Carrie Fisher: Don’t Call Princess Leia a Damsel in Distress

One glimpse at the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer and it's clear that Daisy Ridley's Rey is a feminist hero taking shape. And, as far as Carrie Fisher's concerned, that's just in keeping with the franchise's tradition.

In an interview with Rolling Stone published today (December 9), Fisher, who starred as the iconic Princess Leia in the franchise's original Star Wars triology, dismisses writer Brian Hiatt's characterization of the character: that she was—of course—a hero, but began as a damsel in distress. If you ask Fisher, distress was never part of Leia's world.

"What distress?" Fisher demands. "You know, [men freed her], but then it was, 'What are we doing now? And she bossed them around and… distress? [Laughs] I don't know what your idea of distress is, but that wasn't [it]. I was locked up, but, you know, so were the guys later on. What about them? And also I wasn't some babe running through the galaxy with my tits bouncing around."

Still, being so self-assured was tough in the initial stages of production, when the Star Wars universe was still imagined, and certain abstract words, places and objects had yet to come to fruition.

"The biggest thing where I'm bad is the first scene I shot, which was, 'Governor Tarkin, I thought I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board!'" Fisher recalls. "I tried to do it quietly and calmly, you know, like a human [laughs]. And George [Lucas] said, 'You're really upset. It's your planet, that's everything.' And it ends up sounding British, and, you know, I'm embarrassed by that."

And it seems certain nerves resurfaced on the set of The Force Awakens, filmed nearly 40 years later.

"I was very nervous," Fisher admits. "I had a lot of memory problems initially—just horrific—and then it got better. I settled in."

What do you make of Fisher's remarks? Read the full interview, share your thoughts, and be sure to catch her as GENERAL LEIA in Star Wars: The Force Awakens in theaters on December 18!

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