Podcrushed - Daisy Ridley

Episode Date: May 29, 2024

For the first time in the history of Podcrushed, Penn flies solo with our guest, Daisy Ridley (Star Wars Trilogy, Murder on the Orient Express). She gushes over her first big crushes on Pink and Julia Stiles, how pain shaped part of her adolescence, and the role that intuition played in landing her, a then-unknown actress, the most coveted role of the 2010s as Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. They also take a deep dive into her more recent foray into independent films, including her latest role as the first woman to ever swim the English Channel in Young Woman and the Sea.   Follow Podcrushed on socials: TikTok Instagram XSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

But one of them said, oh, I heard they're at least souls additions. And for whatever reason, I knew nothing about who they were casting, nothing. And I was like, I'm going to get that job. I just felt in my bones that it was going to happen. It's one of those strange things. Welcome to Pod Crushed. We're hosts. I'm Penn. I'm Nava.

And I'm Sophie. And I think we would have been your middle school. Guesties, planning elaborate schemes to liberate the class pets. I'm coming for you, Bunny. Welcome to Pod Crushed. I've jettisoned my co-hosts. Not by choice. Really, I was really wanting them here today.

But due to technical difficulties and just general personal differences, which is to say personality difficulties. It's just me. They couldn't join. We nearly lost our guest. because of how long we were making her weight because we were trying to figure it out between the three of us, but then we needed counseling.

It's just, you know, it really, it was a whole ordeal. For now, let's just get into our guest. Today we have Daisy Ridley. You know her from Murder on the Orient Express, Ophelia, Chaos Walking, and then of course there's her first, not her first role, but it was her first breakthrough role. And one of her first, as Ray, in Star Wars, The Force awakens.

Most recently, she has a whole slate of films coming out. Among them Magpie. And then another, the young woman in the sea. So actually, funnily enough, we were conquering and dividing. Sorry, other way around. We were dividing and conquering. Between the three of the co-hosts of Podcrush, myself, Navajavalin, and Sophie Ansari. We each watched a film of Daisies.

and then we were all going to speak with her about it. But due to technical difficulties, I lost Sophie and Nava today. So it was just me and Daisy. And I couldn't really speak to her about the other two films that much. But nonetheless, we got deep into her formative years. We talked about Star Wars and the young woman in the sea. And we did have a great time.

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Listen to Pulling the Thread from Lemonada Media wherever you get your podcasts. we start at 12, you know, coming of age, adolescence, whatever you, you don't call it middle school in England. No, we call it secondary school. Okay. So just paint us a picture. How, what were you experiencing? What were you thinking? How were you seeing the world? Um, the thing is, I've really cracking my brain, but I feel like I don't have that many memories from my teenagedom. And I don't know why? Like, I have a general hazy view. Um, but where would I be? I was at boarding school. I did, we did like half the day vocational, half the day academic. I mean, it was great just living on Harry Potter sort of musical theatre dreams. Um, so were you, you were,

how far away from home were you? Oh, not far. Like an hour, an hour and a half. And would you go back on the weekends? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like the cool kid because my parents lived in London. I was like, guys, you can have a sleepover at my house and we're in London. So, yes, sleepovers.

Also, my parents were always very encouraging of sleepovers, so they'd come in and there's like six teenagers in their living room and making breakfast for everyone, smell a bacon when I ate meat. So you became a performer. I couldn't tell, like a little bit later years, right? I mean, as you were into college, or were you becoming, like, when did you get into acting?

So I left school. I stayed at that school until I was 18, and then I left and tried university for a bit. My mom says it's three weeks. It was three months. But I got a job immediate, like a pub job immediately out of school. Then I went traveling for five months on my own, and then I got back and started auditioning and then I probably had my first professional job at 20 maybe okay so so if you were I mean so that's young I mean you did Star Wars about time you were what 21 yeah something so I mean

was that on the horizon when you were in secondary school you know like were you were you thinking like what did you think of the word artist then did you think of yourself as an artist did you want to be an artist. Did you take that seriously? I took it seriously, but I didn't, I mean, I honestly really didn't know what it entailed and I didn't know. I had faith that I could make a career out of it, I suppose, but I did not know what that looked like. And was the school a performing arts school? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the reason I went was because I was naughty at my primary school and then my mom having three children trying to keep them occupied used to send us to this It's so strange, but over the summer holiday,

it's like two weeks in the Lake District, which is a very beautiful part of England. And there's like an instrument school, I guess. So we went and did violin for like two weeks. And I had a friend there who went to boarding school, and I was like, born in school sounds fucking great. So I auditioned for there. But at that time, I really was not massively, I suppose, interested.

