Celebrity: Daisy Ridley – The Force Is With Her

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You said in another interview that the best acting you’ve ever done was quite emotional and it was also in front of your parents. Tell us about that. Actually, it happened on two different occasions. So, I was in a film version of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet called Ophelia which focuses on the rebellious and motherless child, who is taken in by Queen Gertrude. When I was filming it, my parents were there on set at the time – it was the scene where Ophelia finds her father Polonius dying. Because my dad was there at the time, I found that quite weird.

They were also on the set of Chaos Walking where I was filming another scene and this time, you’ve guessed it, I was talking about the death of both of my parents. That was really upsetting when I was thinking about it – as it obviously would be. But they cut it out and I felt that it was the best acting that I had ever done, because it was almost method acting. The funniest thing is that my dad was happy to see some “proper acting”, which confused me a little! My mum hadn’t even stayed around in Prague during the Ophelia filming, she had gone back to the hotel.

What happens for you after this? Obviously, there will be so many offers for you and you will be more available…  Well, I have a few things I am working on or have recently finished. But as my life and work has been so regimented and structured, with regards to working and training and promoting the film and then that cycle again. Also, because there were three films in this relative short space of time, when you get towards the end of this whole huge project, it is beginning to dawn on me how strange all of this will be once the movie is released and then that will be it. Nothing.

I have been reading a lot of books over the last few years, in between filming, and there are a number that I have thought should be made into films. One in particular that I read is the story about Virginia Hall, who is known as the most dangerous spy of the Second World War. That book is called A Woman of No Importance. So, maybe something like that? But the first thing I will be doing is having a nice relaxing break somewhere.

Are you excited? I’m trying to be very calm and patient when it comes to looking at offers and considering which kinds of roles I would like to play, because you know that expectations will be very high and you don’t want to waste this kind of opportunity to do interesting work.