Bonnie Piesse: Portraying Beru in Star Wars

Who raised Luke Skywalker, one of the greatest heroes of the galaxy far, far away? The answer is Beru Whitesun Lars, wife of Anakin Skywalker’s step brother Owen Lars who together protected and nurtured the only hope in the galaxy after the rise of the Empire. Some might say they are simple folk, but that does not take away from their importance in the Skywalker saga. In fact, Owen and Beru can easily be among the most relatable characters in a tale that is far away from our reality. This could only be possible with the outstanding performances of Phil Brown and Shelagh Fraser in the original 1977 Star Wars and of Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse in the prequels and the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi. While Brown and Fraser created the foundations of the two characters, Edgerton and Piesse elevated Owen and Beru respectively by bringing a level of fearlessness and bravery that was never seen before.

Bonnie Piesse began her journey in our beloved galaxy far, far away in the theaters, watching The Phantom Menace with her family and dreaming of entering this epic saga. She was just sixteen years old when Lucasfilm Casting Director Robin Gurland reached out to Piesse’s agent to request an audition with the young actress. “As I watched all of the older Beru parts, I was trying to really match Sheila Fraser. I was overthinking it but then when I went to the audition Robin Gurland basically just said, ‘You know, just be free, be yourself and don’t worry too much about the accent or anything like that, make it your own.’ I was so nervous in that audition, but in the end it was so easy, probably a 15-20 minute meeting with her and then two weeks of waiting before I got the call to say that I got the role. I don’t know how many other people she saw, but I think I just got lucky that my facial structure kind of looked like Sheila Fraser,” Bonnie Piesse shared.

In Episode II: Attack of the Clones the audience is introduced to Beru Whitesun, Owen Lars’ shy girlfriend during Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala’s visit on Tatooine to find out about the young Jedi mother’s fate. Piesse recalls a pinch me moment while looking in the mirror in full costume, and then stepping onto the Sydney set on day one of shooting: “I felt nervous of course when I stepped out onto the set that first day, but George [Lucas] basically walked up, put his arm around me, and said, ‘Welcome, make yourself at home.’ It was all very warm … I felt welcomed but a little overwhelmed. It was the biggest set I’ve ever been on.” Piesse added, “We shot a scene of Natalie Portman and myself, so it was Padmé and Beru in the Lars homestead kitchen. They wrote the scene fairly recently and gave me the script the day before. It was a pretty long dialogue scene … I really would love to see that because obviously it didn’t make it in the movie.”

Although the final scene of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was only a few seconds, Piesse’s performance along with Joel Edgerton and Ewan McGregor created a magical and iconic moment that beautifully tied to the original 1977 movie. Bonnie Piesse shared what the scene has meant to her then and now: “I did understand at the time how important it was that I was receiving baby Luke Skywalker—the magnitude of who he was in Star Wars and in pop culture. But I would say it’s kind of hard to take it all in at the time … you just get on set and go for it to the best of your ability. Although it was such a short scene, it stuck with people because it had that kind of iconic feeling to it while closing out Episode III. It really started to mean a lot more to me over the years through talking to people about it at conventions and seeing how much it moves them, how much they love it.”

Her experience on set was just as equally rewarding off set. Piesse shared some fond memories while shooting the prequels, from finding an oasis and sipping local tea around a fire in the Sahara desert in Tunisia to traveling around the world with Joel Edgerton and becoming good friends with Ahmed Best. Fifteen years later, Bonnie Piesse returned to Star Wars in Obi-Wan Kenobi, reuniting with Joel Edgerton and Ewan McGregor. “In 2020, everything kind of stopped. It was a weird time in the world, and out of nowhere I got on a Zoom call with Deborah Chow. I had a sense that it was probably going to be about Obi-Wan because there had been rumors for a long time about that. They were talking about a movie and even Ewan and Joel were dropping hints that they’d like to be a part of it. I was hoping that they’d bring me back, but I figured it was a small role. The fact that they wanted to expand the role and give Beru this amazing heroic arc and that I would actually get an action scene, that was something I never thought would happen.” Piesse continued, “Deborah described what the storyline was going to be, and I was just floored. I spoke to her in October 2020 and started filming around August 2021, so there was a lot of time to digest the news and get ready. The first person that I saw was actually Hayden [Christensen], I bumped into him in the costume department, and we both got emotional and hugged … I hadn’t seen him in 20 years. Stepping on set and seeing Joel and Ewan again was so strange because in a way it didn’t feel like any time had passed but at the same time we all looked a little different. The storyline we had in Obi-Wan was so much bigger, and it was cool that I had a lot more time on set to really spend time with them.”

Telling the story of Obi-Wan Kenobi meant Owen and Beru Lars were going to have an important role in the show. The first episodes focused on Owen and his conflicting feelings against the hermit Jedi, giving Joel Edgerton a chance to further the characterization of Luke’s uncle, but as far as Beru’s character, fans had to wait until the final episode to truly experience the incredible bravery and motherly protecting spirit embodied by Bonnie Piesse’s inspiring performance. “It was so exciting to see how seriously Owen and Beru took protecting Luke, because we didn’t see that at all other than just being good parents. I really didn’t think that I’d ever get to see action scenes for Beru. I looked around at the sets and was so amazed to be there with Joel. Obviously, he’s had an incredible career and has done tons of action scenes … He was very confident and familiar with how everything operated. Moses [Ingram] also had been playing [Reva, the Third Sister] for many months so she was well into it too. But for me it was my first action scene ever. You really have to keep yourself in that heightened emotional state the whole time, keeping the stakes high while sparks are flying around. It was really, really fun.”

Piesse’s love and appreciation for the character of Beru has only grown from her experience touring around comic conventions and connecting with the fans: “The very first convention that I did was Celebration II in Indianapolis in 2002, right before Attack of the Clones came out. I’ve done a number of conventions since, and it’s a whole new level of people really, really feeling moved by Beru as a whole and what transpired in Obi-Wan, especially by that line of ‘We’re enough. You and me.’ A lot of people want me to write it on their autographs.”

Bonnie Piesse ended the interview reflecting on what the character of Beru Whitesun Lars means to her in three words: “Love. She’s such an example of real love for a child that you’re taking care of. Strong. I would say the strength of when you care about someone so much that you’ll do anything to protect them. And it sounds kind of cliché but female power in a real centered sense that I feel like we’re seeing a lot more these days, which is great.”

If you loved her performance as Beru, then make sure to follow Bonnie Piesse on Instagram to stay up to date with her projects, and also if you are interested in reconnecting to your own inner wisdom and soul’s purpose through tarot readings, then check out Soul + Sky.

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