Daisy Ridley Opens Up About Star Wars, Stunts, and High-Rise Thriller Cleaner: The Collider Q&A Breakdown

Daisy Ridley is no stranger to high-octane roles, but her latest project, Martin Campbell's Cleaner, pushes her to new physical limits. In an exclusive Q&A, the actress peeled back the curtain on her grueling training regimen, her Star Wars legacy, and the unconventional projects she's passionate about. Here's everything you need to know from the conversation.

From Pubs to Galaxy-Far, Far Away: Get to Know Daisy Ridley

Before becoming Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Ridley worked as a bartender in two London pubs near her mother's house. She even had a surreal reunion years later in Paris with a customer from those days—a David Bowie biographer she recognized across a breakfast table.

When asked how many times she's watched her Star Wars debut, she laughed, estimating three times around release. Recently, she caught a snippet at the gym: “It felt very sweet to watch very young me on the screen.” Her go-to comfort watch? Friends. And her fast-food weakness? A vegan burger from Honest Burgers.

Dream Collaborations and Harry Potter Hopes

Ridley expressed a burning desire to work with Greta Gerwig, even cheekily asking about The Chronicles of Narnia adaptation. “I'm shameless,” she admitted, though she expects Saoirse Ronan might land the lead. As for the upcoming Harry Potter TV series, she hasn't asked to join, citing the iconic performances that already define the roles and the massive time commitment.

The High-Rise Grind: Training for Cleaner

For Cleaner, Ridley endured six weeks of intense physical prep. Her “9-to-5” included general workouts followed by three hours of fight training, gun handling, and wire work, four to five days a week. She recalled a particularly brutal stunt where she dropped from a ceiling in a harness, grabbed by two crew members, and had to land perfectly. “My heart's pounding because I know I have to land in the right place... it took like 15 tries.”

The film's action sequences were shot over roughly two weeks. One scene required her to yank a wrench so hard she thought she broke a bone. “You're already tired because you've shot a whole movie,” she explained. To sustain energy, she followed a custom meal plan and relied on craft service hot chocolates at 3:30 p.m. as a morale booster.

Martin Campbell's Unique Directing Style

Ridley praised Campbell's attention to detail, especially his focus on the “musicality” of dialogue. He'd often listen to takes without watching, just to feel the rhythm. His favorite note? “Communion,” meaning closeness and emotional sharing between actors. She's already signed on for another Campbell project—a military thriller she describes as “super sharp” and entirely different from Cleaner.

Avoiding Pigeonholes: Diverse Roles After Star Wars

Since The Force Awakens, Ridley has deliberately chosen varied roles: the survivalist drama The Marsh King's Daughter, the indie gem Sometimes I Think About Dying, the swimming biopic Young Woman and the Sea, and the thriller Magpie, which she co-produced. “I feel really genuinely blessed that I have not been pigeonholed,” she said. Her next SXSW premiere, We Bury the Dead, is a zombie movie that she calls “beautiful”—her mom found it sad, her sister scary, which delighted her.

She also produced and starred in Trailblazer, a VR game about Bertha Benz, the first woman to embark a long-distance road trip. “In the age of innovation, she's a real, proper trailblazer.”

Star Wars Legacy and Fan Connections

Ridley's favorite piece of Star Wars merch is her lightsaber (she has two). She gave away most toys with her face but keeps a BB-8 in her car. The best part of the franchise? “The feeling that we all have together... people united in their love for something.” She's considering attending Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo but may be busy with a production.

As for a hypothetical fight between her Cleaner character and Hans Gruber? “Eventually she'd win, but it'd be a cat-and-mouse game.”

Upcoming Projects and Creative Partnerships

Ridley has a secret project filming next month that she calls “literally a dream.” She's waiting on a green light for a new script from Tom Bateman (her husband and Magpie writer) and is developing an original idea with another writer—her first such collaboration outside their partnership. “I don't want to jinx it,” she said with a smile.

With Cleaner now in theaters and multiple productions on the horizon, Daisy Ridley continues to prove she's more than a Jedi—she's a force of nature in every genre.

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