Debbie Reynolds Once Angrily Called George Lucas About Carrie Fisher’s ‘Star Wars’ Accommodations
Carrie Fisher was born into a famous family, but Star Wars made her a legend. Of course, her mother, Debbie Reynolds, was a legend in her own right, being one of the biggest stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age. And with that A-list status came the occasional moment when Reynolds wanted that star power recognized.
Debbie Reynolds was one of the biggest stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age
Fisher was just 19 when she booked the coveted role of Princess Leia in George Lucas’ soon-to-be pop culture sensation. At that point, she was mostly famous for being the daughter of Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, whose love triangle with Elizabeth Taylor was one of Tinseltown’s biggest scandals. Even though her own career had barely even begun, Reynolds didn’t approve of the non-A-list treatment she received once cast in A New Hope.
Reynolds starred in over 30 films in her lifetime, a majority of them being movie musicals. The late actress first got a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer when she was 16, which led to her starring in cinematic classics like Singin’ In the Rain.
She was one of the most sought-after leading ladies in the business when Carrie came around, and Fisher leaving Reynolds for Taylor only made her star rise higher. Both Reynolds and Taylor were able to leverage the increased press attention from the scandal into higher paychecks, and the actresses enjoyed cinematic success in the years following (although Reynolds did experience financial hardship due to her second and third marriages).
By the time the intergalactic adventure started filming in 1976, Reynolds had already collected an Oscar nomination, a Tony nomination, and three Golden Globe nominations. Suffice it to say she was well known.
Debbie Reynolds thought Carrie Fisher’s travel accommodations were insulting
Reynolds used that clout to call out Lucas for a perceived slight of her daughter.
According to GamesRadar, and as mentioned in Fisher’s The Princess Diarist, the budget for the first Star Wars flick was limited. Because of the limited budget, the cast and crew were flown to London from the United States in the coach seats. Now, the idea of a movie flying Harrison Ford, Fisher, and Mark Hamill in coach is unbelievable, but they weren’t the stars they are now back then.
Reynolds didn’t care about that. In fact, she reportedly thought Fisher being flown coach was an insult and she called Lucas to let him know as much. Unfortunately for the Halloweentown alum, her just-as-confident daughter was in the room when she called him.
The precocious Fisher reportedly took the phone out of Lucas’ hand and boldly proclaimed, “Mother, I want to fly coach, will you f*ck off?!”
Fisher’s other accommodations were, by her description, much nicer. The actress had dropped out of London’s Central School of Speech and Drama to work on Star Wars, leaving her with a lot of friends in the city where the movie was filmed.
She was able to stay at a friend’s apartment during the three-month shoot, which Fisher said in The Princess Diarist was a bigger abode than the one Ford stayed in. Given that he had a wife and two kids to financially support in the U.S., he accepted a smaller apartment. It was in Fisher’s flat that most of her trysts with Ford took place during their affair, which Reynolds herself didn’t know about until the memoir was published in 2016.
