A triumvirate of Star Wars cast members — Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and John Boyega (Finn the Stormtrooper) — want to screen The Force Awakens early for a terminally ill fan, and they're taking to social media to do it.
A 32-year-old Star Wars superfan named Daniel Fleetwood was diagnosed with a rare form of connective tissue cancer called spindle cell sarcoma this past July, and was told he would have only two months to live. Since Fleetwood was given the news, his friends and family began a Twitter campaign called #ForceforDaniel directed at the J.J. Abrams-helmed production company Bad Robot and distributor Disney Studios to allow the dying fan to see the film before it's too late.
While it's unknown exactly how Hamill, Mayhew or Boyega became aware of the social media campaign or hashtag, both Luke and Finn retweeted the hashtag to their myriad of fans on Oct. 30.
A dying man's wish to see #StarWars The Force Awakens Help spread the word : #ForceForDaniel https://t.co/0tA3ET3DdH pic.twitter.com/zbWM7VhvGK
— Nerd Fu (@TheNerdFu) October 30, 2015
Chewy had RT'ed a #ForceforDaniel tweet composed and posted by Ashley Fleetwood, Daniel's partner, a few days earlier on Oct. 28.
#forcefordaniel help my man get his last wish, to see a screening of Star Wars before cancer takes him. @bad_robot pic.twitter.com/XCuYD0KlpY
— Ashley Fleetwood (@pandorashley) October 29, 2015
The Force Awakens director himself is not unfamiliar with this type of situation — in 2013, Abrams screened his film Star Trek: Into Darkness weeks before release for the former director of the New York Asian Film Festival Daniel Craft, who, at the time, had been recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. Craft passed away a only a few days later.
As of now, neither Abrams nor Disney Studios has commented on the #ForceforDaniel campaign.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set to premiere on Dec. 18.
Via: The Verge
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