Daisy Ridley says Star Wars return feels ‘exciting and nerve-racking’
LONDON — Actress Daisy Ridley says reprising her role as Jedi hero Rey feels “exciting and nerve-racking” as she returns to the Star Wars franchise for a new film.
Walt Disney Co., which purchased Star Wars producer Lucasfilm in 2012 and released three movies starring Ms. Ridley from 2015 to 2019 as well as different TV series, announced new plans for the franchise last year. It said Ms. Ridley’s new film would focus on rebuilding the New Jedi Order.
“I’m very excited, it feels like a new adventure,” Ms. Ridley told Reuters at the London premiere of another Disney film, Young Woman and the Sea, on Wednesday.
“It’s a world that I’m familiar with, I’m coming back to, but also it feels like a new start. So it feels exciting and nerve-racking and I’m excited.”
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Tuesday, Ms. Ridley said she had yet to read a script for the Star Wars film. “I have not read actual words on actual paper, but (a script) is soon coming,” she told the publication.
CHANNEL SWIMMER
In Young Woman and the Sea Ms. Ridley plays American swimmer Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle, an Olympic gold medalist who became the first woman to swim the English Channel.
In 1926, Ms. Ederle set off from northern France for the southern English coast, making the crossing in 14 hours, 31 minutes and beating the men’s world record by one hour and 59 minutes.
Despite a huge celebratory parade in New York on her return, Ms. Ederle’s name and accomplishments are not as well known to the general public as those of other sports figures. Ms. Ederle died in 2003.
“Playing someone who is determined and resilient … who has a real joy for what they’re doing is wonderful,” Ms. Ridley said, adding she had undergone a “pretty grueling” swimming training schedule for the role.
FEAR OF OPEN WATER
She realized she had to conquer one of her fears to truly embrace her role. “I’m scared of open water,” she told Reuters.
The cast and crew she worked with thought she was kidding, but it was true trepidation for the actress. “If I go to the beach, I don’t go beyond my waist. I like to see the bottom, I have never swum far out,” she added.
Ms. Ridley overcame her fears and eventually did get in the water for the film, swimming in the Black Sea for nine days.
She said she found it overwhelming to keep pace with a camera and a camera boat, jumping in and out of the water, drying off and then hopping back in for more filming each day.
While she made it happen for the film, Ms. Ridley doesn’t foresee any more open sea swimming in her future. “I’m just not an open sea gal,” she said.
Young Woman and the Sea arrives in US theaters on Friday, timed for the lead up to the 2024 Paris Games to pay homage to Gertrude Ederle’s Olympics history. — Reuters