Yeah, right. It was just my mum thought it would keep me busy. So then it was sort of a lucky accident that I went there and loved it. And I actually left when I was, how old was that when I left? I left and went to another school and immediately regretted it. So I actually went back to school. And my mom was so furious. Because at the end of the year that I decided to leave,

and it was this big dramatic thing. She said, are you sure you want to do this? And I said, yeah. and I went to the school and it just did not suit me but I had a scholarship at my boarding school so I wrote a letter

maybe when I was how old would I have been? Oh no I lie sorry that was when I was 16 but I wrote a letter to the principal of the school and I said please can you give me my scholarship back and to his credit he did

and my mom sent him a nice old crate of wine yeah wow so and again at that point what did you want to go back to I just That's a good question I suppose it was

comfort and security in a way I'd been there from nine friends maybe I felt really like a fish out of water when I left and I loved it it was just looking back on it it's pretty firstly it's amazing to live with your friends

and the vocational mixed with the academic and but that's a good question. I just had this feeling that where I was was not, where I went to was just not the place for me and I just had this massive sense of regret and I think I

wrote to my principal before my I told my mum, this is so weird to think about it so I haven't thought about it in ages. I wrote to my principal before I wrote to my mom and I told her and she was like, are you kidding me? The stress of you leaving a school, a full institution you've in for seven years and then going back it was a really great choice and i was really really happy

to go back so um i really wanted to dig in there but i have to do my co-hosts proud and we got to stick to the we got to stick to the secondary school for just a second because because there's there's formative stuff in i think you know it's actually interesting to me that you that this time is not jogging a lot of memories initially which i think is that is it can often be the case so so so We're, I think what we'll do it sometimes is something we always do in this show. Do you have a first crush, a first love or heartbreak kind of story? I've been thinking about this. And really, I feel like my most profound teenage crush was pink.

The singer. The pop singer. Yeah. Really? Yeah. I just loved her so much. I still love her now. I actually cannot believe I'm not.

She's lovable. But she was really my love. So not a crush in a romantic way. But I just had a huge, just life crush on her. Right, right. And then I remember I loved Save the Lost Dance and Ten Things I Hate about you. And I also had a huge life crush on Julia Stiles. And I actually went to the BAFTAs a few years ago.

And I stood next to her and was like, and had that thing of they were my two um just girls girl vibe girl crush um just their energies and talent and all the stuff so that is who i really think of in my teenage years right do you recall like something of awkwardness i would think maybe standing next to an icon from from your teenage years did you did you know were you flushed then and can you recall i'm just wondering like because you're actually striking me as a very sound confident person oh no and i know that i know that not everybody you know whatever you might project something it's it's it's i didn't speak to her I went a bit funny and I was with my agent and Hilda.

And she said to say hi. I can't say hi. Yeah, I still feel that way often, often, yeah. Yeah, I mean, there have been a few people that usually I sort of swallow it and act like, I'm cool. But I'm not cool. So, no, that made me feel very, very strange to see her real life. Um, but in terms of awkwardness as a teenager, I was, I think I was always pretty all right, but I mean, this is, might be TMI, but I have, um, hormonal things. So I do. Oh, I did, I did read that. Yeah. So I do remember. And you were sort of outspoken about it. Yeah, a lot of my, um, a lot of my teenage life, though I was a late bloomer. I do remember, um, either being in pain or like, sad. And I thought, that's actually, that's huge though that's I mean that's I don't want to say it's huge it's formative yeah I mean

you know I mean I for me I would say that um sadness I mean it's not as simple as sadness but I would say forms of pain probably mark this period of life for me more than anything else you know that I can recall and it doesn't you know I don't want to paint that onto yours but but it's pretty significant and it sounds like you know one thing I wasn't experiencing a lot of was physical pain it sounds like you were experiencing physical pain and as a result of of, you know, we can connect this around to some of the project you're doing now, like the unique physical body of a woman, you know? Yeah. Like you, right? Yeah. So did that impact your relationship

