Last year, the world collectively Googled the names Daisy Ridley and John Boyega after it was announced that these two 23-year-old British stars would be the leads of the Star Wars sequel The Force Awakens.
Director J. J. Abrams purposefully wanted to cast two unknown actors because he wanted audiences “to meet these characters [in the film] and not feel like it’s him from that thing, it’s her from that thing.”
Meet John Boyega, who first made a splash in his role in the British sci-fi comedy Attack the Block, which follows a gang of teenagers who fight off an alien invasion in their neighborhood. Abrams loved the cult film and asked to meet with the then-19-year-old star.
Abrams told the actor he would love to use him in one of his projects in the future, and four years later, the director kept his promise by casting him as Finn.
Boyega recently told Jimmy Kimmel that he underwent a strenuous auditioning process that took more than seven months and when he did finally land the part, his father, not a Star Wars fan, was decidedly unimpressed. But now he’s just as excited as everyone else. When the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released, Boyega was driving back from a Lakers game and didn’t feel like watching the record-breaking trailer on his phone. “It deserves a BIG screen,” he tweeted to his fans. He later filmed his reaction when he saw it for the first time, and his excitement is just what you would expect from the playful personality.
John is a master at impressions. Not only does he do a spot-on impression of his dad’s Nigerian accent, the actor has many other impersonations up his sleeve. Throughout the extensive promotional tour of the movie, he’s shared pitch-perfect takes on Shrek’s Pinocchio and Jedi Master Yoda, as well.
His casting unleashed a Twitter controversy. When the first teaser of the film debuted last year, several viewers were shocked to see a black man in a Stormtrooper outfit, and the hashtag #blackstormtrooper immediately began trending on Twitter.
When the controversy first started, Boyega replied to the skeptics on his Instagram account by simply texting, “To whom it may concern . . . get used to it :)”
In last week’s New York Times interview, the actor elaborated on his reaction to the negative reception of his casting: “I’m grounded in who I am, and I am a confident black man,” he said. “A confident, Nigerian, black, chocolate man. I’m proud of my heritage, and no man can take that away from me.”
He’ll be starring in another science fiction movie post–Star Wars. While it’s still unconfirmed whether Boyega will be reprising his role in the next two Star Wars sequel movies, what we do know is that the actor has already landed his first post–Star Wars project. Next year, he’ll be starring alongside Tom Hanks and Emma Watson in James Ponsoldt’s movie The Circle, based on the hit thriller by Dave Eggers about an evil Internet company.
Now meet Daisy Ridley…talk about starting at the top. Star Wars marks her movie debut – sort of. Before being cast as Rey, Daisy’s acting credits were limited to bit parts in a few British TV shows including Youngers, Silent Witness, and Casualty. She did film a few scenes in the British comedy The Inbetweeners 2, but her part was eventually left on the cutting room floor. In fact, Ridley was such a newbie to Hollywood that when news of her casting in the landmark film was announced, the actress didn’t even have her own IMDb page.
Ridley admits she was scared stiff for her first few days on-set, mainly because she didn’t believe in herself. “So for the first few days I was really like, ‘Omigosh, I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know why I’m here,’ ” she told The Telegraph. Due to her nerves, director Abrams said her performance was “a bit wooden.”
While Ridley was off to a bumpy start, she said that Abrams’s tough love ended up helping her performance. “To be honest, I was struggling at that point, and he definitely brought out the best I could have possibly given.”
She hates social media, even though she’s pretty active on Instagram, which she joined a few months ago. But she isn’t on Twitter and may already be contemplating a life sans social media like singer Ed Sheeran.
Ridley revealed her unlikely role model when fellow Star Wars star Carrie Fisher sat down with her for Interview magazine. Ridley said: “Well, my favorite film was Matilda (based on the Roald Dahl children’s books). So I’m going to say the little girl [Mara Wilson] in that. I aspired to be like her. [laughs] I wanted to be a girl who could make a jug of water tip into a glass.” (Her response makes more sense once you find out she was born in 1992, making her only 4 years old when Matilda came out, which understandably left a mark.)
She cried when she first saw the trailer. Like Boyega, Ridley also filmed her reaction to the Star Wars trailer once it came out, yet unlike her costar, she chose to watch it on her phone and in bed.
On The Tonight Show, the actress explained why she teared up when watching the clip: “So many people have worked on this thing, like thousands upon thousands . . . It started off as an idea and it’s become this and that, the crew are just spectacular, so to see it all come together – it makes me emotional just talking about it now – it’s just an incredible thing.”
So there you have it… After Friday this couple will be the most talked about British showbiz stars in the world if the current mayhem surrounding the movie is anything to go by. Hopefully I’ve given you a little insight in what they all about!!
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now showing around the world. Don’t miss it!
