Carried Away

January 19, 2007

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I’ve been writing celebrity profiles for magazines for about 15 years and in that time, I’ve often been asked who’s been my favorite interview. Though I’ve really liked almost everyone I’ve profiled — Shannen Doherty, notwithstanding — I have no trouble coming up with a number one; Princess Leia turned Postcards author Carrie Fisher. I first interviewed her for Detour in 1993 about her novel Delusions of Grandma. (http://www.dennishensley.com/CarrieFisher93.htm)

I had been a fan of her writing for years and pitched the idea of doing a piece on her to my editor and he went for it. Going in, I had a fantasy of how the interview would go and the reality surpassed it. For starters, when I arrived at her house and asked where she wanted to do the interview, she said, “In bed,” so we did. Then, at one point, her fab mother, Debbie Reynolds, showed up for an unplanned cameo. Before sending me on my way, Carrie presented me with an expired ‘Today’ sponge as a souvenir. I cherish it till this day. I got to interview Carrie again a few years ago for The Advocate for her latest novel The Best Awful. (http://www.dennishensley.com/CarrieFisher2003.htm)

She was as thoughtful, funny and interesting an interview subject as I encountered the first time—and she’d been through a lot in the years between.

Carrie’s turned the stories of her life into a one-woman show called Wishful Drinking that just wrapped at the Geffen Playhouse here in Los Angeles. What a fun night. She opened by singing “Happy Days Are Here Again” while tabloid covers touting her various travails flashed on a screen behind her. Then there the juicy Star Wars anecdotes, like the story about how director George Lucas wouldn’t let Carrie wear a bra under her Princess Leia get, sighting as his reasoning, “They don’t have underwear in space.”

I happen to go on a night when the Geffen hosted a Q & A session after the show with Carrie. What came through in the Q & A was how much admiration Carrie has for her mom and what a proud mother she is of her daughter, Billie. Here’s a bit of scoop: Carrie told the crowd that her most recent novel, The Best Awful, was currently being developed as a miniseries for HBO with her When Harry Met Sally co-star Meg Ryan playing Carrie.

I don’t know if Carrie has any plans to take Wishful Drinking to other cities, but if she does and you can catch it, it’s a great, hilarious night out in the company of a true Hollywood survivor.

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