Star Wars Director Under Fire for Daisy Ridley Comment

Daisy Ridley has revealed what J.J. Abrams said before filming started on Star Wars: The Force Awakens - and he might have done more harm than good.

“Understand the scale,” director J.J. Abrams allegedly told Ridley, who plays protagonist Rey in the most recent Star Wars trilogy. “This is not a role in a movie. This is a religion for people. It changes things on a level that is inconceivable.”

The quote originally appeared in a 2019 interview with GQ, and was referenced in a January 25 interview with Inverse.

Abrams was no doubt preparing Ridley for the biggest role of her career, but in hindsight, it probably piled an unfair amount of pressure on the young actor.

In the years that followed, Ridley suffered a series of health scares. During the release of 2019’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, she was at her lowest. “My body was just fucked up. I got tests done and it turned out my body was taking in no nutrients,” Ridley tells GQ. “I was just like a little skeleton and I was just so tired. I was becoming a ghost.”

While Ridley doesn’t directly attribute stress to Abrams’ words, they certainly seem linked to the severe anxiety she’s publicly struggled with.

Ridley is set to reprise her role in Sharmeen Obad-Chinoy's upcoming Star Wars movie, Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, in 2026. Daisy Ridley detailed the next Star Wars film and described her excitement late last year.