It just hit me like a ton of bricks: Daisy Ridley, the young star of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, looks a lot like Tatiana Maslany, right? You can really see it on the December cover of Elle Magazine. Daisy obviously covers the new issue to promote Star Wars, and I think we should just prepare ourselves for the total onslaught of Star Wars coverage for the next two months. And beyond, probably. What I enjoy is that Daisy – and John Boyega too – seems really, genuinely happy to promote this film. There’s no angst, no lip-biting, no attitude. She’s just thrilled. She’s excited. Here are some highlights from the interview:
How she prepped for Star Wars. “Lots of fish, legumes, and spirulina shakes,” Ridley says—and three months of grueling training: five hours a day, five days a week at the gym plus stunt practice at London’s Pinewood studios. “It became my solace,” she says of a fitness schedule she’s largely maintained in order to stay in Rey shape for reshoots, as well as the next, soon-to-film sequel in the series. “Because it’s the only thing structured in my life right now. Training is sort of a therapy session, I guess.”
She’s good at keeping secrets: “I couldn’t tell any of my friends. I told my mum and my sisters— then my sister told her boyfriend, and my mum told her friend. I was like, ‘Great, guys—you are great.'”
She’s prepared to die for Star Wars: “We were told about this scorpion in Abu Dhabi that, if it stabbed you, you needed treatment within half an hour. There was this bit where I was lying in the sand, and if a scorpion got me, the nearest hospital was an hour away. So I was like, I could die right now. I could be dead in half an hour.”
She thinks Rey is a feminist role model: “[Rey is] so strong. She’s cool and smart and she can look after herself. Young girls can look at her and know that they can wear trousers if they want to. That they don’t have to show off their bodies.”
People make fun of JJ Abrams for being so obsessed with secrets with all of his films and shows, but I think in this particular case, the secrecy will probably work to Abrams’ benefit. Still, I’m such a gossip, I would never be able to be involved with a JJ Abrams film. I would be on the set for two seconds and I would have to tell all of you what I saw and what I think the plot is going to be and all of that.
Speaking of, after the Japanese trailer dropped last week, people are developing some theories about The Force Awakens. Many feel that Rey is the daughter of someone we know. Like, she’s Luke’s daughter or maybe she’s Han and Leia’s daughter? What I keep thinking is… what if Finn/John Boyega is somebody’s son too? Why couldn’t he be Luke’s son? Or better yet, why couldn’t he be Lando Calrissian/Billy Dee Williams’ son? BECAUSE OMG I WOULD DIE. And we haven’t even talked about what happens if Luke has gone to the Dark Side now. And we also haven’t talked about whether there’s another set of twins in the mix. So many theories!!!!
Photos courtesy of Mark Seliger/Elle Magazine.
I LOVE secrets!
I love them so much that they drive me nuts. I could never keep to myself something like this.
Also, anyone saw yesterday that Dothraki dude from Game of Thrones being called out for posting a pic on his IG spoiling a part of the script for season 6?
How dumb you have to be to do that?
He should be FIRED.
HODOR
Was he a Dohraki dude? Not a Thenn? I f**king hate Thenns. DROGON!
I think he’s a Dothraki. I hate Thenns too! But I don’t think we’ll have to worry about him too much! He’ll be gone soon enough.
He prob will be fired as its likely he’s breached any confidentiality agreements he signed but then again it might have been approved for release by the producers.
HODOR!!!!
I don’t think it was approved because the pic was then immediately removed.
The picture was showing a cup of coffee next to an Ipad ( On the screen was the script he was reading) on a table. He was bragging about being in GoT of course.
So so dumb. It’s not like he’s a key character in the story, I couldn’t tell the Dothrakis apart, apart from Drogo (ahem.)
He’s very lucky that the script wasn’t showing anything important, anything Jon related and he would have been sacked faster than the speed of light.
Ah – what a moron, He’ll prob find he’ll get cut from the final edit.
Am quite excited about the new series. Wonder who will die – for reals.
Of course I’m going to see these Star Wars movies, but I wish this trend of ceaseless pre-coverage (magazine covers, E! features, etc.) would stop. By the time the movie comes out, you’ve spent more hours reading/seeing promos about it than the duration of the thing itself, and any interest/curiosity you might have had has evaporated.
a completely forgettable face. Which is both a good and a bad thing for an actress. Good if she has real acting skills and is aiming for a long, versatile character actor career, she can use that. Bad if she wants to be a star and a celebrity, and this could be useful to get better roles, as we know. One thing doesn’t exclude the other though.
Yes – sadly she is forgettable (looks and talent wise) particularly amongst the rest of the cast who outshine her even in the trailer. I can’t help but think she’s the Alice Eve of the franchise – pretty face but forgettable character and performance (see her in ST:ID). She’s the only actor in the movie that I’m not ‘feeling’ – i think JJ did her a disservice by casting someone who is inexperienced in the role. Its her first lead ever.