to the way you thought about growing up and blossoming as a girl to a woman? I think it's strange. I was talking about this yesterday to someone and you sort of, I sort of forget that how formative it is. But yeah, I mean, there were there were days where I literally wouldn't be able to go to school because I was in so much pain and then that was sorted ish but in terms of I do remember getting to my 20s and everything was sort of fine and I thought oh I thought I was just a sad but this sounds so bleak but I was like I thought I was just a sad person but actually it was something that was outside of my control and yeah puberty I think for anyone can be quite disconnecting

like head to body and everything that's going on and then for the most part it was sort of fine but those instances of pain or upset were pretty hefty and I suppose that's also something wonderful about being at a boarding school

because everyone talks and everyone's open and everyone knows what's going on with each other so you just don't feel alone because everyone's going through it yeah that's nice so when did you start to feel like you really identify with performing and acting specifically?

I really loved it towards when we actually really started doing it. And I remember at the school I returned to when I was 16, you could choose to do the dance, musical theatre or drama course. And I remember thinking, I really want to do musical theatre and drama. But I love me some musical theatre. So I didn't do the drama course. But I remember really feeling drawn to that. And then just had some really great teachers.

and again, I didn't know what that would look like, but I certainly did feel like that's what I wanted to do in a creative way. I didn't understand how to do it. But it felt like I was drawn to doing that, probably really from 16, 17. And then, to be honest, in the grand scheme of things, everything did happen pretty quickly.

But obviously at the time, I mean, that's what I'm thinking. Yeah, but when you decide to do something, you're like, please give me an audition. And then you never hear back and all of those learning things. Take a minute to adjust to. And the years between 17 and 21, say they are long. Yeah. You know, I mean, it's four years, but that is, those are huge, huge years, each one of them.

You're like a different person every year. Yeah. Can we, I want to move on to your projects. Give me just a little bit of a snapshot of like, when, you're, you know, you got out of the professional world. You're auditioning, you're working at a pub, sounds like you said? Yes, I had a number of jobs.

I worked at two pubs for a considerable amount of time. I worked at Abercrombie and Fitch as a T-shirt folder, so we were hidden in the depths and the bowels of the shop for quite a while. I think you might be the second person we've had on the show who worked at Abercrombie and Fitch. I can't remember who the other was, but I've heard it before. I wonder if they were hidden, though. We were the ones that

I mean, there's all sorts of things Hidden, yeah, wait, wait, wait, what is that? That's actually... It's just there are different sorts of jobs there It's so messed up But when the head of the company Were you not like the poster image enough? No, no, no, so there were the models

and then there were impact and we did all the behind the scene stuff and then when the head of the company came we were not out to go to the shop floor No, yeah, yeah, yeah, people were picked I mean, I'm not saying anything out of turn, and I think there was a documentary made about it. But, yeah, people were handpicked to be available.

Wow. But, I mean, I was sick. How did that make you do? I mean, I had such a nice group of friends there. We were just having a great time. Yeah. It's like, sure, okay. Yeah, so I had a number of jobs.

I worked as a, weirdly enough, I did a film before Christmas and the first day filming, we were in Canada Water, which is a place in the city that's sort of known for being the financial part of financial district I guess and next to it was a mall we were in one building

was a mall that I worked at when I was dressed as an elf as a Christmas elf and these kids, I don't know who paid for it honestly, but kids would come around and take a picture with the princesses and we were the elves with the princesses and I'm still

she was honestly who was paying the events company to employ us and then I got promoted because one of the princesses couldn't make it so I've also been a princess in a shopping mall event stuff I mean yeah I've had quite a lot of jobs how long was it that you're out there in the world like that auditioning before you got the audition for Star Wars I mean looking back so I left school at 18 when travelling for six months so by the time I was auditioning and stuff

into 19 and then I got the job when I was 20, 21. So yeah, about two years. I packed a lot into that time. Yeah, yeah, well, as you do when you're that age. I mean, I think of that time too, and it's, yeah, I mean, every year is so distinct. You have so much experience to back on. Were you, I mean, when you got the opportunity, was it like, oh, this is just another audition, there's no way I'm getting it.

Were you thinking this is something I'm really interested in? No, I saw out the audition. Oh, really? Okay. No, I, yeah, I was walking down the street with my friend who's a stylist. I actually don't know if she knows that she was the one that said it. But she was a stylist, but like a fashion stylist and a friend of ours who was a makeup artist, because I had done, I met them on an advert I did for ASOS. And one of them said, oh, I heard their auditioning. Wait, does that mean that you did a little bit of mine?

