It’s time to finally let Carrie Fisher go, but please, Hollywood, don’t take her presence in The Rise Of Skywalker to resurrect all dead icons.
The star took her final bow in Star Wars: Episode IX, three years after her death on 27 December, 2016. And after many conversations around the use of unused footage of her from 2015’s The Force Awakens, we got to see Princess Leia Organa’s story come full circle in the most meaningful way possible.
I now issue a plea to the filmmakers – don’t get cocky and screw it up.
As you well know from previous ramblings, I’m mighty dubious of the use of CGI to bring to life characters who died during production. I believe we got a lucky break with Carrie.
It could – and should – have been a total disaster. Instead, we were blessed with our own farewell (with millions of other punters who took to the cinema over the weekend, we suppose).
Luckily The Rise Of Skywalker was a lesson in how to say a classy goodbye to a character without, for want of a better phrase, flogging a dead horse.
I fear, however, that with the successful use of this technology, director JJ Abrams may be encouraging other filmmakers to give it a go. I might be getting a little vexing here, but in Hollywood the trend seems to be that once someone succeeds in uncharted territory, it’s anyone’s game.
So where do we draw the line?
It’s been several years since we lost the great Carrie Fisher, and we should be counting ourselves lucky her legacy will live on and not be sullied by the misuse of her deleted scenes.
As JJ insisted, Carrie would have been downright chuffed with her final portrayal.
It’s not always that cut and dry.
When it comes to the likes of Paul Walker, there’s no denying his final CGI appearance as Brian O’Connor in Furious 7 was fitting (perhaps because it was incredibly short). However it seems there are still stories to tell – that no one has asked for.
The actor passed away back in 2013, aged 40, after tragically losing his life in a car crash. Brothers Cody and Caleb Walker filmed his final scenes with producers also using computers to give him a suitable, and heartwrenching, goodbye.
It has now been claimed Paul will be coming back in the upcoming F9 film – alongside Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris. In this way, his whole appearance will be dependent on computers and I just feel a bit icky about it all.
While, yes, I’m sure his fans want him to make a return but just because they’ve done it once, and JJ Abrams upped the ante, doesn’t mean everything in this arena is a winning decision.
Carrie’s presence in The Rise Of Skywalker was a given, inevitable and 100 per cent necessary. She connects the trilogy to its predecessors and wraps up the saga in a neat little package. Without her scenes it would have been incredibly stilted.
When comparing this to the Furious franchise – I promise I’m not deliberately sh*tting all over your favourite film, it’s just the easiest to draw parallels between with all this recent chatter of Paul’s return – I can’t say Brian’s continued presence is as needed.
It’s just there to serve the fans.
While there’s a lot to be said about the very obvious use of a body double in Leia’s interactions with lead characters such as Rey (Daisy Ridley), it’s clear there is massive respect and reverence for not only Leia but Carrie, and that is conveyed with bucket loads of emotion searing through the screen.
The Rise Of Skywalker is the most fitting send off for an actor that I’ve ever seen. But let’s not take advantage of it, OK, Hollywood?
Just because JJ managed to achieve the unthinkable (I’m sure some of you may disagree, but still, you can’t say it’s bad) doesn’t mean this should be how all our legends are incorporated into pop culture.
Tupac may have come back to life, somewhat, through a hologram at Coachella, that doesn’t mean Elvis will be headlining Glastonbury next year via the space age technology.
…Well, at least let’s hope it doesn’t.
Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise Of Skywalker is in cinemas now.
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