Bonnie Piesse has spoken at length with comicbook.com about her portrayal of Aunt Beru in the prequels and reprising the role once more for Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The original Star Wars trilogy was a pop-culture juggernaut for years, but by the time the mid-’90s rolled around, interest in the series started to dwindle. However, George Lucas returned to his galaxy far, far away to develop a trilogy of prequel films, which brought back a number of beloved characters to learn more about their backstory. One such character was Beru Lars, who audiences had witnessed was a caretaker of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: A New Hope, only for her and husband Owen to get killed by the Galactic Empire in their pursuit of droids C-3PO and R2-D2. Just a teenager at the time, actor Bonnie Piesse was enlisted to bring Beru to life in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.
With Anakin Skywalker’s journey to become Darth Vader being the focal point of the prequel trilogy, Piesse’s Beru only had a handful of appearances in the films, though these sequences helped inform audiences to her history with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Being part of the Star Wars series, even in a smaller capacity, is an exciting enough opportunity for any performer, but the upcoming Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi sees Piesse return to play Beru, adding even more insight into the parental figure.
ComicBook.com caught up with Piesse to talk about joining the franchise, its impact on her life, and the experience of returning to the saga 20 years later.
ComicBook.com: I know that Keira Knightley had a background part in the prequel movies, and she said she fell asleep while filming it and didn’t really understand the significance of those movies. For you, when you first had this opportunity to get involved in the prequels, what was your connection to Star Wars at the time? Was it, “Oh, my God. I get to be Beru Lars,” or was it, “Sure. Star Wars is a popular thing. I guess I’ll audition for this part,”?
Bonnie Piesse: No, I was well aware that it was a very big thing, so I was pretty nervous-excited at the audition. I think I was so excited that I actually was fumbling my lines, but apparently, that didn’t stop me from getting the role. And then, when I found out that I got the role, it was a very big deal. I was at school. I was still 16, so I was just in my final years of high school, and there’s a story that I’ve told to the fans a lot, where my mom ran across the courtyard, screaming, so it was like a big scene. She was like, “Ah! You got the role!” So yeah, it was very exciting, but I was 16. I didn’t really understand how that would affect my life forever. Definitely not, but it was exciting.
Going back to those days on set, especially since George Lucas has, in recent years after selling off Star Wars, he’s definitely more of a mythical figure when it comes to the filmmaking world, do you remember what those collaborations were like with him? Was it him just very much saying, “Okay, stand here, take these children,” and move on or was it a much more intense collaborative process?
I would say his process or the way he was on set was just super easygoing. That actually put me at ease because he gave me a big hug as I first came on set, and he was like, “Just make yourself at home. Get comfy,” so that was great. And it was minimal notes, but usually about the energy of the scene. Pretty simple, really, but obviously great to collaborate with him.
You’re 16 at the time, so obviously you’re playing a younger character, and your screen time is, compared to Anakin or Obi-Wan, you don’t have a ton of scenes, but did you get to have a preparation process? Was there a lot of, “You’re playing Beru, and this is what she goes on to be, and this is where her life is now,” or was it, again, just George saying, “Stand here, say this, and let’s move on,”?
He was aware that I had watched the originals, so I knew who Beru was, and I really studied that. But other than that, I think he trusted in the casting. He was like, “Yeah, you’re a great fit. You’re Beru,” so I didn’t really have to do that much. But actually, my first scene in Episode II was a scene that they cut in the end. It was a big dialogue scene with Natalie Portman on Tatooine, in the Lars homestead kitchen. And they actually threw that at me … I think it was the night before, and suddenly there’s a script. It’s like, “Oh, my gosh.” And I’m Australian, so I had to wrangle the American accent for that. In the end, I never got to see that scene, so I hope that I get to see that one day. It was really fun.
You’re a teenager when you get involved in this franchise, and the movies come out, and in the years since, because it was 15 years since Revenge of the Sith came out, with all of your encounters with fans, do you have a memory that sticks out of the strangest or most bizarre fan encounter that you’ve had?
I would say it was my first convention experience, which was Celebration II in Indianapolis, and that was a part of the world that I really didn’t know about. I didn’t know what a convention was. I had no idea what I was in for. And Joel [Edgerton] was there, too, so we were both making our first little appearance. I have this memory, we were walking down the street, and people recognized us, and a bunch of stormtroopers started chasing us down the street, “It’s Owen! It’s Beru!” And the movie hadn’t even come out yet, and I was like, “Whoa.” We had to get in a side door in the building to escape the stormtroopers. So that was pretty funny.
Well, and I say “strangest encounter with fans,” I really hope those stormtroopers were fans and not actually acting on behalf of the Galactic Empire.
They seemed pretty friendly, so I’m dramatizing a little bit. It was a funny experience.
To read the full interview, head over to comicbook.com.
