Daisy Ridley, star of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (in case you haven’t been exposed to media in the last year), covers Glamour UK’s January issue. The photo shoot is, shockingly, styled appropriately for a 23-year-old woman. She sports a cute, tied-off crop top on the cover and enviable flirty hair. Daisy has had a modest career so far, including roles in Mr. Selfridge and the TV series Silent Witness. Astonishingly, after tucking those two eminent credits under her belt, she was nervous walking in to one of the biggest roles in almost anyone’s career:
“I was petrified. I thought I was gonna have a panic attack on the first day. JJ [Abrams] … he probably doesn’t remember telling me that my performance was wooden. This was my first day! And I honestly wanted to die. I thought I was gonna cry, I couldn’t breathe.”
Peter Mayhew also commented on Daisy’s “stiffness,” comparing her to Natalie Portman on set. You know you need to loosen up when Chewbacca calls you out. (Mayhew goes on to say lovely things about Daisy.) As Kaiser has said, Daisy and John Boyega seem to be having a ball. Let’s hope that continues as this new incarnation progresses; or, at the very least, that they can lean on those who have already navigated the chaos that comes with Star Wars fame. (I would find every excuse possible to lean on Harrison Ford.)
Speaking of crazy, Daisy talks about trying to find a way to make sense of the more ardent fans:
“It’s so nice that people are so excited about it. But people are getting tattoos! Of my face! Already! And I’m like; you don’t even know what Rey is in the story. It seems insane to me.”
Seeing yourself permanently inked on another person, especially a stranger, must take some getting used to. God willing, it’s a decent likeness and not the love child of Gollum and Salacious B. Crumb. What is proper etiquette when you find yourself on the subway and the person next to you is displaying your face on their bicep? Do you introduce yourself? “Hello! I couldn’t help but notice that you have my face on your arm. Care for a Hobnob?” I love that she implies perhaps these people might not like Rey once the movie comes out; as if we are going to have a rash of requests for moth tattoos to cover up her face #beforeIsawStarWarsmistakes.
A new Star Wars teaser dropped in time for Thanksgiving, which I am sure you have seen but still – new teaser!
Photos courtesy of Glamour UK.
A wooden performance? Isn’t that traditional in Star Wars?
I hope you are reding to episode 1-3 @Lilacflowers, or we can’t be friends anymore😉
I like that they didn’t go with conventional pretty. She has an interesting face and it will be a lot more believable for a newcomer to disappear into the role. Hope she does the movie justice, I don’t go by trailers. But yeah, her life is going to be forever tied to SW. It has been a blessing for some (I would lean on Han Solo for anything whatever even now) and made them huge stars.
Yes, Hayden, Natalie, that child, and JarJar
It has been a blessing Harrison Ford and made him a huge star.
There, fixed that for you. Everyone else made money, and they certainly worked (no small thing for an actor!) but unless she and Boyega prove themselves outside the franchise, “huge star” is just not happening.
I think she’s as conventionally pretty as it gets.
She was probably taking a page outta Harrison Ford’s book.
She’s so cute. Her happiness is infectious. I feel for her, because she’s got a lot of pressure on her already. I hope she’s great in the film.
the film will do great regardless of the unknown actors. that’s how it works for huge franchises like Star Wars: it’s JJ Abrams baby, the actors are irrelevant because of the unconditional fanbase. The only pressure for the film and J.J. will be if it hits the billion or not.. This girl have to realize she hit the jackpot and will owe a lot to JJ.
She’s beautiful and looks a lot like Natalie Portman. She’s great casting as Padme Amidalas grand-daughter (?)
Her resemblance to Portman was likely the reason she was cast. I feel for her as its her first ever lead role and she is very inexperienced. Given that the role seems to be rather integral to the plot he should have gone with a more experienced actress or at least one who went to drama school and learned the craft. Acting isn’t as easy as it looks.
Good luck to her thou.
Exactly = she looks like Amidala.
People forget that Carrie Fisher was 19 when she was cast. If I was Daisy, I’d look to someone like Elijah Wood and Daniel Radcliffe who are both still working post- Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. It may take a while and many sequels, but she should be fine.
I’m sure nerves played a big part (it was the first day after all). Hopefully she was able to loosen up and find her her footing. With J.J. and the veteran cast there for support how could she not? Yes, it’s a big role in a big movie for someone with so little experience, but obviously J.J. saw something in her that made him believe she could do it. And don’t give me the Alice Eve, only hired for her looks comparison. This is a bigger, much more important role than the one she had in a Star Trek. I think this new installment is going to awesome and I can’t wait to see it!!
