WATCH
62 ELLE AUSTRALIA
As told to: Laura CollinsON HER FIRST TIME My first
encounter with Star Wars was
when I was seven or eight
years old. It was with my
older brother and my cousins- all boys – and I was already
a tomboy. We’d always be
running around outside.
I remember we all sat down avidly, cross-legged
on the floor, to watch it. It’s quite an impressionistic
view, but I do remember the opening titles rolling
up the screen and getting really close to the TV and
thinking, “It’s going too fast! It’s going too fast!
I need to know what’s going on!”
ON PREPARATION You need so much stamina to do all
the fight sequences and your fitness has to be at
such a peak level, so I started training for Rogue One
very early on. I was shooting another film and doing
kung-fu training in the evenings after work and on
weekends. I watched Sigourney Weaver in Alien and
watched female characters that I thought would be
interesting for playing Jyn.ON BAD-ASS GIRLS It’s important to me to be a part
of new wave of female characters, like Jyn this
and Rey. Usually when you’re playing femaleFelicity Jones, who plays the
rebellious Jyn Erso in the new
stand-alone Star Wars film,
Rogue One, talks landing her
dream role – and her own
action figureGALAXY
QUEST
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
is in cinemas December 15roles, you have to say, “Do we have to have this
moment where he drags her along?” or there’ll
be some sort of writing that just jars with you,
or the character is being particularly passive
in a moment when she should be being active.
It as w so nice to read a script where that wasn’t
a problem – Jyn was completely front-footed and
active herself and not relying on someone else to
drag her through the story. It’s what I’ve dreamed
of. It’s exactly what it should be.ON HER NEW FAMILY Mark Hamill [Luke Skywalker]
came to set and he was such a lovely presence.
He’s someone who has managed to retain his
humanity and his life despite being incredibly
famous, so I think that helped the cast feel much
calmer after meeting him. We spoke to Daisy
[Ridley, who plays Rey in The Force Awakens] and
John [Boyega, Finn in The Force
Awakens] very early on, too, so
it does feel like we’re all going
through it together. It feels like
there’s a real sense of unity not
only in our film but with the
other guys in the other films.
There’s a warmth with each
other, very much.ON STAYING GROUNDED Being
part of this universe brings
a huge amount of affection.
People get very passionate
about it, but I would hope
that my life doesn’t change
too much, because I quite like how it is. I got
my Jyn action figure, which my nephew, when
I ed show it to him, bit the head off (he was very
hungry at the time). That really brought me back
down to earth, so I don’t think I’m going to get
too above myself. qREBEL WITH
A CAUSE
Felicity Jones plays
unlikely hero
Jyn Erso in the
latest Star Wars film