Daisy Ridley remembers director JJ Abrams’ advice after casting a Star Wars movie

Daisy Ridley

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Daisy Ridley remembered director JJ Abrams’ wise words after being cast in the 2015 film The force awakenssaying this week that he asked her to “understand the scale” of the film before accepting the lead role.

Ridley played the protagonist Ray The force awakens, The last jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019), leads the Star Wars films through their early years following Disney’s acquisition of George Lucas’ universe.

“This is not a role in a movie,” Ridley recalled Abrams telling her in a new interview. inverse. “This is a debt to the people. It changes things to an unimaginable level.”

Ridley says Abrams was right: Star Wars changed her life, launching her celebrity status and propelling her to the forefront of an extremely passionate fan base.

“For friends and family, or anyone who sees something a little differently than you do, there’s this projection of you and who you are in the world, and how you feel when you’re doing this and that,” she said. “And you say, ‘Well, actually, I’m just a human being, separate from that.'” It’s a conflict between reality and fantasy that is often presented to you.

Ridley said the pressure got to her quickly. “When all this craziness was happening, I was like, ‘I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m coping well. It’s OK.’ And I was fine for the most part. But I think what I was really wrestling with was that this was my normal, but it wasn’t normal for other people.

By then, her exhaustion had quickly manifested itself physically The last jedi Upon arriving in theaters, Ridley developed holes in her intestinal wall. “My body was devastated,” she said. GQ In 2019. “I had tests done and it turned out that my body was not receiving any nutrients. I was just a little skeleton and was very tired. “I’ve become a ghost.”

Ridley took a six-month break before filming began The Rise of SkywalkerWhich helped her recover. Then the real ending happened: “After the final Star Wars movie came out and everything was quiet, I was like, ‘What the hell is this?’” Ridley said. “I was sad.”

The experiment ultimately took many years to process, aided by the epidemic that began two years later Skywalker. “Having to sit through quarantine has been incredibly helpful, in a way I didn’t expect,” Ridley said. “I realized there were a lot of things I wasn’t addressing properly.”