Daisy Ridley on Chaos Walking, her first movie released after Star Wars

Daisy Ridley talks to Yahoo Entertainment about her first post-Star Wars role, Chaos Walking.

Video Transcript

- Whoa. Whoa. Stop don't come any closer. (THINKING) It's a girl. Girl. Girl. Oh my god. Girl. I'm sorry. I've just never-- (THINKING) Never seen a girl before. Who are you?

KEVIN POLOWY: You will hear that this is your first post-"Star Wars" role, but you guys actually shot this one a little while back. What excited you about the material then and what still has you bullish about it today?

DAISY RIDLEY: I think initially I just thought it was a great script, and then I read the books. I was like, oh my god. These books are amazing. And it's like what Patrick does so well, which is do books that feel like young adult books but have all of these, like, much deeper messages that are sort of peppered throughout what seems like an action adventure. And then now I think, one, it's ultimately hopeful, and I think it's nice to see hopeful films right now.

Two, a lot of the themes present in it are, you know, still present right now like gender politics, and I know Patrick's likened the noise slightly to social media, and all of those things still really stand. But also, it's a really beautiful film. Like, the way it's been shot is gorgeous. There are amazing action sequences. I just think it ticks a lot of boxes.

KEVIN POLOWY: There aren't that many people on this planet who can say they are the face of a billion dollar franchise. This movie has two of them, as you noted. I mean, what was that like to have that one-two punch of Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland?

PATRICK NESS: Well, I mean, Daisy was first in. She was very keen to do it. She wrote a nice long letter to me about wanting to play Viola, and then Tom came aboard, and then both of them went stratospheric. So we're kind of lucky with the timing. But, you know, they don't act that way. They're just, you know, they're actors who really want to do a good job and who really want to embody the characters they're playing.

So I think if you-- I think if you're walking around acting like the face of a billion franchise, you're not going to be the face of a billion franchise for very much longer, and neither of those two are like that at all. They're just really wanting to be present and do a good job. So, you know, good for us.

- Do you know where you're going, though?

- Yeah, definitely. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

KEVIN POLOWY: You star opposite Tom Holland whose thoughts you can hear in the story, and many of those thoughts revolve around some hardcore crushing on you, never seen a girl before. He falls pretty hard. What can you say about crafting that specific dynamic with Tom where he has to be basically openly infatuated with you the whole time?

DAISY RIDLEY: Well, it was interesting because when we were filming initially, the relationship was a bit more contentious, and then we were able to do additional photography, which was actually really helpful because we had scenes-- we were able to do the scenes like the kissing scene which is, like, so sweet and so embarrassing for Todd, and it's like all of those things of like a teenage crush.

And it was actually quite sweet because it sort of sculpts that relationship more. And ultimately, I really think it gets to a point where Viola is like, I see you as you are, and I take you as you are, and vice versa with Todd to Viola. So it becomes so-- even though, you know, it's embarrassing. The noise, I think, it gets to such a sweet place with [INAUDIBLE]. You really have to understand why it is that they've gone on this journey together. So hopefully people feel that.

KEVIN POLOWY: Did you and Tom relate to one another at all on the insane trajectories of your young careers?

DAISY RIDLEY: I mean, I've always felt really lucky because I never felt like anything was really resting on my shoulders. Like, I always really felt part of a team, and, like, I always was like I always had John and then Oscar and Adam and, obviously, Harrison, Carrie, Mark. There were so many components to Star Wars that it never felt like I was out there by myself, and I know Tom, you know, Zendaya has obviously a massive part in Spider-Man two, but I-- yeah I think it's like different. Like, he's Spider-Man in Spider-Man.

KEVIN POLOWY: Yeah.

DAISY RIDLEY: And it's so-- it's like historical. Like, "Star Wars" is historical, but the character I came in and played the new character of Rey. Like, that is intense. So I do not really understand what Tom has gone through, but he does it all with grace. Like, he really does. He handles it all very well.

KEVIN POLOWY: What do you think this story says about, you know, the fact that we can hear men's thoughts, not women's? What do you think it says about gender and sort of how we communicate differently?

DAISY RIDLEY: I think, ultimately, what I hope people take away from it is that even though people communicate differently, there is a way to be together, and it doesn't have to-- things that you don't understand and scare you don't have to be the ending of something. It doesn't have to go that far, and acceptance is key, and being open to how other people communicate with you is important, and people do that differently. So hopefully that's the sort of hopeful thing that I hope people take from it.