No, it was funny. It was a, it was, it was technically an acting job, but I wore clothes. And actually I'm still friends with the director. He's so great. But the audition was you had to see, you had to wave at a guy that you fancied. And I did something really stupid. And I was like, never going to get that job. And then I got the job. But we were sort of laughing and frolicing. It was fun. But one of them said, oh, I heard there are at least. Star Wars editions. And for whatever reason, I knew nothing about who they were casting, nothing. And I was like, I'm going to get that job. So I said to my agent at the time, I really need an audition for the film. And they were like, okay, don't even know what they're looking for. And then a few months later, probably, I did get an audition because a lot of people were auditioning. And I just felt like I was going to get it. I just felt in my bones that it was going to happen. It's one of those strange things. Have you had strong intuitions like that

before in life? Yeah, people call me witchy. Really? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I have, um, uh, yeah, I can be pretty, uh, at one with the universe. Not all the time, but there are moments. But really, that was a big, that, I would say that's my only professional moment where I thought, this is something that is meant for me. Yeah, it was a strangest thing. Out of context, nothing. And did you have any kind of relationship to Star Wars as a fan?

Or, I mean, it's, you know, it's bigger than big, so everybody is aware of it. But did you grow up with it? No. I don't know that I'd seen all of them. And even the audition, I remember there were various people,

obviously in code and looking back I'm like oh it was Han Solo or oh it was and I was like didn't know you anyone was yeah so I didn't really have much from relationship and that was a other strange thing I thought I don't know why I feel so drawn to this thing and then I remember when I was auditioning I just saw it everywhere every clothes shop there was a t-shirt everything there was a poster and then it became very much part of my life we'll be right back all right so um let's just let's just real talk as they say for a second that's a little bit of an aged thing to say now that that dates me doesn't it um but no real talk uh how important is your health to you you know on like a one to ten and i don't mean the in the

sense of vanity i mean in the sense of like you want your day to go well right you want to be less stressed you don't want it as sick when you have responsibilities um i know myself i'm a householder I have two children and two more on the way, a spouse, a pet, a job that sometimes has its demands. So I really want to feel like when I'm not getting the sleep and I'm not getting nutrition, when my eating's down, I want to know that I'm being held down some other way physically. You know, my family holds me down emotionally, spiritually, but I need something to hold me down physically, right? And so honestly, I turn to symbiotica, these vitamins and these beautiful little packets that they taste. delicious. And I'm telling you, even before I started doing ads for these guys, it was a product that I really, really liked and enjoyed and could see the differences with. The three that I use,

I use the, what is it called, liposomal vitamin C, and it tastes delicious, like really, really good. Comes down the packet, you put it right in your mouth. Some people don't do that. I do it. I think it tastes great. I use the liposomal glutathione as well in the morning. Really good for gut health and although I don't need it, you know, anti-aging. And then I also use the magnesium L3 and 8, which is really good for, I think, mood and stress. I sometimes use it in the morning, sometimes use it at night. All three of these things taste incredible. Honestly, you don't even need to mix it with water. And yeah, I just couldn't recommend them highly enough. If you want to try them out, go to symbiotica.com slash podcrushed for 20% off plus free shipping. That's symbiotica.com

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is millions strong and they're what make the movie so big yep right so like you have to everybody who's in it has to contend with what you mean to the canon to them right and given that you

didn't have a relationship to it before was there something well first of all I'm interested while you were shooting did you ever think about that because I would think that that would really no and I'm glad I didn't because I think that would have screwed me up yeah yeah that's just so you're just like focus on that and I want to get into that

for a moment. But as because you know as an actor relatively little of our time is spent on camera between action and cut so much more time spent kind of living with this thing that people know you for so I'm curious like what has that been

like I just find something very special about the fact that you you really didn't you know Star Wars as a thing was not on your radar and then you just had this intuition and then suddenly you're like I think it was helpful to not really know. I knew it was everywhere and I knew there was an awareness. I didn't fully

comprehend the love that people have for it. I do remember the first thing we did, the first presentation, I think it's the first presentation, was at celebration and we came out and they introduced us and they introduced a trailer. And I remember getting back to the hotel and afterwards and crying my eyes out. Not for a bad reason, but it was such an overwhelm of energy. I had never experienced anything like that. Yeah. But generally, I feel really embraced. I mean, you know, a lot of people have a lot of opinions about a lot of things, but I feel people have been very embracing towards me. And I think, really, you know, a lot of people, really, I had a great time on all three of the films.

