Friday, November 21, 2008 at 11:40 am
True Incredible Star Wars Secrets from Carrie Fisher's Memoir
I know that what you're really excited about is finding out which one I like better, Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour. (It's Rock Band 2.)
But as it happens I got an early copy of Carrie Fisher's memoir Wishful Drinking, which is coming out in early December, and it's actually pretty entertaining -- it's very sort of wry and self-knowing. And in between a chapter about her famous mom (Debbie Reynolds) and one about her famous ex-husband (Paul Simon) there's the obligatory stuff that we all want to hear, about what it was like to play Princess Leia.
Some of this stuff is already in the public domain. Maybe all of it is, and I just hadn't heard about it. I did know the one about how the only directions George Lucas ever gave on set were "faster" and "more intense." And the one about how he made Fisher tape her boobs down with gaffer tape. And I probably could have inferred the one about how she was afraid Leia's weird hairstyle made her face look fat.
But I didn't know the story about how when they were filming the scene in the trash compactor, the beast that lived in there was called a Dianoga, and "in between takes of Mark simulating the strangulation, he would pick up a little piece of rubber trash and start singing (to the tune of 'Chattanooga Choo-Choo'), 'Pardon me, George, could this be Dianoga poo-poo?' (Okay, I guess you had to be there.)"
Now I know. Now we all know.
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Lev Grossman is a senior writer at TIME. As TIME's book critic he has written profiles of Philip Roth, Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion, Jonathan Franzen, John Updike, John le Carré, Stephenie Meyer, Khaled Hosseini and J.K. Rowling, among many others. The New York Times has called him one of "this country's smartest and most reliable critics." Read more
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Matt Selman has worked on eleven seasons and over two hundred episodes of The Simpsons. He currently serves as an Executive Producer.
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Friday, November 21, 2008 at 1:09 pm
What, did you think it was going to be like Masterpiece Theatre up in there? All getting served Earl Grey on fine china, everyone all studying up on method acting? Chewbacca all sipping daintily with his Wookiee pinkie finger sticking out?
Friday, November 21, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Early on the fans didn't know what the official name for the compactor creature was (or if there even was one.) A group at a con in Boston noticed "scrod" on the menu. They were unfamiliar with the fish (must have been from out of town,) and decided it was the perfect name. IIRC, Starlog picked up that story, and the name stuck until the official one was revealed.
Friday, November 21, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Sounds like a good read; she's pretty funny when she talks about growing up in Hollywood and I always love more SW stories.
Friday, November 21, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Great...now I've got Chattanooga Choo-Choo stuck in my head. Thanks, Lev.
Friday, November 21, 2008 at 3:10 pm
"More intense," that pretty much sums it up. Though do we need any more evidence of how good a director Lucas is? We already have Episodes 1-4 and Howard the Duck.
Friday, November 21, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Deleted page from Carrie Fisher's book:
.
During the scene in Empiere where I try to make Han jealous by kissing Luke, I argued that Leia would never do something so juvinile like trying to make someone jealous by kissing his friend and that it might cause later probelms between Luke and Leia.
.
George responded, "Carrie, I've spent years of my life planning every movement that these characters make, and every single event that will ever happen to them. I've even planned out the backstory in three awesome movies that will never be shot because the technology will never exist to fully capture my incredible vision. I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty that Leia would have no reason whatsover to hesitate about kissing Luke. And there's certainly no reason that they would ever regret or feel awkward about that kiss.
.
So my nickname on the Return of Jedi set was 'Brother Kisser'....
Friday, November 21, 2008 at 6:22 pm
@Kemper: Luke shot first. Bada-bing!
Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 9:17 am
@Church: How long until Lucas releases the special edition digitally enhanced version of that?
Sunday, November 23, 2008 at 9:17 pm
The Dianoga song isn't exactly news. Carrie Fisher mentioned it back in 2004, on the Star Wars DVD commentary, during the trash compactor scene. She even mimicked Mark's voice and attempted to sing that line.
I only wish she appeared more during that commentary track. All of her tidbits were priceless, including her uncanny story about why Leia looked so happy and cheerful during Cloud City.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 1:37 pm
[...] is due in bookstores next Tuesday, and the early copies are making their way into the hands of the media. There’s a hefty three-part except - Star Wars is the middle selection - in the Daily Mail. A [...]
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Thank you for declaring Rock Band 2 the winner. My wife likes the visuals in GHWT better. I can't fathom singing 50% of the songs in GHWT. It's just not a good band game. It's great as a guitar game.