While Return of the Jedi not only brought to a close the original trilogy but the makers were determined to continue striving for new and exciting designs and creations for what was – then, at least – the final chapter. New artists were required to bring those visions to life, and amongst those numbers was artist Marilee Heyer who came aboard on a three-week freelance contract to help hone and define the look of Princess Leia in her infamous gold bikini.
Her ability to work fast, yet with an eye for detail, led Lucasfilm to tap her to draw what she referred to as a new version of Carrie Fisher’s character Princess Leia. But since that short gig, Heyer says it has been an almost four-decade battle to receive credit for her work.
It’s a fight she’s still in the middle of today.
Heyer, a Southern California-born graduate of ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, started her career in the late 1960s, working on layouts and background design for Saturday morning cartoons like the “Lone Ranger” and “The Archie Show.” For “Star Wars,” the studio initially brought her on as a fresh set of eyes, storyboarding some of the Jabba the Hutt/Tatooine scenes in the movie’s first act.
She worked on layouts and sketches of characters navigating the desertscape, including Leia in her now-famous gold bikini outfit during the sail barge sequence. But her background in fashion and the way she drew Leia caught the eye of Nilo Rodis-Jamero, the head costume designer on the film. (Rodis-Jamero and costume designer Aggie Rodgers are ultimately credited for the design of the piece, according to a 2015 Smithsonian traveling exhibit on the costumes of Star Wars.)
“There wasn’t any other work that showed her as a pretty woman,” she says.
Rodis-Jamero mined Heyer for her knowledge of fabric and fashion to help him solidify Carrie Fisher’s other new looks as Princess Leia for the film.
And though to that point she had only been at Lucasfilm for a week, she suddenly found herself in pitch meetings that included director Richard Marquand and Lucas himself.
“My first meeting, [Marquand] asked me to get him a cup of coffee,” Heyer says. “I was the only woman in the room.”
- Random House (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 151 Pages - 09/20/1994 (Publication Date) - Del Rey (Publisher)
