According to director J.J. Abrams, Carrie Fisher’s unused footage has worked really well within Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
One concern regarding Episode IX was how would the late Carrie Fisher and her character Leia would fit into the movie. We know that director J.J. Abrams is using unused footage to keep her involved in The Rise of Skywalker but how is it going to work?
Well, in the recent Vanity Fair preview of the film, Abrams opened up about the whole thing, saying: “It’s hard to even talk about it without sounding like I’m being some kind of cosmic spiritual goofball but it felt like we suddenly had found the impossible answer to the impossible question.”
According to Vanity Fair, Abrams “started to write scenes around the old footage, fitting Leia’s dialogue into new contexts. He re-created the lighting to match the way Fisher had been lit. Bit by bit, she found her place in the new movie.”
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Abrams then explained: “It was a bizarre kind of left side/right side of the brain sort of Venn diagram thing, of figuring out how to create the puzzle based on the pieces we had.”
Abrams was also concerned about including scenes with Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd in the movie but the actress made clear that she wanted to share screen time with her mother so Abrams decided to keep this scenes intact:
“And so, there are moments where they’re talking; there are moments where they’re touching. There are moments in this movie where Carrie is there, and I really do feel there is an element of the uncanny, spiritual, you know, classic Carrie, that it would have happened this way, because somehow it worked. And I never thought it would.”
It’s going to be fun to see just how this all pieces together for the movie and what kind of impact Leia will have on the story. December can’t come soon enough for Star Wars fans.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is set for release on December 20th 2019 with J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) directing a cast that includes Star Warsveterans Daisy Ridley (Rey), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux), Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico), Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca), Billie Lourd (Lieutenant Connix), Greg Grunberg (Snap Wexley), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine) and Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa) as well as new additions Naomi Ackie (Lady Mabeth), Richard E. Grant (Logan), Dominic Monaghan (Lost), and Keri Russell (The Americans).
Originally published May 23, 2019. Updated May 24, 2019.