So that has always felt wonderful to me to be part of it. But I also know, and I'm a small part in this amazing, huge thing that involves so many people. Of course. So it's quite nice because it's scary. I remember being scared before the film came out and everything, but you look around and you're like, oh my God, we're all sharing in this thing together. so in that way it's wonderful to be in a film that is so ensemble-led and it's a group of us who love each other and I had never been on a set for longer than two weeks and I loved that crew so much and have been able to work with a lot of them again

sometimes more than twice so it really all of it was I mean it was overwhelming Yeah. Suddenly being like, hello. And I'm quite, I can be quite shy. So I found that to be a bit weird and thinking, oh my God, I have to say something and try and sound articulate and intelligent. But generally, yeah, it's all been a great ride. What if there's anything that you feel like apart from all of that stuff because that's a huge part of the experience but I'm again just being interested in how you were drawn to the role intuitively and and I know you know for me like anytime I'm on a project regardless of what I think it's about there's these moments where you'll have a you'll have a really great line that boils down to something universally human some really simple emotion like you might have a line that in the context of the scene you're saying like I'm afraid no one will love me you know and you realize in that moment all this time you spent thinking about all these other things you're like wow

that's what this is about and and I find that at some point every character kind of it's an opportunity to learn something every character teaches you something it's it sounds a little bit hokey but at the same time I think it's true you know if there's one thing you could say that Ray has taught you or playing

Ray has taught you, if there's one theme or thing that you feel like you have gotten from her over the arc, is there, is there anything? It's interesting. As you were saying that, the image that sprung to mind, and actually it wasn't a line, it was an image, is I remember seeing Harrison after he had seen the film for the first time. And he talked about the image of me being, in a sand dune by myself in the great expanse of the galaxy and trying on a helmet

and taking it off and looking so alone and he got emotional talking about that image so I feel like that for me has always felt very profound of a person who is so alone so alone but sort of happy but alone

and then finding their way into this gaggle of wonderful people. So probably that family feeling of finding a family, even if you're not necessarily surrounded by one, in a, what do you call it, blood-related way. Yeah, right, right. Well, he's probably high, wasn't he? You know.

Come on. It's an easy one. No, it is a beautiful image. It really is. Let's move on to, so what I was going to do with my co-host, we had divided and conquered. We'd all watched one of your noticed movies. And so now I've only watched one.

So I'm going to go on to that one. And then if we have time, I'll, I have their questions from the other movies that I was not able to watch. But let me start with the young woman in the sea, because that's the one that's coming out now anyway. I want to tell you that, again, I knew nothing about it, knew relatively little about you, frankly.

Knew nothing about Trudy, the protagonist. And I was just basically after the 30 minute mark I was just constantly weeping. I was even proud of her being an American,

which I don't often feel. I gotta tell you, like really? It's not a common feeling for me. I was upset for her. I was actually like, I was angry with these people surrounding her at some point

with the resistance and sabotage and stuff and before we get on to any of that I have spent the last three days shooting a sequence that I can't explain other than that I have been wet the entire time

I have been wet and I am sore and bruised and actually the last season of my show I spent one full day in an underwater tank so I can't help but think that you have some water stories. Yeah. Like, did your relationship to water change in this? Yeah. I mean, firstly, I couldn't swim 20 meters.

The first swimming test I did, I stood up halfway, and I was like, out of breath and thought I was going to die. And I said, I can't do this. And is that after you got the role? Oh, yeah, yeah. So that's interesting. And look, I never said I was an amazing swimmer. I said, give me some lessons.

I'm sure I could learn. But I did tell them I was scared of open water. and I think they thought I was joking, and I was being dead serious. Wow. So. And did you spend a lot of time out in the real ocean for this? Yes.

You must have. Yes. So I trained for three months, three, four times a week, and then filming involved quite a lot of swimming. And then I was also training outside of that because the big swim, I spent nine days in the Black Sea. Swimming. And a lot of that was the psychological buildup to that.

