I am Princess Leia! | 4

Inside Star Wars

Wondery

Documentary, Film History, Tv & Film, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2019

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Casting begins for Star Wars. Carrie Fisher wins a role, runs into the rain, and shouts to the heavens: “I am Princess Leia!” George Lucas doesn’t want Harrison Ford in the cast, but it just so happens Harrison's building a door all week and is in the right place at the right time. Mark Hamill awakens on Robert Englund’s couch just in time to find out about “the perfect role” for him - with dialogue that is absolutely befuddling. The men inside R2D2 and C3PO come to terms with the extraordinary discomfort of their costumes - and their dislike for each other. Alec Guinness hates science fiction “fairy-tale rubbish” and considers Lucas to be “a touch boring.” Meanwhile Lucas is plowing his own money into Star Wars and still has no green light from Fox. That’s when he faces a choice: Either make the movie for half of what he needs or Star Wars will be shut down.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey Prime members, you can listen to Inside Star Wars, ad free on Amazon Music, download the app today.
0:07.0	The following may contain mature content.
0:15.0	From Wundry, I'm Mark Ramsey, and this is Inside Star Wars, part four.
0:29.8	Next.
0:31.7	Casting days are never fun for anyone.
0:35.0	Hundreds of star-eyed actors struggling for that one big break.
0:39.0	Come on in, sit down.
0:43.0	For the filmmaker, hours of running lines, mostly forgettable, always exhausting.
0:49.0	Name Carrie, Carrie Fisher.
0:51.0	In front of Carrie, two desks. It front of Carrie two desks.
0:54.0	One the director of American graffiti who was now casting Star Wars.
0:58.0	At the other, filmmaker Brian De Palma, who was simultaneously casting for the Stephen King horror movie
1:04.0	Carrie. Two casting sessions at once, great way to kill two birds with one stone or
1:10.4	more like 500 actors with one stone.
1:13.0	De Palma did all the talking.
1:15.0	Carrie Fisher, aren't you Debbie Reynolds daughter?
1:19.0	As always, Carrie had to pause.
1:21.0	Would the answer to that question make this audition easier or harder?
1:24.4	Oh, what the fuck did it matter? It was what it was.
1:28.2	No, it's more like Debbie Reynolds is my mother.
1:31.0	She used that line before and it works. Carrie was always great at
1:37.7	dialogue. So you just worked with Warren Beatty right? Did you enjoy that? Yes, I did. He was, oh holy shit now what?
	...

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