Earlier this year we lost iconic actor, director and legend Carl Weathers who passed away in his sleep after suffering from cardiovascular disease. Weathers was an an actor beloved by many after starring in the Rocky franchise as Rocky Balboa’s rival turned mentor and friend Apollo Creed as well as other hits like Predator and Happy Gilmore.
One of Weathers’ most recent roles was starring in the Star Wars TV series The Mandalorian as Greef Karga, a bounty hunter who became the magistrate of a small town. Weathers recurred in the series throughout its three seasons, but also directed a couple episodes in its second and third seasons. He was a memorable part of the series as one of Din Djarin’s closest allies in his fight against the Empire and mission to protect Grogu, the young Force-sensitive foundling he took under his care.
At Fan Expo Canada this past weekend, The Mandalorian stars Temuera Morrison (Boba Fett), Emily Swallow (The Armourer) and Giancarlo Esposito (Moff Gideon) remembered Weathers and how much of a generous and a fun spirit he was both on and off set.
“We all miss Carl, God bless his soul. I was with him in Atlanta, probably his last signing,” Morrison said. “I always went up to Carl and pretended I was Sylvester Stallone and he would always say ‘on your toes, on your toes’. What a beautiful man. He was actually getting fit to be on another program too. He was watching his diet and he was training a little bit more intensely. What a beautiful man. Plus we got to work with him on The Mandalorian as a director and actor so it was wonderful to be part of. I love boxing so I always used to ask him his knowledge. He was a great sportsman too back in his day, but he would never actually box he would say. He was more of a track and field guy.”
Esposito shared the sentiment of Weathers’ character, saying “Carl was a beautiful, beautiful spirit. I knew him for a number of years and I just feel like he’s right beyond the veil. When I start to think about his passing, it just really stunned me but I realized wow, what a kind of beautiful death. He went to sleep and he was out of here.”
He went on to share a story of his time in London filming Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen series which also coincided with Star Wars Celebration London, which he and Weathers were both guests. Weathers had gone into a shoe store and discovered Esposito got the shoes he wore for his character in The Gentlemen from there and called Esposito to ask his opinion on the shoes and whether he should get them off the rack or made from scratch, in which he balked at both the price and the idea of getting two pair until Esposito finally shouted at him “Carl, just get the shoes!”
For Swallow, she had a more intimate memory of him as a fan who had watched his films and found his presence to be intimidating, but discovered a significant mutual interest. “I remember being so delighted when I found out what a big fan of theatre Carl was,” she told the crowd. “I still remember the moment, it was also the moment at Celebration but it was in Anaheim, when he and I were sitting at a table in the green room and he started to tell me about this play he was really excited to go see in Los Angeles and Joe Morton was in it. I said ‘well Carl, I’m in that play’ and he looked at me and I realized he was recalculating who he thought I was and all of a sudden this whole new world of conversation opened up to us which was wonderful because I didn’t know he was such a fan of live theatre.”
She also praised Weathers’ desire to learn from everyone around him, whether they were fellow actors, directors or writers. “He was such a student of actors and the process and directors. He wanted to know how people worked. He came to see the play. We had great conversations about it and it really changed the way we knew each other. It showed me so clearly I also had this idea of him. He was this huge persona and I was a little intimidated by that. I don’t know a lot about football, I didn’t know what we were going to talk about. He became such a dear friend and I just always remember how curious he was and how generous he was and extending his spirit to other people and wanting to know what made you tick, how do you work, how do you do this. He was always wanting to learn more.”
What was you favourite Carl Weathers role? Would you liked to have seen more of him in the Star Wars universe? Let us know on our social channels at @FlickeringMyth…
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.