The untold story of Carrie Fisher’s ‘Star Wars’ Stinson Beach photo shoot


The untold story of Carrie Fisher’s ‘Star Wars’ Stinson Beach photo shoot

In the summer of 1983, Stinson Beach hosted Princess Leia and Darth Vader for a classic set of 'Star Wars' photos

By Charles Russo, The San Francisco Gate, May 3, 2023

Princess Leia arrived to the beach with Darth Vader, a scruffy Ewok and one of Jabba the Hutt’s hefty henchman.

Although it sounds like the setup for a joke you’d tell Greedo over drinks at the Mos Eisley Cantina, it happened 40 years ago, when Carrie Fisher showed up to Marin’s Stinson Beach for a “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” photo shoot for Rolling Stone in the summer of 1983. 

The magazine had reached out to Los Angeles-based photographer Aaron Rapoport to tackle the assignment. Despite windy conditions, a crowded beach and three costumed subjects lumbering through the sand, the shoot resulted in a classic cover photo and showcased Fisher at the height of her “Star Wars” popularity. 

The magazine had reached out to Los Angeles-based photographer Aaron Rapoport to tackle the assignment. Despite windy conditions, a crowded beach and three costumed subjects lumbering through the sand, the shoot resulted in a classic cover photo and showcased Fisher at the height of her “Star Wars” popularity. 

Amazingly, Rolling Stone only published two photos from the shoot, and the rest of the imagery went unseen for decades. Rapoport later excavated the shots from his basement to sell to Corbis around 2014, and the photos slowly found their way — through tweets, blog posts and subreddits — to “Star Wars” fans around the world.

Fisher died in 2016, but this week, she will get a (long overdue) star dedicated to her legacy on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on “Star Wars” Day — May the 4th. The story of her Stinson Beach photo shoot (as well as the photos themselves) speaks to the exuberance and personality that she brought to the screen through her films, as well as the challenges she faced along the way. 

‘Star Wars’ day at the beach

As “Return of the Jedi” was quickly shaping up to be the biggest movie of the 1983 summer, Rolling Stone magazine hoped to feature a “Star Wars”-themed cover on their summer double issue slated for late July.

“In those days the cover was the big trophy for a photographer,” Rapoport told SFGATE. “I wasn’t an Annie Leibovitz kind of shooter, but they would call me when there was a difficult shoot that had to be done quickly. And they specifically asked me for a beach picnic theme.”

Although the interview with Fisher — in which she grapples with the perception of Princess Leia as “some kind of space bitch” — was conducted in New York, the magazine scheduled the photo shoot around a time when many of the cast members would be at Skywalker Ranch, near Nicasio in west Marin County. With a beach theme in mind, Stinson became a logical choice for location.

Rapoport was just 26 at the time (the same age as Fisher), but had apprenticed with photography veteran David Alexander, who often shot high-profile figures within the entertainment industry. When it came to interacting with Fisher, Rapoport’s initial introduction to her was right on the sand at Stinson.  

“We met on the beach and immediately hit it off,” says Rapoport. “There was none of the reticence or stand-offishness or any of the bulls—t that you get so often with actors. She was absolutely confident and totally willing.” 

Unsurprisingly for a beach-themed “Return of the Jedi” photo shoot, Fisher wore the now-iconic, and controversial, metal bikini “slave girl” costume, which has become a cosplay mainstay over the years. In Fisher’s interview with Rolling Stone that summer, she speaks candidly about how her character is represented in Jedi: “She gets to be more feminine, more supportive, more affectionate. But let’s not forget these movies are basically boys’ fantasies. So the other way they made her more female in this one was to have her take her clothes off.” 

Fisher was accompanied for the shoot by three fully costumed “Star Wars” characters: Darth Vader (though Rapoport was unsure whether actor David Prowse had occupied the costume that day), the gray Ewok Kazak and a Gamorrean guard — the green-skinned, pig-like henchmen who watch over Jabba the Hutt’s palace (and who Star Wars fans have joked look like the offspring of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy).

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