14 DAY TRIAL // Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia might be getting all the attention in this upcoming Star Wars movie, but there are reports indicating that the her spotlight might be stolen by her young daughter, Billie Lourd, who has just landed a role in the upcoming sequel to the sci-fi saga “Star Wars: Episode VII.”
The Sun is the first to report that J.J. Abrams has offered a role to Fisher's daughter, thus adding to the ever-increasing cast of the movie that is currently shooting in Britain, at the Pinewood Studios.
The idea is that Billie, who has never acted before, will be brought in to play a younger version of Princess Leia, while her mother will play the same character, only 30 years in the future from the last time she appeared on screen.
One insider has told the British tabloid that “Billie flew into the UK to join her mother earlier this month. She will even have her hair tied up in Princess Leia-style buns. She's an aspiring actress and singer so she grabbed the opportunity with both hands.”
Word has it that Carrie was the one who pushed for someone in her own family to play the young version of the character, probably with her daughter in mind right from the start, doing what any mother in her place would do: try to kick start Billie's career.
Carrie is going to be featured in flashbacks that are going to be run throughout the movie as the young version of Princess Leia, and fans are hoping that she will be able to carry the torch and deliver a convincing performance similar to that of her mother, so that there won't be any discrepancies.
“Carrie backed the move as she wanted somebody in her family to play her most famous role,” the insider explains. But if you think that this is the end of the family affair on the Star Wars set, you're wrong.
Even director J.J. Abrams has gotten in on the act, as the same source claims he has created walk-in parts in the movie for his father Gerald and father-in-law James H. McGrath Jr. A walk-in part is a role that doesn't require you to memorize any lines, as you have to do just what the names says, walk into a scene.
For Abrams, casting members of his own family is becoming a tradition at this point, as he also created walk-in parts for the same two people in last year's box office hit, “Star Trek: Into Darkness.”