Carrie Fisher on Coming Back as General Leia in Star Wars: The Force Awakens!

LeiaCarrie Fisher recently spoke to TIME discussing her decision to come back as Leia (now General), in the highly anticipated new Star Wars movie. She also briefly touched on how Leia changed through the years and more.

 

 

From Time:

Was it a difficult decision to come back and do this movie?
No, I’m a female and in Hollywood it’s difficult to get work after 30—maybe it’s getting to be 40 now. I long ago accepted that I am Princess Leia. I have that as a large part of the association with my identity. There wasn’t a lot of hesitation.

 

Did you miss making Star Wars movies?
No. That unstable I’m not. I miss being young, that was fun. They were fun to make. Not to the degree I imagine people think they were, like playing on a jungle gym. They’re not fun like that because there’s early calls and, as you get older, there are memory issues and pressure with that. But I was glad to do it.

 

Han and Leia

Had Leia changed over the years?
Oh my God, she got so much older. I tried to stop her, but apparently that includes death so that didn’t seem like a good solution. Along with aging comes life experience so in every way that is consistent with even being human, Leia has changed.

 

Do you bring aspects as an actress to this that you didn’t when you first played her?
Probably, but I try not to. I mean, one hopes that I at least indicate that I have wisdom. Whether I’m successful with that indication or not remains to be seen. And I wear less makeup and I need it more.

 

Leia

You wear less makeup in this film? Was that the director’s decision or yours?
No, it’s me. I’ve seen pictures of myself with makeup on and I look like those women who look like they’re wearing makeup so they can look young, and I don’t think that’s good. They have all these products now called—wait, what’s it called, it’s my favorite—youth suppressant, or age go away, they don’t work. I didn’t wear a lot of makeup to begin with and I was always—you have to be very careful with that stuff. It really annoys me that I’m vain, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to discard that tendency.

 

Website | + posts

Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.

Born on April 24, 1980.

Val Trichkov (Viral Hide)

Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

28 thoughts on “Carrie Fisher on Coming Back as General Leia in Star Wars: The Force Awakens!

  • November 24, 2015 at 7:35 pm
    Permalink

    I love how Carrie Fisher is totally self-conscious about her career as a single-character actress and how she embraces that without any hint of sadness. That’s wisdom.

    • November 24, 2015 at 7:49 pm
      Permalink

      She also embraces her age. She’s like a cool rockstar granny.

    • November 24, 2015 at 9:02 pm
      Permalink

      a single character actress may be mostly true but lets not forget the Blues Brothers, she was so freakin badass in that one!!

      • November 24, 2015 at 9:16 pm
        Permalink

        and ‘Drop dead fred’. Kicking the ass of an invisible imaginary friend.

      • November 24, 2015 at 10:06 pm
        Permalink

        And establishing an often-imitated archetype RomCom character in ‘When Harry Met Sally’

    • November 24, 2015 at 11:31 pm
      Permalink

      I thought she was great as the oral receiving nun in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back!

      • November 25, 2015 at 1:04 am
        Permalink

        Ah, yes. Got to live by the book 🙂

    • November 24, 2015 at 11:48 pm
      Permalink

      postcards from the edge is pretty highly regarded – what a perfect title only carrie could have come up with, ha – she’s had successes in other areas, but yeah no doubt the world over she’s princess leia…err…general leia 😛 have always loved her. she’s real and frigging hysterical.

  • November 24, 2015 at 8:10 pm
    Permalink

    I can relate to what she is saying and it’s really cool. I like so many, would love to hang out with her.

  • November 24, 2015 at 8:32 pm
    Permalink

    I can feel the goosebumps on my arm as we see Han reuniting with Leia.

  • November 24, 2015 at 8:40 pm
    Permalink

    There is an interesting scene on a recent issue of the Darth Vader comic book where Leia is talking to a surviving female pilot from Alderaan who bows to her and addresses her as “queen”, instead of princess, which makes sense since the Alderaan monarchy was hereditary and, with the destruction of Alderaan, Leia, as the last surviving member of the royal family, should be the new queen. A possible objection is that Leia was adopted . In the European monarchies on Earth for example, adopted children of a monarch don’t have succession rights, but maybe the laws on Alderaan were different. The female pilot appeared to feel very strongly about the royal family and I am pretty sure she would not have addressed Leia as queen if that were not her lawful title after the demise of her parents.

