The first time Daisy Ridley shot a scene with Mark Hamill, for the climactic ending of The Force Awakens, she was so ill she nearly threw up on Master Jedi Luke Skywalker.
“I remember being in an orange tent saying ‘Make me better so I can do my job,’" said Ridley who is now two years older, stronger and quite assertive.
She takes issue with being called a movie star.
“Because I am an actress is what I am. In a film,” she said. “And I remember somebody using that term actually before, and I was like, 'Who invented this term?’”
Ridley does star in The Last Jedi, a film that begins exactly at the point The Force Awakens ends. Only of course now everyone realizes what a big deal these movies are.
“It was nerve-racking being back playing Rey,” said Ridley. “I think the first time around was so fun, everything happened so quickly, that I didn't really have any expectations and then obviously because the reaction to the first one was really wonderful, suddenly it was like EXPECTATIONS! So it was more scary.”
John Boyega returns as Finn, the renegade stormtrooper who was so fun to watch in The Force Awakens. That led to this exchange:
BRYAN
You are kind of the audience surrogate.
BOYEGA
Wait. What?
BRYAN
You. Are. Us. Everything you say we totally believe.
BOYEGA
I am definitely ticking my box and asking myself every day during the experience, what would a Star Wars fan do? And making sure I am living that every single day. So yeah.
BRYAN
On and off the set?
BOYEGA
On and off the set.
Boyega has said in the past that he’s one of the luckiest actors in the world, but since then, he now acknowledges it hasn’t all been luck.
“I’ve worked for this and I think if you work for anything, an element of you has to expect something to come of it,” Boyega said, "So I moved to L.A. I spent my last dime for this and so it feels much more of a relief that it worked out, because it’s a crazy sacrifice.”
Look for Finn to face some big decisions and big fights in The Last Jedi.
We should also learn more about why Adam Driver's Kylo Ren has embraced the dark side of the force.
Driver said he enjoyed making The Last Jedi more.
“I think with the first one it was more terror or denial,” said Driver.
"’Oh look there's a Millennium Falcon’, you're like ‘Oh, ok, put it out of your mind to focus on the story’. But this one, because I had a better sense of what the role was, I think I had more time on set to sit back and enjoy.
Which is exactly what so many of us will do when The Last Jedi hits theaters December 15.
“It's a roller coaster of emotions, I can tell you there is no way you're just going to see this once," promises Boyega.
Travel and accommodations provided by Walt Disney Pictures.
