Carrie Fisher Was Pressured to Lose 35 lbs for STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
Obviously, Lucasfilm and Disney wanted Carrie Fisher back to reprise her role as General Leia in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but they wanted her to lose weight for the part. In a recent interview with Good Housekeeping, she reveals that that she was pressured to lose at least 35 pounds. She says:
“They don’t want to hire all of me – only about three-quarters! Nothing changes, it’s an appearance-driven thing. I’m in a business where the only thing that matters is weight and appearance. That is so messed up. They might as well say get younger, because that’s how easy it is.”
Despite her frustration of having to drop the pounds, Fisher ended up slimming down for the part. She went on to talk about the magical secrets of losing weight, saying:
“I did it the same way everybody has to – don’t eat and exercise more! There is no other way to do it. I have a harder time eating properly than I do exercising. It’s easier for me to add an activity than to deny myself something. When I do lose the weight I don’t like that it makes me feel good about myself. It’s not who I am. My problem is they talk to me like an actress but I hear them like a writer.”
She wasn’t the only one who was asked to lose weight, though. Mark Hamill also had to slim down for the role of Luke Skywalker, and you know what? From what I’ve seen of them since The Force Awakens has started shooting they look great and healthy. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with staying in shape and eating healthy. She said herself that it made her feel good about herself. I can see the pressure of slimming down for a movie role being discouraging, though.
I wonder how Hamill felt about having to get back into shape because over the years he kinda let himself go. Like I said earlier, though, they both look great, and I'm excited to see how their character story arcs play out of the course of this upcoming trilogy.