And then my body was knackered. and each time it was a bit of an overwhelmed because I would be on a boat drying off and then my amazing doubles would line up in the sea and then I would be plopped into the sea by a safety boat and then the boat in the film that Alsace would start moving and I would have to match my pace to them moving

and make sure that I was staying with the camera so it was and it was freezing cold like there had been a storm and it was the most unusually cold weather for July I think of course it was I was like yay always when you're shooting actually the day that it was so so hideously cold was the first time you see me and Tilda as Megan Trudy

when the littleies become the biggies that water was ice it was really really cold. That's from swimming around the pier but no my relationship to water

I mean after the film I was so proud of myself and then we we had done one day in the tank for the nighttime stuff and we did one day

for the underwater camera stuff and I have not done a front claw stroke since that was two years ago I've got in a pool when I was on holiday and lay there

but I'm good What about the ocean? I'm good, not the ocean, no. Yeah, it's a lot. It's freezing. Yeah, I really don't like not being able to see down. So also, I just remember on the last swim I had to do Yocum, the director just said to swim as long as you can. And I just remember hearing,

because, of course, the only thing you're hearing is your own breath. Yeah. And sort of telling myself I could carry on. I mean, I'm really proud of. I did physically, but I was, you know, when people finish a physical film, they're like, yeah, I'm going to go run a marathon. I was like, I'm good. I will be on dry land and I will sit down and not do any more swimming. Were you aware? Well, first, give us just like a little, for anybody who's listening to doesn't know, just give us just a brief little, you know, synopsis of, of the film

and who Trudy was and is. So the real Trudy Edley was the first woman to talk. swim the channel. She was an amazing swimmer, an amazingly fast swimmer. The English channel. I'm just saying for our American viewers as well. From France to English. She competed in the Olympics and she did two attempts to swim the channel. The first one, she says that she was poisoned by her coach. I was wondering how anyone might have known that and if it was corroborated then. So it wasn't corroborated because of course no one believed her but the in the film is based on a book that glenst out wrote and her recounting of it was that no matter how far she swam she was never tired afterwards but she had some beef um soup when she was doing the swim and she essentially started drowning and then when they

took her out of the water she slept for 18 hours or something and she said that is just not what i do it's not how I recover and of course no one believed her and it never happened any other time uh so the second attempt she was successful um so young women in the seat our film uh tells the true story of that swim but um has taken some creative license around um has condensed some family members and condense some other people but essentially it charts truly from a child when she which again is true battled measles and they thought she would not make it but she did um right through to when she completed the swim and it was the biggest parade ever in new york history there are a million people there yeah that really impressed me yeah i was wondering as i'm seeing it like this is a huge

reception did she really get this kind of she got there were a million people there what there's never ever been a bigger ticto parade yeah what what year is that 1926 a million people in 1926? Wow. Yeah. 9026, that is right, isn't it? Well, I mean, this is not a quiz, isn't it? I'm like, yeah, but I'm just, I just wasn't quite sure the decade.

But really my, so it is this amazing athletic feat, and honestly what she did change. Yeah. Changed women's sport. Forever, her sister invented the bikini. The bikini that she wore. Yeah, that's amazing. It's amazing. Yeah.

All these things I didn't know, certainly. a lot of people don't know. And that it was practical, too. It was kind of interesting because the bikini, if anything, seems like something that men designed for women to wear less clothing. But it was a practical design,

so she would have less drag. I mean, the costumes we started with were so heavy. It was unbelievable that anyone could have done anything remotely athletic in, I'm not joking, probably weighed 10 kilos

when that stuff was wet. I am so sore right now because I've been in soaking wet clothing for the last three days in the sequences I was saying and I was thinking to myself like these people used to swim in clothing and I've been going through that viscerally like that did not

did not look what's the word hydro what would that be it's not aerodynamic hydrodynamic hydrodynamic? Oh yeah what would it be aerodynamic? Probably hydrodynamic yeah

yeah i guess uh yeah so that's the that's it in a nutshell but really it's a film people have described it as to me as something they haven't seen in a while it's a really feel good film it is and the family in the best way yeah i've got to i want to testify anybody listening i um just any old feel good for me like it's really not my sensibility Interesting. This really won me over. I mean, it really won me over.

