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Cape Town – She’s no Jabba the Hutt but Carrie Fisher, famed for her iconic role of Princess Leia is revealing that she was asked by Disney to lose weight in her role as Leia for the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens film – 40 years after she was first forced to shed kilo’s to play the role.
Fischer told the new December issue of British magazine Good Housekeeping that Disney executives pressured her to lose the pounds to play Leia – the same as what happened almost 40 years ago when she originated the famed role.
“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,” Fisher told the magazine.
“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… We treat beauty like an accomplishment and that is insane.”
Fischer, now 59 and who Star Wars moviegoers will see in December as a wiser and greyer yet still regal looking Leia, said she was told to shed 15kg.
A few years ago in her book Shockaholic, she revealed how she was told to lose 4.5kg “when I got the part in Star Wars and I couldn’t ‘cause I weighed 47.6kg at the time”.
And in her memoir Wishful Drinking, Fisher reveals that she hated the white dress from Star Wars: A New Hope but hated the bronze slave girl bikini from Return of the Jedi the most of all her outfits.
In the first movie she also went without any underwear – apparently her costume didn’t allow for any underwear lines to be visible, and thus worn, underneath. Her breasts were taped down with gaffer tape.
The second season of Star Wars Rebels is currently showing on Saturdays on Disney XD (DStv 404) at 15:35 and Star Wars: The Force Awakens will debut on 16 December globally and in South Africa at Ster Kinekor and Nu Metro.
The film will be screened in 2D and 3D (no R2-D2) with prices ranging from R24 to over R110 for the IMAX version.
Watch the trailer here:
