10 Hit Movies Actors Thought Would Kill Their Careers

9. Carrie Fisher - Star Wars

Alec Baldwin Beetlejuice 2
Lucasfilm

A Tunisian sandstorm, faulty props and a production going massively over budget. These were just a few of the problems during the production of Star Wars, the space epic that would become a global phenomenon.

19-year-old Carrie Fisher, thrust into the limelight in her first leading role as Princess Leia, was particularly terrified throughout this turbulent production and constantly questioning if she had made the right decision to drop out of her London drama school to pursue Star Wars.

Her brother Todd Fisher noted "she was very concerned this could be the end of her career." Even at the film's premiere in December 1977 her brother recalls she was in a terrified state, chain smoking and even refusing to go into the cinema. Eventually after much persuasion she went into the screening and as the impressive opening title crawl started he turned to Carrie and said "this is no B Movie".

Fisher of course became synonymous with Princess Leia from the opening of Star Wars to this very day despite her tragic death in 2016. Her successful career existed outside of a galaxy far far away in other films such as The Blues Brothers and When Harry Met Sally, the acclaimed TV series Catastrophe and as a best-selling writer too.

Contributor

An avid cinephile, love Trainspotting (the film, not the hobby), like watching bad films ironically (The Room, Cats) and hate my over-reliance on brackets (they’re handy for a quick aside though).