What Carrie Fisher Taught THE LAST JEDI Cast and Rian Johnson

It’s impossible to think about The Last Jedi and not consider how it is Carrie Fisher‘s final appearance in a Star Wars movie. The story is ending for Leia Organa, rebel, princess, and general. Thinking about saying any sort of good-bye isn’t easy, but the sadness is lessened somewhat when you consider how much of a legacy she left behind. When we spoke to the Episode VIII cast and director Rian Johnson, we asked them what they learned from Carrie Fisher.

[brightcove video_id=”5682622847001″ brightcove_account_id=”3653334524001″ brightcove_player_id=”rJs2ZD8x”]You’ll note they don’t cite any particular instances of Fisher dispensing advice, but instead took away lessons from how Fisher behaved. She lived unapologetically and with flair and didn’t care what others thought. It’s her overall behavior that was inspiring. We could all stand to embrace some of that “I don’t care what anyone else thinks of me” spirit.

With Rian Johnson, we asked about Fisher’s contributions to the script. Because as he points out, Fisher was first and foremost a writer. He said, “I sat down with Carrie and we would just spend hours going over her scenes and mostly she threw out one-liners and jokes. It’s so hard talking about a movie you can’t talk about. I’ll be excited after it comes out to talk about some of the scenes where I worked with her and we kind of shaped it and what she contributed to it.”

I look forward to learning more specifics about what she added to The Last Jedi in the coming weeks and months.

Did you learn anything from Carrie Fisher or Leia Organa? Share your favorite bits of wisdom in the comments or come tell me on Twitter.

Amy Ratcliffe is an Associate Editor for Nerdist. She likes Star Wars a little. Follow her on Twitter.

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