Rogue One’s CGI Princess Leia: The sands of time are so cruel you can't even do motion capture for your younger self

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Washington Bureau Chief

On the off chance you're in need of a very modern reminder that our bodies are decaying and death marches ever closer, look no further than this visual effects production tidbit from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

*Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen the film yet*

At 60, Carrie Fisher was unfortunately unable to play a version of Princess Leia Organa younger than the one she played in the original Star Wars trilogy, and, apparently, wasn't even able to do the motion capture for the CGI version of the character - even though it used her own likeness.

“I mean ideally, you get the original actors to play these roles, but it’s been 30-odd years since then, and so it’s impossible,” director Gareth Edwards explained to the Radio Times.

“People have aged so much that you can’t even get them to do the motion capture. As you get older you’re not the same, your whole body language is different.

“And so, we had to cast specific actors to play them. And there was an audition process for all of that as well.”

It appears that Norwegian actress Ingvild Deila played Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in the film, at least judging be her IMDb credit and this Twitter hint she posted a few days before Rogue One’s release.

Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin meanwhile was based on motion capture of Holby City actor Guy Henry.

Both CGI replicas were breathtakingly executed but raise a few ethical questions.

Read more: Jyn Erso could still appear in a future Star wars film