Daisy Ridley Expands Her Skill Set For New Movie To Release Later This Month

TV & Film

May 20

Daisy Ridley — Image Source: cinematographe.it

Given the expansion of the Star Wars lore, the introduction of new characters, and new challenges in keeping the Force in balance. One of these newcomers, Rey played by actress Daisy Ridley, would carry on the legacy by giving herself the famous Skywalker name, embracing the lessons Luke taught her, and coming to terms with being a descendant of Emperor Palpatine. Ridley is a quintessential part of the Force, ready to take on more pioneering roles. Her latest role will be Trudy Ederle, who made the 21-mile swim in 1926 of the English Channel and broke down barriers for women in the sport along the way in the film Young Woman and the Sea.

Despite Ederle’s story not being the most common, Ridley has been on a mission to give Ederle’s story justice. One key part of being accurate in playing Ederle was for Ridley to start swimming. According to Ridley in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, she “wasn’t much of a swimmer” before the project.

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Daisy Ridley as Trudy — Image Source: media.vanityfair.com

She acknowledged,

“I would walk into a pool and I would stand there, and sometimes I would do a hold my breath competition, but I had never done a full length of the pool. So the first time I got in the pool and tried to, I stood up halfway and was like, ‘I actually can’t do this.’ And then I had to try very hard in order to adequately portray Trudy.”

Gathering up the courage to strengthen her swimming skills might not equate to the stunts performed in the Star Wars trilogy but it cannot be said that Ridley didn’t learn to transfer the physicality of the character Rey into her portrayal of Trudy Elderle. Ridley stated that she is “starting at the beginning” in training herself to swim more effectively during filming. This training has brought Ridley great admiration and respect for swimmers, but she has joked about how she “doesn’t need to swim anymore” and will wait excitedly for the Olympics.

As she becomes another fan cheering Olympic swimmers, Ridley will once again be grabbing a lightsaber and filling in Rey’s shoes. No matter what role, she is promised to be a “force of nature” committed to her character portrayal according to Young Woman and the Sea director Joachim Rønning.