fellow musician David Crosby delivers the “long live the Hook!” callout in the movie’s opening scene, and even Spielberg himself — leading the pirates as they march aboard Hook’s boat — turns in a quick director’s cameo.
Stream Hook on Peacock here.
