How Carrie Fisher Tried To Change Return Of The Jedi's Jabba Scene
Although it's now seen as "Episode VI" in an ever-expanding multimedia saga, 1983's "Return of the Jedi," when it was made and first released, was considered to be the grand conclusion to the "Star Wars" Original Trilogy.
As such, there is a wealth of material there to mull over within the film, material that's only become more interesting since the movie was released. Take the opening act, for instance, set in and around the Hutt gangster Jabba's sail barge and the rescue of Han Solo (Harrison Ford) from it via an intricate, multi-step plan seemingly known only to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Jabba's penchant for capturing an attractive female of any species, chaining her to himself and using her for his amusement is appropriate for such a (literally) slimy character, yet becomes problematic when he does it to Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher).
Like most subtextual issues in media, this is a matter of optics: even though the strong, independent Leia is sexualized by being made to wear a revealing bikini as Jabba's slave (a factor not helped by decades of nerdy straight men fetishizing Fisher's outfit), it makes enough narrative and thematic sense to be justified, especially as Leia turns the tables on old Jabba by the end of the set piece. Fisher's issue with the sequence has more to do with the response — pointedly, the lack of it — by Leia's friends (and the love of her life, Han) when confronted with her new status as Jabba's slave. A screenwriter, author, and script doctor in her own right, Fisher attempted to address this issue on set, and if the filmmakers had listened to her suggestion, it could've been resolved with one mere line of dialogue.
Giving a sense of doom
In defense of director Richard Marquand and screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas, the entire Jabba the Hutt sequence features a lot of moving parts and plotting. So much is going on, in fact, that there are multiple essays devoted to breaking down exactly what Luke's rescue plan was. Even Leia's introduction into the film sees her in disguise as a totally different character, the bounty hunter known as Boushh.
After every core member of the Millennium Falcon crew is present at Jabba's palace (and subsequently captured or, in Leia's case, enslaved), Han, Luke, and Chewie are brought before the Hutt while Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) lurks nearby in disguise, not wanting to blow his cover yet. Thus, Jabba (and his new droid, C-3PO) does most of the talking, telling the captors about their impending death in the Sarlacc pit. Han (who happens to be temporarily blind) and Leia only have time to exchange the briefest of words, with Leia confirming she's alive and present.
That brief confirmation is Leia's only spoken dialogue during the scene. Although Luke and Han have a few short pithy barbs to shoot in Jabba's direction, it's more than Leia gets, as she's continually yanked against Jabba's side throughout the scene. The intention is to give the audience the sense of certain doom for our heroes, as we see them get captured one by one (which, it turns out, is all part of Luke's plan, but neither Jabba nor a first-time viewer knows this), and Leia's subjugation by the Hutt seems to be part of this. It's likely for these reasons why Leia was kept mostly silent during the scene, despite Fisher's suggestion.
A change in service of character and foreshadowing
To be clear, there's nothing objectively wrong with the scene as presented: it serves the functions that the filmmakers clearly wanted it to serve, as it increases the dramatic stakes of the sequence and gives the viewer the impression that our heroes are really in trouble this time. Yet it doesn't serve each character in the best, truest way possible, especially in Leia's case.
Fisher's sensibilities as a well-regarded script doctor were already emerging by this point in her career, especially the fact that a script doctor doesn't necessarily tear apart what's already been written but instead can enrich it. In an interview she gave to Chris Spitale for "Star Wars Insider" magazine (archived in the 2017 compilation book "Star Wars Insider: Icons of the Galaxy"), she explained the small, one-line-of-dialogue change she wanted to make to enhance the scene:
"I would have given myself — as I tried to do — dialogue when I was with Jabba the Hutt. As my co-travelers [Luke, Han and Chewie] are walking away, I wanted to say, 'Don't worry about me, I'll be fine ... Seriously.'"
Not only would this line have given Leia her due in the scene, thereby keeping her character's strength intact, it also would have foreshadowed her eventual triumph over Jabba without telling the audience exactly how that would happen. Thus, her choking the Hutt with his own chain would still come as a surprise (especially with the setup of Jabba's earlier slave girl trying and failing the same maneuver) but carry an even bigger emotional payoff.
Sure, not every suggestion by an actor is appropriate, and no script doctor is right all the time. But when that script doctor is of Carrie Fisher's caliber, filmmakers should listen up.