Carrie Fisher Talks About Her Experience Playing Princess Leia Over The Years
It seems that no matter where you look, you are going to find something linked to Star Wars. I don’t mind — I am a huge Star Wars fan. As a fanboy, I always dreamed that it would be amazingly fun to be a cast member of any of the movies. It's always interesting to hear behind the scenes stories from the cast.
Recently, Time.com was able to sit down and speak with original cast member (and The Force Awakens star) Carrie Fisher. They covered her experience of playing Princess Leia both 32 years ago and today. Here are some excerpts from the Q&A:
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."
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."
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."
It’s an interesting perspective on the making of a Star Wars experience. I honestly thought it was an "all fun, games, and rainbows" situation. I wasn’t expecting such an honest response to the questions. It is quite refreshing. For more about Fisher's experience as Leia, read the full interview at Time.
