Here's what Star Wars: Rogue One's Princess Leia looked like before the CGI

By Ben Pearson
published

Audiences were surprised to see a digitally recreated young version of Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia pop up at the very end of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but thanks to some behind the scenes photos, we now have a chance to look at the actress behind the iconic hairdo.

Norwegian actress Ingvild Deila portrayed Rogue One’s version of the sci-fi princess, and these photos reveal what Deila looked like on set before the digital wizards at ILM worked their magic to turn her into a young Carrie Fisher. Take a look:

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I’m one of those people who thought that the CGI Leia was a little too distracting because I don’t think the technology is quite there yet to be able to convincingly pull off the effect they’re looking for, so my first thought when seeing these photos was, “Why didn’t Lucasfilm just cast Deila to play Princess Leia without all the CG trickery?” I feel like the cognitive dissonance that audiences would experience would have been the same level as what we felt in the final movie. Look no further than the James Bond franchise to know that audiences are capable of accepting multiple actors playing the same part, even if it’s an iconic one. It’s clear with the costume and the hair who this is supposed to be; why not give Deila a chance to play the role on her own?

Additionally, we also found some photos of Guy Henry, the man who served as the motion capture actor for Rogue One’s Grand Moff Tarkin, as he stood around on the set of the film.

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I’m sure more and more stories will slowly be coming out about the making of this film, and we’ll be sure to keep you abreast of all the biggest and best as soon as they arrive.

Directed by Gareth Edwards and starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Mads Mikkelsen, and more, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is available now on Digital HD and arrives on Blu-ray on April 4, 2017.

Images: Lucasfilm

Ben Pearson
Ben Pearson
Ben is an entertainment journalist who has written about movies online for nearly a decade. He loves the Fast & Furious franchise, prefers Indiana Jones to Star Wars, and will defend the ending of Lost until his dying day. He shook Bill Murray's hand once (so he's got that going for him, which is nice). Ben lives in Los Angeles with his wife.