The career “mistake” Carrie Fisher always regretted: “It’s too upsetting, yet funny”
The curse of being an actor means having to accept that some things are just out of your damn control. Putting your trust in others is a big part of the job, even when the outcome seems unsure, and it’s a big gamble to take when you’ve got yourself on the line.
This was the case for Carrie Fisher, who had to come to terms with a mistake she made when she was younger, unaware that a flippant decision would actually have a long-lasting effect on her career. The thing is, back in the days of Fisher’s early years as an actor, Hollywood looked totally different compared to now, and she had no idea that the industry would morph into something even more commercial, the drive for profit overruling everything else.
Cinema’s transformation from a landscape of artistic expression to one of the biggest businesses in the world is a sad state of affairs, but few could anticipate how mammoth this change would be. Talking to The Guardian, Fisher revealed how this came to be the root cause of her biggest “mistake,” although to be fair, she had no way of knowing at the time. “The mistake was I signed away my likeness for free.”
She continued, “In those days, there was no such thing as a ‘likeness’, which is a funny thing to say coming from the family that I came from. There was no merchandising tied to movies. No one could have known the extent of the franchise. Not that I don’t think I’m cute or anything, but when I looked in the mirror, I didn’t think I was signing away anything of value.”
It’s understandable. When Star Wars emerged in 1977, franchise blockbusters just didn’t exist. Only in 1975 had the idea of the blockbuster formed with the release of Jaws, and it wasn’t until Star Wars became a huge global phenomenon that cinema began to take an increasingly money-hungry approach to making films. Franchises proved to be the golden ticket in securing endless revenue – this could be milked through sequels and spin-offs, and most importantly, merchandise.
What movie has more merchandise than Star Wars? You can acquire a T-shirt with the logo from any fast-fashion retailer, and everything from mugs, bedspreads, dolls, and posters can easily be purchased, showcasing the faces of Harrison Ford as Han Solo and Fisher as Princess Leia, forever frozen in time as their much younger selves – unaware that they were going to be plastered on any item imaginable for decades to come.
“As I’ve gone along, people will come to me and say: ‘We got the licensing from George Lucas to make these socks.’ So my daughter can walk around on my face. How much money could I have made from all this stuff? I don’t want to know. It’s too upsetting. Yet funny,” she added. Merchandise became a common practice because of Star Wars, yet the irony is that Fisher didn’t make a penny from it.
Once Fisher signed away her likeness, she had to reckon with the fact that any merchandise made was now out of her control, and she regretted it. You live and you learn, although Fisher surely wished she had some supernatural power which could allow her to see into Hollywood’s merchandise-soaked future, because then she would’ve been bathing in even more stacks of green.