    • November 24, 2015 at 8:52 pm
      Permalink

      Leia doesn’t appear in the Darth Vader comic. I think you’re thinking of either the Star Wars comic or the Leia mini-series. They may have called her queen in the Leia comic, I don’t remember, but at the end, she abdicates the throne anyway, setting up an election process for the monarchy, rather than heredity. I believe she would still technically be a princess, but by the time of TFA, she certainly prefers to be called “General Organa” instead.

      • November 24, 2015 at 9:08 pm
        Permalink

        Yes, I’m aware that Leia has abdicated and rejects her royal inheritance. In the scene I quoted, when the pilot bows to her, she actually says that she doesn’t want to be treated as a royal anymore. I had the impression it was in one of the Darth Vader issues (the one that begins with an imperial ship or convoy being attacked by pirates and Vader showing up to rescue it), but I may be mistaken. Does anybody know for sure ?

        • November 24, 2015 at 9:45 pm
          Permalink

          With absolute certainty,the scene you’re referring to is from the Leia comic mini-series. It takes place in the base on Yavin IV just a short while after the medal ceremony in ANH. Although, she is the rightful heir to Alderaan…there’s no Alderaan anymore, so the title would be pointless. She also decides in the comic to reject her claim to royalty in order to focus on serving the Alliance. So technically, by the time of TESB she is no longer “Princess” Leia.

          • November 24, 2015 at 9:53 pm
            Permalink

            Yes, it is exactly that one, after the medal ceremony ! Thanks.

    • November 25, 2015 at 1:15 am
      Permalink

      I’m not reading the comics, but my understanding is that they are taking place between episodes 4 and 5, at which time, Leia would not have know she was adopted.

  • November 24, 2015 at 8:51 pm
    Permalink

    I LOVE YOU CARRIE! <3

  • November 24, 2015 at 8:57 pm
    Permalink

    You gotta love Carrie Fisher’s absolute genuineness. She is always straight forward and real, which is a quality I tend to really appreciate in people. She’s not fake or full of BS, like most of Hollywood.

    • November 25, 2015 at 4:50 am
      Permalink

      I think Carrie’s attitude kind of sums up Star Wars’ place in cinema aptly.
      Unpretentious, not too fancy, but unfailingly likable.

  • November 24, 2015 at 9:25 pm
    Permalink

    Princess Leia will no doubt go down as the most famous Princess in fiction history.

    Most famous non-fiction Princess?

    Diana.

  • November 24, 2015 at 9:32 pm
    Permalink

    She is awesome. Thanks Carrie!

  • November 24, 2015 at 11:14 pm
    Permalink

    She’s great! 🙂 <3

  • November 25, 2015 at 2:03 am
    Permalink

    I haven’t seen 7 yet and I’m already trying to guess how important she’ll be in eps 8 and 9…

  • November 25, 2015 at 10:43 am
    Permalink

    Having her return makes all kind of sense. A lot has been made of handing over to the new generation and rightly so. However I think there will be three clear plot points for the old guard. Episode VII – Han dying (Obviously). Episode VIII – Luke and Leia reunited. Episode VIIII – Luke faces Kylo and turns him to the good side……maybe.

  • November 25, 2015 at 4:45 pm
    Permalink

    I love her so much, she is so cynic and badass, that’s the attitude I like. You can tell she really loves the franchise, she just hates being called to reprise her role at her age. I can tell she would have liked to be like 15 years younger and be called to play Leia again.

  • November 25, 2015 at 5:11 pm
    Permalink

    I thought her real life daughter Billie Lourd being in Force Awakens was just a rumor, but apparently it’s for real. It’ll be interesting if they have any scenes together.

  • November 25, 2015 at 6:02 pm
    Permalink

    Looks like they stuck to the early EU idea of her not being force trained and more involved with the political side of things.

  • November 25, 2015 at 6:38 pm
    Permalink

    She’s so cool. Anyone who doubted her will be proven wrong by her performance

Comments are closed.

LATEST POSTS ON MOVIE NEWS NET