The Fangirly Diary of a Geek Girl: To me, she’s royalty

TUESDAY

After being hospitalized shortly before Christmas, Carrie Fisher passed away on Tuesday morning. It was a hard day for all of us Star Wars fans in general and of Carrie Fisher in particular. And it was a sad state of affairs than I learned more about this amazing woman after she passed away. I wish I had met her, because she certainly seemed like a beautiful person. Family, friends, fans and colleagues wrote heartfelt good-byes and lovely tributes, but my favourite, must be Mark Hamill’s. Here’s a peek:

Carrie was one-of-a-kind who belonged to us all- whether she liked it or not. She was OUR Princess, damn it, & the actress who played her blurred into one gorgeous, fiercely independent & ferociously funny, take-charge woman who took our collective breath away.

And yet the best obituary would be the one Carrie Fisher wanted for herself, which highlighted her sense of humor. The anecdote comes from her one-woman show turned book Wishful Drinking, where George Lucas bullshitted an excuse about why she couldn’t wear a bra under her Princess Leia clothes: “What happens is you go to space and you become weightless. […] Your body expands? But your bra doesn’t—so you get strangled by your own bra.”

I tell my younger friends that no matter how I go, I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra.

WEDNESDAY

While everyone was reeling after the loss of Carrie Fisher, and Star Wars and comicbook artists kept sharing their tributes, we got the second shock of the week. The amazing Debbie Reynolds died on Wednesday, one day after her daughter Carrie.

But as tacky as might sound to talk about this, people still ask what does Carrie Fisher’s passing mean for the future of the Star Wars franchise? While Star Wars: Episode VIII wrapped months ago, and it’s likely this won’t impact the film much, it was said that General Leia will have a larger role in it. But how will Leia’s story be affected, we don’t know. I just hope Leia’s journey comes to a satisfying conclusion… and they don’t have to CGI her presence too much in Episode IX.

Talking about that king of CGI use, Peter Cushing’s Tarkin was in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and it was fine. Not perfect, but fine. But what if the effects sucked? Well, it’s good to always have a Plan B like “conversations via hologram, or transferring that dialogue to other characters”. But now that it is shown it can be done, will this open the door to more movies using digital reproductions of dead actors? ILM chief creative officer John Knoll doesn’t think so:

This was done for very solid and defendable story reasons. This is a character that is very important to telling this kind of story. It is extremely labor-intensive and expensive to do. I don’t imagine anybody engaging in this kind of thing in a casual manner. We’re not planning on doing this digital re-creation extensively from now on. It just made sense for this particular movie.

We know that Rogue One could have been a different movie. At least going by the trailers. But Ben Mendelsohn, a.k.a. Director Orson Krennic, said a different version of Rogue One exists, “with enormous differences within I would’ve said 20 or 30 of the scenes.”

mirella

YAM Magazine geek resident. Cloud Cuckoolander. Seldom web developer. Graphic designer.

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