I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I'm telling you, I was weepy throughout because, because it's true as well. Like, you're seeing this person overcome an incredible, incredible obstacles. I mean, I'm just like, I, so I've been curious for you, you know, what, did you, did you have this experience of, I mean, playing a real person? Have you ever done that before, by the way? No. And I feel like it's because it was a hundred years ago, I read and researched as much as I could, but because there isn't that much about her. So I didn't feel entirely going in like I was playing a real person. I felt like I was playing a version of someone who did this amazing thing. Yeah, yeah, right. Did you feel a little bit, I've once played a real person before. And I felt like at some points, I was, it's a weird phrase to use, but you did say witchy earlier, so I'm going to go with it. I felt like I was chasing a ghost a little bit. Oh, okay.

You know, but that's also like, I felt a kinship with this person, and I felt like I was, and he also lived much more recently. I mean, a hundred years is a long time ago, and although no, she actually, she died so recently. She lived till not yet. Yeah. Whoa, that's crazy. Yeah. So you know what? That's actually, that's interesting.

kind of different because she wasn't a tragic figure she didn't die young yeah so okay so i guess what was your experience of like striving to do her justice or maybe her family justice did you think about that at all i did i felt like um but i felt like a lot of that work honestly had been done because the book not that it had been done but the stage had been set in that beautiful way because the book really honors her and i think the scripts really honored her yeah So I came in, and honestly, I think it was probably nicer for me to not feel so like I had to imitate or mimic. Yeah, I get that. It's not a biopic, really.

It's more like a story about the triumph of her will. Yes. That's what it feels like to me. I was just kind of staggered by that this was true. Yeah, so I felt like I got the best of both worlds because I was. yeah yeah yeah part of telling this amazing story and then got to do my thing and really one of the things i wanted to do was make it feel joyful she is and well she just loved swimming as far as we know she just loved swimming and do you know what drove her i mean does she ever like does she ever

get philosophical about it does she think she just loved it and i sort of i found that honesty to be the most amazing thing because for people to set out and and and do change is amazing. But I also love. And that she was really risking her life. Yeah. I mean, anybody was. But I love that she just loved it.

And there's no other explanation. And I wanted to keep that sacred because I think also it could have been, there were a number of different ways to show what was driving her, but I just wanted there to be joy. I like that a lot. Yeah, and resilience. And I also wanted the feeling that. that people do amazing things by themselves,

but we do amazing things when we're together. And I wanted that feeling of when her family are there, she is unstoppable. That's what was making me weepy, actually, was the way her family ultimately supports her. You know, like her siblings and parents. You know, I'm not quite sure what the reality was, but I'm sure they were pulling.

I mean, how true to her life do you think that is? There were more siblings, but I think the parents were very supportive. And I also, it's an interesting thing to see her and her sister, because they're both representative of two massively different moments. Her sister has to stay at home, has to marry who she's told to. She has to do all these things that arguably are just as hard as what Trudy's doing. She has to do all of the things socially that were expected. and truly got to go off and do her thing that she wanted to do.

So I feel like, and I really wanted this love story between these sisters. They're both representing two totally different bits, but they love each other more than anything. Yeah, that's so clear. Yeah. It was refreshing to not have the requisite sort of male love thing going on. or any love, you know, like a romantic relationship. Because you really get that from her family.

This is undeniably, you know, it's a feminist film, I think. It's feminist in its themes and explain. You know, do you feel like playing this role, emphasize, change, influenced any of your feelings about, about like, that word, or just your relationship? relationship to telling stories about women and the

especially the last century of like overcoming plight that kind of thing I don't know I think it doesn't have to you know I just I just it's undeniably like it's I was thinking to myself that this is the kind of film that so many girls will see and we'll be able to watch now

you know whenever and it and it felt to me like it's like it's like it's like it's like it's It's meant to be doing that, you know, for... It certainly is, it certainly made me think 100 years ago was a long time and not that long. And there are obviously moments where I thought, goodness me, we should be further along than we are. And I mean, it's an amazing moment for women in sport. Caitlin Clark is everywhere and conversations about pay disparity and representation and...

So it was one of those things that, firstly, she did this amazing thing and has been forgotten, which is... Totally forgotten, by the way. Totally forgotten. That's staggered me as well because she shattered, I don't think we've said it, she shattered the men's record at that point. By hours. She did it in like, yeah, which is huge. She did it in like 13-something hours? Yeah, with getting lost.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, yeah, there were certainly moments. I mean, at the time, you know, trying to make a great film, and I mean, that's good. And then after the fact, I thought, woof, and I actually felt more after finishing, I felt more, like there was some baggage that I hadn't realized at the time of being in a world where it was just so difficult for women.

