Disney(NEW YORK) — Actress Laura Dern plays Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, opening Friday. It’s a character so mysterious that the actor didn’t realize she was auditioning for the role.
Director Rian Johnson was playing his cards very close to the vest when he approached her, Dern told ABC Radio. “He really wanted a mystery around her. You’re not sure which side she’s on, or what her mission might be — and that journey was really fun as an actor.”
She added with a laugh, “it was almost like he talked to me about a character which I loved, then sort of mentioned that it was Star Wars. Which I liked, that Star Wars came later. And I was like, ‘Wait a minute: you’re asking me about Star Wars? YES!'”
Dern told Good Morning America that one character left her starstruck. “I saw C-3PO and I started crying. I kind of blew my first take because I was so emotional.”
The Last Jedi is the late Carrie Fisher’s last film. Regarding Fisher’s Princess Leia character, Dern said, “She didn’t create some false female superhero. She created a real woman in that iconic character for girls and women to aspire to. And being around Carrie, it was so reflective of that. She…led with her full self, and requires that of others, and that was a great inspiration.”
Incidentally, Dern told GMA she, “had the privilege of knowing and meeting” a real-life princess, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, something she told Diana’s sons, princes William and Harry about at The Last Jedi‘s recent London premiere. “She was so brilliant about film and music — a true pioneer goddess,” Dern said.
Star Wars is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
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