“Carrie Fisher is bloody brilliant...”

Daisy Ridley’s head is in the stars...

Can you tell us a little bit about your experience of Star Wars before you became involved?

My experience with Star Wars wasn’t extensive. I’d watched them all and I enjoyed them, but I never really knew the love that people had for Star Wars. But that’s not because I’m a girl. That’s just because of the person I am. I’m not really crazy into anything. I don’t really have a person that I want to meet. I never had posters of people on my wall or anything like that. I think maybe the female audience for Star

Wars is underestimated, because I’ve already met a lot of women who do love it.

Did you feel daunted working with any of the original cast?

I felt daunted working. Period, As the Americans say. I had never done a film before. I had never done a film with famous people before, obviously. So I felt nervous anyway. Obviously meeting them there’s a second where you’re like, “Oh my God, you’re Harrison Ford.” And then they’re just like a normal guy. So it’s that thing of working with people who are really good at what they do, which is always scary, but not because he’s Harrison Ford, but because he’s a great actor still in the prime of his acting career.

What was it like working with Carrie Fisher?

Carrie interviewed me last night. She was bloody brilliant. I am going to be so interested to read the interview. She’s great. When I first met her, we were at dinner. She reminded me of this last night because she basically swore at me when I said I didn’t remember what advice she had given me. And she called me an “F***er”. She said at the dinner that it’s really hard to date people because she doesn’t want to give people the satisfaction, “I was with Princess Leia.” She is one of a kind. She is so smart and funny.

What’s it like to have your own action figure now?

It’s very cool. When we did the Disney story thing, this girl came up to me and was like, “Oh, would you sign this?” I was like, “Why is it Finn? Where’s Rey?” She was like, “They sold out.” I was loving life. It’s nice. It’s a cool feeling. I do not have them around my house. My sister displayed them around the house and I was like, “This is absolutely not OK. This is narcissism at its highest.” They’re in the cupboard.

Is BB-8 going to steal the film?

Yeah. Absolutely. I’m fine with that.

What was it like to fly the Millennium Falcon?

In the behind-the-scenes [ video], I do steer the Falcon, and I just mainly felt sick. [ laughs] I love rides, but when you’re going again and again and again, you’re just like, “Oh God.” And I need to make out like I’m flying a spaceship through space. It’s difficult.

You’ve apparently started shooting Episode

VIII already...

No, we start in January. And that’s nice because we have two weeks of “Oh my God, the film’s out!” and then we start the next one. MM