From above:2001 TV movie
These Old Broads, written by
Fisher and starring her mother
Debbie Reynolds, Shirley
MacLaine, ex-stepmom
Elizabeth Taylor and Joan
Collins; Julia Roberts and
Steven Spielberg on the set of
the Fisher-finessedHook(1991);
Rene Russo in 1992’sLethal
Weapon 3. Fisher was hired to
bring depth to the role; 1992’s
Sister Act. Whoopi Goldberg
brought Fisher back forMade
In America(1993);
The Wedding Singer’s ‘hip
grandma’ was a Fisher creation
in 1998.
I WORKED WITH Carrie onAmazon Women On The Moon, which was a
sketch comedy, and the parts were all famous cameos. The episode I did
with her was calledReckless Youthand was a parody of 1930s sex
exploitation movies. The first thing that struck me about Carrie was how
there was an inner light that came out of her. Plus, she had this killer
sense of humour. She managed to pull out a reserve of bad acting that I
didn’t think was even possible. We just had a ball.
OnThe ’Burbs, she played Tom Hanks’ wife, Carol. What she brought
to that role, which is generally a thankless one because everybody else
got all the funny lines, was phenomenal. Not only was she very sexy and
cute, but because we shot the picture in sequence during a writers’
strike, we were able to do a lot of ad-libbing. Much of Carrie and Tom’s
relationship came out of improv.
She was able to bring a lot of her personality into every part. Later, I
was supposed to do a picture with Sylvester Stallone calledStop! Or My
Mom Will Shootand Carrie came in to do some script-doctoring. We got
up to about 40 pages, realised it wasn’t working and bowed out. But I got
a glimpse of one of the most brilliant people I ever knew. She was always
on. Frankly after a little while it would get exhausting trying to keep up.
She was so good at it and it came so effortlessly. As a person to have in
your life, she was really one of a kind.I CAN’T ACTUALLY remember the first or the last time Carrie and I met.
On set. At a party. Over dinner. Over dinner with Gary. It doesn’t matter.
But back in 1976, trotting next to her, racing to congratulate Luke
for nixing the Death Star, her boobs bouncing too high for a PG-13 as she
clutched them, giggling, I laughed too. And we both laughed after dinner
a year later when the maître’d at Dar Maghreb on Hollywood Boulevard
congratulated her on her performance inA New Hope, adding that the
only thing he hadn’t liked in the film was that silly gold robot. He was
English. She doubled the tip. She was always generous and kind.
I am one of the few who have looked into her beautiful eyes and had
them look directly, deeply, warmly back into mine. And back into
See-Threepio’s eyes, too. The reality and honesty of her performance
coaxed the audience to believe my gold man was a real, valued
companion (even though she did brutally switch me off inEmpire).
She is Leia. She was Carrie. I have yet to tell Threepio of the news. I
know he will be inconsolable. Utterly. Long after I have had my memory
wiped, our Princess will live on. I wish her eternal peace.JOE DANTE
ANTHONY DANIELS
FISHER ONLY GOTcleanafter
a 30-day spell in rehab in 1985, following a
near-fatal overdose. It is a period of her life
deftly satirised in her novelPostcards From The
Edge, a book that crystallised many of the
popular perceptions of rehab culture that still
pervade today. The famed 12-step programme
also got her to confront her long-standing issues
with mental illness. Following in her father’s
troubled footsteps, Fisher was oficially
diagnosed with bipolar disorder aged 24,
although she refused to accept it (she once signed
into a hospital under the name ‘Shame’). If she
remained largely drug- and drink-free for the rest
of her life, her disorder remained a constant
struggle, which she never shied away from
discussing. Her words gave succour to many
going through similar struggles; she once even
suggested there be a Bipolar Pride Day.
“Writing about [having bipolar disorder] did
help me to be able to talk about my illness in the
abstract, to make light of it,” she toldPeoplein- “That’s my way of surviving, to abstract it
into something that’s funny and not dangerous.”
Fisher lived with her issues while fashioning
a ridiculously successful screenwriting career.
The success of her adaptation ofPostcards
From The Edgeled to her becoming one of
Hollywood’s most proliic script doctors (she
was also a gag-writer for many Academy
Awards ceremonies). Fisher was hired by Steven
Spielberg to rewriteHook, and soon a raft of
rewriting projects emerged:Sister Act(Whoopi
Goldberg rehired her forMade In America),The
River WildandOutbreak, by which time she was
reputedly on $100,000 per week.
Fisher’s script-doctoring reputation was built
on her ability to breathe life and depth into
lacklustre female characters. She reworked Rene
Russo’s character inLethal Weapon 3and then
tinkered with another Shane Black project,Last
Action Hero. More projects followed, some
successful (Mr. & Mrs. Smith), some not (My Girl
2 ,Kate & Leopold), many forgettable (Milk Money,
Love Affair,The Out-Of-Towners,Coyote Ugly),
until changes in the industry saw Fisher bow out.
“It was a long, very lucrative episode of my
life,” she toldNewsweekin 2008. “Now in order to
get a rewrite job, you have to submit your notes for
your ideas on how to ix the script. So they can get
all the notes from all the different writers, keep the
notes and not hire you. That’s free work and that’s
what I always call life-wasting events.”
The screenwriter was looking for her third act.
WHEN SHE PASSEDaway on
27 December 2016, aged 60, many Fisher
retrospectives reported that she “drowned in
moonlight, strangled by my own bra”. It was a
request made to obituary writers inWishful
Drinkingand one that seemed perfectly in keeping
with her colourful life. Her inal book,The Princess
Diarist, made sense (and fun) out of herStar Wars
legacy. She remained the most gloriously human
element in that galaxy far, far away. And, as her
thousands of words are powerful testament to,
right here on Earth too.