….said the man who cast Alice Eve in Star Trek.
Ha! Ain’t that the truth 😀
Good one, Fanty!
I think she loks more like Keira than Portman. Her smile reminds me of Amber Heard.
I see a resemblance to Keira Knightley too.
looks more like keira knightley to me
I think she looks like neither, but I see some Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter) in her.
Nothing would make me relax like being told on my first day that my performance was wooden.
ITA I think anyone can be overwhelmed on a first job, especially when it’s a film as massive as Star Wars.
She seems so sweet but the first thing I thought when I saw those trailers was “wow, that lead actress seems way out of her depth.” It seems especially obvious in comparison to John Boyega. I try not to judge actors on trailers and I give actors the benefit of the doubt because even a bad actor can have a good performance…so I was kind of surprised at my own reaction. I’ll be very curious to see the reviews. Then again, she seems to have already won over the geek squad and people want this film to be good so I think most will cut her a bit of a break. I hope she pulls off a great performance even if she made me raise my eyebrows based on the trailer.
She’s very Inexperienced which is obvious against the rest of the cast. This is her first ever big role as she’s mostly done background/bit parts till now. Even in the trailer u can see her trying v hard to act with the constipated facial expression. I do a lot of amateur dramatics and acting isn’t as easy as it looks. It takes a lot of time and training to do it well. She never went to drama school and only training she’s had was at a stage school.
saw the trailer… the force is not strong with this one :/
Ha clearly I haven’t been exposed to media in the last year as I’ve never heard of her!
Also, another new writer – Hecate? Hello! Unless I’ve just missed previous posts!
This girl seems quite sweet, hopefully she will acquit herself well in the part.
Hecate, you are off to a great start, a thousand welcomes. And yes, I fancy a hobnob, I like mine dunked in a mug of tea until the chocolate melts and is nicely gooey.
I expect we won’t see Daisy striking a pose in her underpinnings the way we did Alice Eve. I think JJ Abrams said that was a mistake, after the movie came out.
Hmmm, another posh Brit actor, I really do wonder if James McAvoy was right, whether acting is considered a rich person’s profession.
Arts in general is for rich people only. It is the same in the US,
Unless one is prepared to starve for 20 years for a tiny possibility of making it big.
Helen Mirren said something similar, that it was hard to make it but still possible when she was doing it and now it’s just for posh kids. It’s most definitely that way in Los Angeles. For people just trying to break in who aren’t young kids, agents and managers favor trust funders, models, children of famous people, etc. They don’t bother going to shows and they don’t care if people went to top theater schools and can act their face off. They want their clients to magically be totally free during the day to audition while spending their evenings networking, taking classes and workshops, and performing, so they get annoyed when someone has to have a job (gasp!) to pay the bills. They also, and I’m not even close to joking, openly state that the amount of followers someone has on social media matters. There are exceptions of course (especially in comedy) and the industry has never truly been a meritocracy, but it’s gotten aggressively bad in the last 20 or so years and excludes pretty much anyone who isn’t in the 1%.
In the UK most agents won’t take you on unless you’ve been to drama school or at the very least done some sort of course where there is a showcase at the end. Ridley’s grandfather was a well known TV actor so she has family connections into the biz. The UK industry is notoriously snobby about training.
It IS possible to make it without drama school training, look at Tom Hardy, Gerard Butler to name a few. You just have to be more determined than those who have.
She seems very nice, too bad her acting skills are pretty much nonexistent judging by the trailers. A big disappointment.
They went with a pretty face and resemblance to Portman/ Knightly over skills.
The top part of her face reminds me of Keira Knightley.
She has an infectious smile, although I’m surprised she hasn’t plumped her lips yet (not that I think she needs it — it’s just been so long since I’ve seen someone look natural on a magazine cover).
Star Wars is quite daggy as science fiction. As George Lucas said, it’s really a soap opera. Focusing on the SF stuff is wrong. I’ll still go and see the films anyway or at least catch them on DVD.
She seems nice, but such a shame her acting seems pretty bad from the trailers. Yeah, I have a feeling she will be the Hayden Christensen of this trilogy.
If JJ said her acting was wooden, why did he hire her? He could have gone with plenty of unknowns who are actually good as acting but he chose her. I don’t think she is pretty like Portman either. I think he chose a bad lead here.