DAISY RIDLEY SPENT six months on a train with
the world’s greatest detective but never gave up
The Last Jedi’s secrets. Who are Rey’s parents?
How did she end up on Jakku? Is she related to
Kylo Ren? Ridley has the lowdown on all of this
and more, but even the combined interrogation
of Hercule Poirot, Murder On The Orient Express
co-star Josh Gad and Dame Judi Dench couldn’t
shake the answers loose. Empire, it must be said,
is faring little better.
“I am... aware of things,” she concedes
reluctantly, after several minutes of relentless
badgering. “But being told something out of
context on set because I’m saying, ‘Hey Rian,
what’s the answer to this question?’ is never the
same as when it’s properly revealed. I mean, you
can be told that someone’s wearing a red shoe
but when you actually see the red shoe it’s...
That’s the worst analogy ever! Look, the short
answer is yes, I know the answers but there are
so many different ways to ask the questions.”
And questions there are in abundance.
We pick up with Rey exactly where The Force
Awakens left her: lightsaber in hand, arm
outstretched. But where does she go from
there? Having been swept along by events far
bigger than herself in The Force Awakens
(“The only choice that was really hers was the
decision to keep BB-8 safe!”), Rey is fi nally
granted mastery of her own destiny. She chooses
to seek out Luke Skywalker and it’s her decision
to ask him for guidance. So too, must she decide
what happens next.
After shooting — and watching — Episode VII
(“I had never seen myself in a fi lm before;
I was just fi xated on how awful I was!”), Ridley
returned to the mossy slopes of Skellig Michael
for the fi rst shooting days of The Last Jedi.
Having spent the previous visit chundering her
guts out thanks to a bout of adrenal exhaustion,
Ridley settled back into the role, getting to know
Hamill just as Rey does his Jedi alter ego.
“Emotionally I was really nervous going into
the second one as it takes me a little while to get
into the groove with new people,” she says. “It’s
a different relationship. It’s not Rey and Finn go
on an awesome adventure with Han Solo; it’s
suddenly Rey is on an island with Luke and it’s
this whole other thing that’s being explored.”
The “whole other thing” is something she
won’t be drawn into (“It’s the culmination of
events that are both awesome and eye-opening
— is that vague enough?”) and no amount of
hectoring, threatening or cajoling will shake the
secrets loose. Not even when Empire gazes
imploringly up at her with big, porg-like eyes.
“Oh my God, the porgs!” Ridley claps hands
in delight. “You haven’t even seen a glimmer of
the story they offer. What’s amazing too is that
they come with us on...” she stops abruptly,
catching herself mid-sentence. “Oops, spoiler. I’m
umm... sure there are porgs in lots of places.” ❯
marcin
(Marcin)
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