Rogue One’s Princess Leia Speaks About Portraying An Icon

Ingvild Delia has yet to become a household name, but countless of Star Wars fans watched her make one of the most memorable cameos in the franchise when Rogue One: A Star Wars Story debuted in theaters in December.

There was a lot of excitement over the digital recreation of Grand Moff Tarkin in Peter Cushing’s likeness, and an effects video showcased how they utilized CGI in combination with the actor Guy Henry’s likeness.

But one of the most surprising aspects of the film, both in story and technologically, was how it fed directly into the opening moments of Star Wars: A New Hope with a scene featuring actor Ingvild Delia, who stood in place for the late Carrie Fisher. The legendary actor had not yet passed away at the time of filming, but they needed a younger actor to fulfill the role.

Jamie Stangroom interviewed Delia for his Star Wars-focused interview series “These Are The Actors You’re Looking For.”

Delia is a Norwegian actor who also played roles in Avengers: Age of Ultron and This Is Not Happening, who had to keep the role a secret for over a year after being cast as the iconic Princess Leia.

“It was a very secretive, non-descript studio feature casting call,” Delia said. “The measurements were quite precise. I had to do a self tape where I talked about anything for three minutes… I had no idea what they were looking for.”


She said she talked about her hobbies for the tape, including yoga and outdoors activities, when she was called back for the second round of auditions. That’s when it all clicked into place.

“I realised what was actually happening because I was sent two scenes from A New Hope, when Leia meets Vader for the first time, and the hologram monologue,” she said. “I was like “oh my god is this happening? Those buns are big… I had the hairy buns. And I had plenty of dots all over my face… like an exotic fish. I looked very strange.”

When asked if it was bittersweet that her likeness wouldn’t be used in the film, she wasn’t upset.

“I was just thrilled they were going to see how far they could push the effects and CGI,” Delia said.

It helped that Fisher herself approved the appearance and method of capturing the younger Leia’s likeness.

“I didn’t know how she felt about it until I read something about Kathleen Kennedy saying that Carrie Fisher enjoyed it,” Delia said. “It was a huge relief!”

But as with Henry portraying the late Cushing as Tarkin, there are ethical questions of whether or not such a method is disrespectful to the deceased parties involved.

Delia said if Fisher would have passed before filming that “it would have been more difficult to say yes.”

“If she was against it then I don’t know if I would have said yes,” Delia added. “But she was fine with it… It’s hard to know… It would have been way more complicated.”

She also attempted to place herself in that situation herself to mine her own feelings.

“I was just thinking, what if it was me? How would I feel? If they had to pay my living relatives or something, or forced to share the money, then yeah… I mean, I’m dead. I don’t care. We just need to establish a system where we do it right by their relatives or what they agreed on.”

When asked if she’d be willing to reprise the role in a potential spinoff, Delia was more than willing.

“I would be lying if I said no. It would be great, really scary at the same time, because she’s such an iconic character and I really, really respect and admire Carrie Fisher and who she was. There would be two very big shoes to fill; you could never replace her.”

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will release digitally on March 24 before hitting Blu-ray and DVD on April 4.

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·Rogue One Gets a Happy Ending From How It Should Have Ended

Directed by Gareth Edwards, it’s the first of the new standalone features from Lucasfilm and Disney, which take place outside the core “Skywalker Saga” of films noted by an Episode number. Rogue One tells the story of the small band of rebels that were tasked with stealing the plans to the first Death Star.