You probably remember her in the white dress or the gold bikini. It’s hard not to. But if you really want to see Carrie Fisher having the time of her life, you’ve got to look past the galaxy far, far away. Specifically, you need to look at a 1980 musical comedy that features more car crashes than a demolition derby.
I’m talking about Carrie Fisher in The Blues Brothers.
She isn't a princess here. She doesn’t have a name. In the credits, she’s simply the "Mystery Woman." Honestly, she’s a force of nature in a French-cut jumpsuit, armed with enough heavy weaponry to overthrow a small government. And yet, for a lot of fans, her role is just a footnote. That’s a mistake. Her time on that set wasn't just a side gig; it was a chaotic, life-changing whirlwind that almost ended in tragedy and somehow resulted in a marriage proposal.
Why the Mystery Woman is the movie's secret weapon
The plot of The Blues Brothers is basically Jake and Elwood Blues trying to save an orphanage. Standard stuff. But throughout the movie, they are stalked by this silent, vengeful assassin who keeps blowing things up.
That’s Carrie.
She is the ultimate "scorned woman." Jake (John Belushi) left her at the altar, and she has decided that the only reasonable response is to hunt him down with a rocket launcher. You’ve seen the scene. She fires a volley of rockets at an apartment building while smoking a cigarette with total indifference. It's hilarious. It’s also wildly different from the earnestness of Princess Leia.
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Fisher brought this weird, deadpan intensity to the part. She barely speaks until the very end, but her physical comedy is top-tier. When she finally corners Jake in a tunnel with an M16, and he gives that iconic, pathetic list of excuses—"Locusts! It wasn't my fault!"—her reaction is priceless. She lets him go. Why? Because she’s Carrie Fisher, and even as a fictional assassin, she knew how to play the "coolest person in the room" better than anyone.
The Brussels sprout that led to a wedding ring
The stuff that happened behind the scenes was actually crazier than the movie itself. Chicago in 1979 was a wild place to be, especially if you were hanging out with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.
One night, while out for dinner, Carrie started choking. It wasn't a piece of steak or anything dramatic. It was a Brussels sprout.
She was actually dying. Dan Aykroyd saw what was happening, jumped up, and performed the Heimlich maneuver. He literally saved her life.
Ten minutes later? He asked her to marry him.
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"I thought, 'I should probably marry him,'" Fisher later joked. "What if that happens again?" They actually got engaged. They had the rings. They even went and got blood tests, which was a legal requirement for marriage in Illinois back then. It’s one of those Hollywood stories that sounds like a fever dream, but it's 100% true.
The Empire Strikes Back connection
You might wonder how she even ended up in this movie. She was the biggest female star in the world at the time. Well, it was actually a trade.
Belushi and Aykroyd were obsessed with being in Star Wars. They kept pestering Carrie to get George Lucas to put them in the Mos Eisley Cantina as aliens. Fisher basically told them: "Okay, I'll try, but only if I get to be in your movie too."
She pitched the idea to Lucas. He shut it down immediately. He thought Belushi was a "focus puller"—basically, he was too famous and would distract everyone from the scene. But the deal on the other side stuck. Fisher got her role as the Mystery Woman, and we got the greatest "vengeful ex" performance in cinema history.
Drugs, Chicago, and the "Mission from God"
We can’t talk about this era without acknowledging the elephant in the room. The set of The Blues Brothers was notoriously fueled by cocaine. Belushi was at the height of his addiction, and Fisher, who was always brutally honest about her own struggles, was right there in the thick of it.
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She once described the production as a "traveling party."
It was a tumultuous time. Her relationship with Aykroyd eventually fizzled out because her heart was still with Paul Simon. She ended up leaving Dan and going back to Paul, leaving behind a very confused Elwood Blues and a sapphire engagement ring.
Why her performance still matters in 2026
If you rewatch the film today, Fisher’s scenes are the ones that hold up the best. The car chases are impressive, and the music is legendary, but Carrie provides the grounding chaos. She represents the "real world" consequences of Jake Blues being a deadbeat, even if those consequences involve a flamethrower.
It showed the industry that she could do comedy. It proved she wasn't just a puppet for George Lucas. She was a writer, a wit, and a woman who could hold her own against two of the biggest Saturday Night Live powerhouses in history.
How to truly appreciate Carrie Fisher's work in the film
To get the most out of your next rewatch, don't just wait for the musical numbers. Pay attention to the small stuff.
- Watch her eyes: In the scene where she's reading the weapons manual at the "Curl Up and Dye" salon, her focus is terrifyingly sharp.
- Look at the costuming: Every outfit she wears is designed to look practical yet menacing—a precursor to the "action heroine" trope.
- Check the credits: Notice how they never give her a name. It adds to the mythos.
If you’re a film buff, your next step is simple. Go back and watch the "Extended Deluxe" version of the film. It includes more footage of the Mystery Woman's tracking sequences that were cut from the original theatrical release. It gives you a much better sense of just how much work she put into being the ultimate shadow.
After that, read her memoir, Shockaholic. She goes into much more detail about the Chicago nights and the "Brussels sprout incident." It's the best way to understand the woman behind the bazooka.