@Betti. I completely agree. I usually try not to judge beforehand because even a so so actor can give a good performance or a great film can have a bad trailer, but she seems so outclassed by everyone else in the trailer. John Boyega is magnetic, and she just seems so bland in comparison. It’s not just the acting either but that she seems to lack the sort of screen presence/charisma that a lot of public figures possess. It is bizarre that she got cast for such a big franchise with practically nothing under her belt. I was curious and looked her up after seeing the trailer and she’s only done a few short films and guest spots on TV. I thought maybe she went to one of the prestigious drama schools like RADA, but nope. Anyway, I remember how Natalie Portman got savaged after her turn in Star Wars and she was a fairly well respected actress at the time so I’m curious to see what happens….although the Star Wars fans seem to already like Daisy a lot so that ought to give her some breathing room. Tatiana Masley is on the short list for a future Star Wars film and I can’t help but wish she was playing Daisy’s role.
I was surprised that she hadn’t gone to drama school and her lack of experience shows. But good luck to her, she may improve with time and some more experience under her belt. I don’t think the SW fanboys are looking past her looks and resemblance to Portman & Knightly – there more excited about her character as its becoming obvious that there is some connection to Leia.
I agree about Boyega – he has talent and has a great career ahead of him.
> Tatiana Masley is on the short list for a future Star Wars film and I can’t help but wish she was playing Daisy’s role.
Felicity Jones got a lead in a spin-off but I think she would’ve been really good here too.
JJ did her a disservice? If she’s so forgettable in both looks and talent, then she probably would have never gotten an opportunity. She will get plenty of contracts just for being the “Star Wars Girl”. Shw won the lottery with that role.
She is coming across bland in the trailers I’ve seen so far. But Boyega (who is not faring much better in the trailers-in my opinion, to be honest) has a ton of charisma off screen and she seems not to. Hopefully once I’ve seen the whole movie, I will be full converts to both John and Daisy, I’d like the think given JJ’s reluctance to reveal too much of the plot, I am not seeing them at their most magnetic.
No matter what they both got the roles of a lifetime. I’ll be seeing the Force Awakens in the theaters when it comes out. It does seem obvious that her character and possibly Boyega’s are relatives of some well known characters. I’m more interested in Kylo Ren, to be honest and I’m surprised to be saying that about a character played by Adam Driver.
@ Pablo, counter-argument: Hayden Christensen.
@bread
I get what you are saying but he still did some movies after the prequels thanks to his Star wars fame. Without Star Wars, would he have had a career at all? I highly doubt it.
I think she looks gorgeous on-screen, but that’s just me. Everyone has their own definition of beauty. She was cast on her looks, not her experience as that’s what the casting call was looking for.
I think her looks are fine, her issue is going to be her lack of acting skills. It shows even in the trailer. Just on that shot of her with eyes popping out, it looks too much and completely unnatural. overdone.
@EN I agree that it’s not so much her looks as it is a lack of screen presence and no obvious talent (at least in the trailers). For example, Mia W is very bland looking but she has a great screen presence and talent.
Oh man- I hate that I feel the same way, but I do. The Hollywood Reporter did video and print interviews with both Daisy Ridley and John Boyega, and the difference was stark. She seemed very sweet, and very excited about being in Star Wars, but there wasn’t a lot of magnetism or charisma coming off of her- she seemed sweetly bland.
Boyega, on the other hand, was totally charming and funny and entertaining- you can see that while his path as a black actor will be much harder than hers as a white actress, he’s got that extra “it” in addition to acting chops that will hopefully lead to other roles.
Daisy Ridley sounds like a stage name, is it her real name?
It is!
That’s cool, I’ve always liked the name Daisy 🙂
I like her a lot already. So. Excited!!!
Now they have her on the cover on ELLE? The girl has no charisma and can’t act from what I saw of her 2 trailers. Such a loss of opportunity here.
…Who? (forgive my passing midweek snark.)
I’m confused: when she said she ate fish, legumes, and spirulina shakes, was that for the protein or to lose weight? I’ve noticed that in Hollywood, folks conflate “getting in shape” with “getting skinny” (and those two are not equivalent).
Wow, there’s an awful lot of judgement flying around about her acting ability based solely on a couple 2-minute trailers. How about reserving judgement until you’ve actually seen the movie? But since you’ve apparently already made up your minds it probably won’t matter. The original SW cast were unknowns (even Harrison Ford), so I don’t get the big deal about her being new to the industry. Orlando Bloom’s first acting gig was the LOTR trilogy. You gotta start somewhere, and sometimes that might mean hitting the ground running as opposed to a slow build. I could be completely wrong and she might totally suck, but I’m not going to form an opinion one way or the other from a few out-of-context scenes in a trailer. End rant.
you’re such a gossip? You don’t say! LOL