Carrie Fisher Wanted Another Iconic ‘Star Wars’ Role In 1977

Among the millions of tributes aimed towards Carrie Fisher, the Star Wars community has been simply incredible. The fans of the popular science-fiction franchise have done everything, from petitions to make Princess Leia an official Disney Princess, to having minute-long silences in honour of the actress, to simply send regards and prayers to the Fisher family. Carrie Fisher became immortalised when she portrayed the role of Princess/General Leia in 1977’s Star Wars. The film, which at the time looked like a huge flop, over performed making over $775 million in 1977. To make that number even more staggering, in 2017 American dollars, the film brought in $3.1 billion. Pretty good for a movie that no one gave any chance, right?

However, upon reading George Lucas’ screenplay, Carrie Fisher wanted a completely different role. In a new issue of SFX, which was written before Fisher passed, the actress revealed that she originally wanted to play Han Solo. Of course, Solo went to unknown actor Harrison Ford, and the rest is history. Fisher went on to say:

“I remember I read the script out loud with a friend of mine, Miguel Ferrer. It read fantastic. We both wanted to play the part of Han Solo because that was the best part. I couldn’t imagine how they were going to pull it off [but] I definitely wanted to be in it given that they had a chance at pulling it off.”

Imagine how different Star Wars would have been if Carrie Fisher played Han Solo. The actress then went on to discuss how terrified she was to tackle the part, and the attitude it required:

“When I got the part they told me I had to lose 15 pounds so I thought I’d better lose that or they’ll fire me! I kept thinking they would realise they’d made a mistake so I kept very quiet, which, if you know me is unbelievable!”

And finally, the magazine asked Carrie Fisher how she felt about those iconic buns:

“When [George Lucas] said, ‘We’re going to put that awful hairstyle on you,’ I grew to love it. ‘What do you think of this?’ they asked. ‘Do you like it?’ I said, ‘It’s fantastic!’ So that’s why that [hairstyle] exists. I did whatever they said as I kept thinking they’d realise what they’d done and fire me.”

Like many Star Wars fans around the world, I have yet to fully-recover from her passing. You can always go and check out Carrie Fisher in the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as The Force Awakens. What do you guys think? Would you have liked to have seen Fisher portray Han Solo?

Source: SFX (via GamesRadar)