Even Princess Leia Got Fooled By Her Own Cameo

Image courtesy of Fandango.com

 Last Christmas' release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ultimately became Carrie Fisher's swan song to the Star Wars universe, but even she was fooled by her own cameo when she saw a cut of the film before release.

More on this after the jump.

 December 27, 2016 is a date that will forever live in infamy in the hearts of Star Wars fans worldwide when our own Princess Leia, Carrie Fisher, passed away at the age of 60. Being a big Star Wars fan myself, I shed tears upon hearing of her death. It felt like a huge chunk of my childhood had suddenly been taken away from me. At the same time, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story had just recently come out and it was a bit cathartic to see our dear Princess light up our screens one more time, albeit in a CGI manner.

The movie itself was a bit controversial for using CGI to bring to life Peter Cushing, reprising his role as Grand Moff Tarkin, the supervisor of the newly-operational Death Star. Tarkin was surprisingly essential to the story of the movie, but it was Leia's CGI cameo that brought the house down when it appeared on-screen. She appears in the movie's closing moments, receiving the Death Star plans and barely getting away from Darth Vader who just finished mowing through Rebel soldiers in another show-stopping moment in the film. It was there that fans ultimately knew that the movie took place literally hours before Star Wars: A New Hope began, and that spawned a million new re-watches of the timeless classic.

In an interview with Fandango, Rogue One director Gareth Edwards said that the footage had even the Princess scratching her head:

"Kathy [Kennedy] is really good friends with her. We knew it was a really important moment and we wanted Carrie to be happy, so Kathy went to her house with her laptop when we felt the shot was close, if not finished. We had about two weeks left, and Kathy went around her house and everyone was waiting to hear. [Kathy] said she showed it to her and [Carrie] thought it was footage. She didn't realize it was CGI. She thought we had some footage. She didn't remember the take and thought we had manipulated a take from the original film. But they told her it was all computer generated and she was really impressed. We were all just so pleased she approved it." 

 With her (and Cushing's) CGI re-creation spawning talk about the ethics of using dead actors in new films, many people have gone on record going against it saying that it disrespects the memory of the deceased. Cushing's estate gave its go-signal to use his likeness, so I personally don't have any trouble with it. And with the movie already reaching blockbuster status just days upon its release, it took on a whole new meaning (emotionally) upon Ms. Fisher's passing, most especially since the single most important word she utters is "Hope."

What did you think of her cameo? Any dead actors you hope to see get digitally resurrected in the future? Hit me up in the comments section below. Have a great day y'all!