Has anyone toyed with the idea of only revealing Leia through Kenobi’s POV? In any cut I have seen so far, her early scenes just seem so jarring compared to the somber time spent on Tattooine. I almost wonder if you could cut everything Leia related prior to Kenobi rescuing her, and have the fact that she is Leia be cemented for the audience at the same time Kenobi meets her. Obviously, SW fans would know who she was based on Organa’s request to Kenobi, but for the pace of the movie both dramatically and scene to scene, it could be an interesting idea to have the audience meet Leia and form their opinions on her personality while Kenobi does.
I looked into doing this, but when Bail calls it is already mid-conversation at the beginning of that scene since the director wrote it in a way where the viewer didn’t need the full context of the conversation since we saw Leia get captured with our own eyes. When you leave that out, it feels extremely jarring to learn of Leia’s capture with only half of a conversation that isn’t meant to be a revelation of the event to the viewer.