Remembering Carrie Fisher, Our Princess

The galaxy is missing its princess today.

Weirdly enough, when I learned that Carrie Fisher had passed away at the age of 60 following a heart attack, I was en route to my fourth viewing of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. During the final moments of the film, I could hardly hold back the tears welling underneath my 3D glasses.

I fell in love with Star Wars and Fisher's snarky, no-nonsense and, unbeknownst to me at the time, groundbreaking portrayal of Princess Leia Organa when I was just three years old. The Empire Strikes Back was my first film from the saga, weirdly enough, and I was introduced to Leia as a take-charge leader of the Rebel Alliance who was just as strong as and often smarter than her male counterparts. She was the only woman that could match wits with Han Solo, and when she had orders to evacuate the Rebel base on Hoth, everyone listened.

I saw A New Hope and Return of the Jedi later on, and even though she was captured and required saving in both of those films, Leia never played the "damsel in distress" role that was commonplace in the sci-fi/fantasy genre at the time. She routinely mouthed off to her captors and even saved her saviors in the 1977 original film, and in Return of the Jedi, the enslaved princess choked out the vile, slug-like Jabba the Hutt with the chain around her own neck. If that's not feminist symbolism, I don't know what is.

As was likely the case with many young, male Star Wars fans at the time, Leia was the ideal female companion, not because she was beautiful (and let's be real, Carrie Fisher was a knockout), but because she wasn't as helpless as the other princesses out there in pop culture. As for the girls, she was aspirational, and being Leia while playing Star Wars in the backyard meant you could blast Imperial Stormtroopers just like the boys.

More than a childhood icon, Fisher was a brilliant writer, a beacon of mental health advocacy and a refreshingly candid personality who never shied away from poking fun at herself and her bizarre career. Based on the incredibly outpouring of emotion on my social media feeds, she touched countless lives in unexpected ways.

The universe loved her. I hope she knew.

Hamill, Fisher and Ford to Return for Disney’s ‘Star Wars’ Sequels

George Lucas has strongly hinted that Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher will indeed reprise the roles of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia in Disney’s forthcoming continuation of the Star Wars saga.

“We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison — or we were pretty much in final stages of negotiation,” the Star Wars creator told Bloomberg Businessweek, referring to the status of the sequel films when Disney purchased Lucasfilm for $4 billion last year. “Maybe I’m not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do, but we were negotiating with them.”

Well, there you have it. Although we can hardly take Mr. Lucas’ statement as 100 percent confirmation — that will likely come in the form of the aforementioned “whoop-de-do” — but it seems that all of those rumors of the original cast’s involvement in the new Star Wars films have finally been substantiated.

For more Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm and what it means for the future of the Star Wars franchise, check out Businessweek’s comprehensive feature by clicking here.

Carrie Fisher Strikes Back

Carrie Fisher, Princess Leia herself, is feuding with the producer of her hit autobiographical Broadway show Wishful Drinking, saying that he owes her more than $60,000, the New York Post reports.

Fisher, who wrote and performed the one-woman show, claims that since her producer, Jonathan Reinis, did not fulfill certain contractual obligations during its run at New York’s infamous Studio 54, all of the rights to the show revert back to her.

“As you can imagine, Jonny seems to be a bit cranky, which I figure is why he still hasn’t paid me the remaining money he owes me,” she told the newspaper via e-mail.

Ronald Feiner, a lawyer representing Reinis, says Fisher’s claims are false. “It is our belief that she owes us a substantial amount in lost profits from what could be a lucrative tour,” he told the Post. “We have offers from Australia, Canada and theaters around the United States, but we are unable to close the deal because she will not perform the show.”

Fisher also says that Wishful Drinking was to be moved to a “first-class” Broadway house by December 31 of last year, which would mean a substantial salary increase. Reportedly, Fisher earned only $2,500 a week from the show at Studio 54.

“For whatever reason, [Reinis] was unable to get it done,” she said. “I don’t know why, since I was told there was plenty of theater availability. So, his rights reverted back to me under our contract.”

Unfortunately, I never got around to seeing Wishful Drinking, but I did read the book, which is loaded with behind-the-scenes Star Wars anecdotes. Apparently, according to George Lucas, Fisher could not wear a bra in A New Hope because there is no underwear in space. We later learned, thankfully, that gold bikinis are plentiful there.