And honestly, I thought, thank God I was born when I was born. And for anyone in the past, well, in the past, however long, to be breaking down barriers, to be doing what they want to do is amazing. How much in your research did you, did it check out that, because particular, I don't know that I want to, well, let's go ahead and say there's, we've been discussing things that are technically spoilers. Here's a little bit of a, it's not a spoiler for anything that happens in the end, but her coach, he's a man who has tried to swim the channel

and has failed and then he poisons her is that is that true I mean because that in that like enraged me I saw it coming right as it was happening I was like no no no no no

this man is about to sabotage her her own coach and of course I mean countless women people of color whatever that's something that happens you know that is something that happens the people who are supposed to support you are the ones who sabotage you

that can even happen in family unfortunately but yeah just at first it seemed outrageous and then I thought, well, yeah, of course. Yeah. She was surrounded by men who didn't want her to break this record. Yeah.

Well, they just didn't want her to do it. I mean, people driven by fear do terrible things. Now I'm, like, concerned that the film is making me forget the real research. But from what I remember, I think it was Wolfe. And she, he is the person that she accused of poisoning her, yeah. Yeah, it sounds totally. plausible. Yeah. Mad. And we'll be right back.

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from the branch in partnership with the 74 and Midas touch where the schools went is out now find it wherever you get your podcast and start listening today let me ask you one more question I saw this are you um did you did you take a doula course I did my wife is a doula is she yeah so I mean she's she's been to so she's been hundreds of births and she has like a lot of experience

and wow she has like a doula collective and so doulas and midwives and um just like new families mothers babies is just such an enormous part of my life I do also have a three and a half year old so went through it very recently um what was that like was there did you any I mean what what inspired you to take a doula training it was love me some babies as you saw when yeah I saw the squishy baby and I have a two year old nephew and a six month Oh my God, they're squishy little faces. So love me some babies, just sweet little innocent things. And then my friend got pregnant sort of a surprise. And when she told me, she said that she was doing this doula course. And I had been very interested in her whole experience of pregnancy. And there was a

space on the course. So I did it. And I was unusual in that by that time she had had the baby and everyone else had children and I didn't, and I have not attended a birth. But I found it to be wonderful. We were doing it through lockdown. So firstly, it was an amazing collection of people on Zoom. It was very nourishing. I don't think I had ever been in a sort of female-centric group, and it was wonderful. And I learned a lot, and I loved listening to all of their experiences. and that was sort of as far as it went because I then didn't attend a birth but I'm just really

into all the amazing things that women's bodies can do yeah but I've never actually attended a birth but I find all of it just amazing and then that friend that was on the doula courts her second baby came in six hours at home which was amazing but all of those

points of meeting and culturally different ways around the world that people have given birth for many, many years and the ways in which people support each other. And it's just wonderful. It's just a wonderful thing to view, really. No, I'm totally in agreement. It's really one of the first things I fell in love with my wife. It was very much, you know, it's like my life before. for the birth world and after very much. It's a huge thing. Okay, our last question we ask everybody, if you could go back to your 12-year-old self,

12-year-old Daisy, what would you say or do? What would I say to 12-year-old me? I would say, follow your instincts, even if you make some decisions that you come to regret, that you come to want to reverse. Like leaving school, even though your mother told you, you shouldn't because you don't really want to.

But I feel like all things, good things, bad things, stupid things, lead, you know, push you forward. So that is what I would say, follow your instincts, even if they're stupid. Well, it sounds like that's what you've done, and they've certainly not been stupid. I mean, you know, you're... I mean, we've all been fucking stupid. But generally, also just find joy in things.

And I think, honestly, being an adult, it's become easy. I feel calmer, and I feel really... I find gratitude in everything. So find the joy in all of it, you know? Yeah. Well, thank you so much. It was really a joy to have you on. Thank you.

You can see Daisy's performance is. Gertrude Ederley in the biographical drama, Young Woman in the Sea, and you can follow her online at Daisy Ridley. We are so excited that you can now listen to Podcrush, ad free on Amazon music. In fact, you can listen to any episode of Podcrushed ad free right now on Amazon Music with an Amazon Prime membership. Thank you.