Return of the Jedi! Luke Skywalker to sell signed Star Wars posters for Ukraine – POLITICO

Do you like Star Wars? Do you hate Vladimir Putin? Then there’s good news as Luke Skywalker will start selling signed posters to raise money to keep the Ukrainian army’s drone supply going.

“We decided to sign Star Wars posters, in limited quantities,” Mark Hamill, the actor who played Skywalker in the iconic films, told POLITICO in an exclusive interview. “For true hardcore collectors – especially those with disposable income – you can get a lot more money…than you might imagine.”

Exactly how the posters will go on sale has yet to be finalized, but the idea of ​​”bringing in hundreds and thousands of people [a competition or auction]it’s smart,” Hamill said.

The sale of posters is due to start next week and comes ahead of the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine on February 24, with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov saying Russia was planning a major offensive.

It really is Return of the Jedi – Hamill has revealed he hasn’t sold any autographed items since 2017, when ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ was released. “It’s just not something I do,” he said, adding that he was happy to do it in support of Ukraine, whose ongoing fight against Russia is “simply inspiring. “.

Hamill said that something he learned from the world(s) of Star Wars was to do “the right thing for the good of all, rather than being solely focused on self-interest”, adding that comparing the two worlds should not trivialize “the real horrors of what Ukrainians face.

“We really are a children’s fairy tale, originally it was Star Wars. And the reality, the harsh reality of what is happening in Ukraine, is heartbreaking.

The money raised from the sale of the posters will go to the Ukrainian fundraising platform United24. Hamill became an ambassador for the platform’s “Army of Drones” project in September after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally asked him to join the fight against the “evil empire”, as he called Russia – a reference to the Galactic Empire, the brutal dictatorship led by the evil Palpatine in the Star Wars saga.

The actor says he’s “thrilled” the fundraising project has evolved into this “massive global event”, saying “anything I can do, no matter how small, is something I feel compelled to do. make”.

The “drone army” involves the purchase, maintenance and training of drones, as drones are used to monitor the frontline, according to the project’s website. “Drones are so vital in this conflict. They are eyes in the sky. They protect the border, they watch,” Hamill said.

The project is a joint venture between the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Digital Transformation and United24. The latter was created by Zelenskyy and has so far raised more than 1.8 million euros.

Other celebrities, including the group Imagine Dragons and singer and actress Barbra Streisand, have also been named ambassadors for the platform.

“The light will overcome the darkness. I believe in this, our people believe in this,” Zelenskyy told Hamill in a video call last year, thanking him for supporting the people of Ukraine.