Star Wars: See Irvin Kershner’s Edits to Empire Strikes Back Script

Update and Correction: Well, we said “reported hand-written page” for a reason. As it turns out, while Fisher has done a lot of work on other films, these particular hand-written notes are actually from director Irvin Kershner. The page is in a book by J.W. Rinzler called The Making of Star Wars. We’re leaving the original story (with the error) below, for historical sake.

Original Story: One of the less well-known aspects of Carrie Fisher’s contribution to Hollywood is her work as a writer. Hollywood “Script Doctors” don’t often get a writing credit, or go out on the press junket circuit. Instead, they’re brought in, often late in the game, to help punch up a script, write better jokes, fix dialogue-heavy scenes, and generally make sure that people are talking like actual human beings.

Fisher has done that for almost as long as she’s been acting, with work on a variety of films, especially in the 1990s, including Hook, The Wedding Singer, and many others. But she actually started by rewriting some of the dialogue in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. In what’s reported as a hand-written page from the Empire script posted by twitter user and documentarian Will McCrabb, you can see Fisher in action.

Indeed, some of her rewrites were what made the final cut of the movie, and when you’re working to improve the likes of a legend like Larry Kasdan, you’re definitely doing something right. Leia’s quick wit and whip-smart dialogue have long been praised, and it seems we have Ms. Fisher to thank for that even more than just in her delivery.

Carrie Fisher is in the news currently as she suffered a heart attack while on a plane. According to her mother, she’s currently stabilized, though there’s been no word on whether she has yet woken up or will experience any lasting damage, having been in cardiac arrest. Our thoughts continue to go out to Carrie Fisher and her family.

Fisher will next appear as General Leia once again in Star Wars: Episode VIII, due for a December 15, 2017 release.

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