In a recent interview with AlloCine.com, Daisy Ridley shared how the pressure of keeping her casting a secret impacted her performance in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise.
During the conversation, she came across a photo of the read-through for ‘Star Wars.’ This made her recall her nervousness about maintaining the secrecy of her role:
“Oh, yes, I know this picture. This is the read-through for the first ‘Star Wars’ film. I did go for about 15 ways because I was so nervous. It was really strange because it had been a secret for 3 months. I hadn’t told anyone but my family.”
After some time, the situation escalated after a slight delay in the official announcement:
“There was the time when this was supposed to come out, so I knew that I could tell people. Then it got delayed a few minutes, so I texted people, going, ‘Oh, by the way, there are things happening,’ and I was so scared about telling anyone that I shouldn’t have told. Then it didn’t come out, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’ve told someone something I shouldn’t have done.'”
Watch the rest of the interview below.
Will Ridley Reprise Her Role as Rey in the Future?
Ridley’s portrayal of Rey, which began with ‘The Force Awakens’ in 2015, has been widely praised. However, in the same interview, she admitted how her nerves were so palpable that director J.J. Abrams requested additional rehearsals with her and co-star John Boyega:
“After this read-through, John and I went to rehearse with J.J. because J.J. was like, ‘That was not great!’ So we literally had to go to him straight away. He was like, ‘Okay,’ cuz the nerves were so strong.”
Ridley’s casting as Rey in February 2014 was part of Abrams’ strategy to emulate George Lucas’ original approach of casting relatively unknown actors for the lead roles. This choice aimed to keep viewers immersed in the Star Wars universe without the distraction of recognizing familiar faces.
At the Star Wars Celebration on April 7, 2023, it was revealed that Ridley will reprise her role as Rey in an untitled Star Wars/Obaid-Chinoy project. Her other future projects include ‘Magpie,’ ‘Star Wars: New Jedi Order’ expected in 2026, ‘First Ascent,’ ‘Women in the Castle,’ ‘Cleaner,’ ‘We Bury the Dead,’ and ‘Young Woman and the Sea.’
