“Star Wars” star Daisy Ridley not only had to train as a swimmer for her new role, but manage some heavy-duty vintage costumes.
“When you’re actually swimming in them, it’s like wearing a weight vest, I’m not joking, it’s like 10 kilos” Ridley told Fox News Digital.
In “Young Woman and the Sea,” Ridley plays real-life Olympic swimmer Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle, who became the first woman to swim across the English Channel in 1926.
Early in the film, Ridley and her co-star Tilda Cobham-Hervey, who plays Trudy’s sister Meg, wear late Victorian and early Edwardian swimming costumes for their characters, which involved heavy duty, full coverage clothes, as well as “full tights, shoes.”
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“The first time we see Meg and Trudy really swimming onscreen, when they’re trying to get on the women’s team, I was so exhausted doing doggy paddle, which is so hard anyway, in that costume, it’s like someone’s pulling you back. It’s like a treadmill, really. You feel like, ‘Why am I not moving?’” Ridley said.
Cobham-Hervey added the ensembles were, “Beautiful to look at, very not practical. Dry? Beautiful. Wet? Very difficult.”
“I was glad they went quickly,” Ridley said.
The 32-year-old trained for three months with Olympic silver medal winner Siobhan O’Connor to prepare for the role.
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“The first session with her, I swam about 25 meters and was so out of breath,” Ridley said in a press release for the film, “so I knew I had a lot of work to do. I trained for three months before we started filming, then continued training during filming. My swimming technique got so much better. The last shot I did, I swam for probably 150 meters in the sea, battling currents, keeping up with the camera boat.”
On top of the physical workout onscreen, Ridley took on another role behind the scenes as an executive producer on the film.
“I was treated very much like a partner,” she said of the job. “I initially came on as an actor, and then when it came to, we were really going, I had some script notes, I had some ideas, one of them being I really wanted the sister relationship to be the center of film. And honestly, [I] was just treated like a partner form then on. I knew who was being cast, my opinion was always valid and heard.”
She continued, “It was wonderful to be given the title honestly, because it was very collaborative…I’m very proud for my name to be up there as an EP.”
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Ridley also has had some say in the upcoming “Star Wars” sequel, “Star Wars: New Jedi Order,” focused on her character Rey.
“When I spoke to Kathy [producer Kathleen Kennedy], I asked to be, again, I was always very involved, I was always listened to, I always felt like it was very collaborative, but certainly being on from early on, yes, and it’s very exciting and waiting for thing to happen officially.”
WATCH: ‘Star Wars’ star Daisy Ridley was ‘so exhausted’ by vintage costume in ‘Young Woman and the Sea’
“Young Woman and the Sea” executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer praised Ridley’s work in front of and behind the camera.
“She’s a terrific actress, and she’s great, having her behind the scenes too, because she understands what we all go through. She’s a great asset to getting things done. When you have smart people working with you, it makes you look good.”
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He also noted that “Young Woman and the Sea” is “the highest testing movie I’ve ever made, I’ve made some really big movies” and is “a movie for everybody, it’s a movie for the entire family.”
The real-life Ederle story is an inspiring one. Born in 1905 in New York City to German immigrant parents, Ederle overcame a near fatal case of the measles as a child to become a swimmer, joining the U.S. Olympic team in 1924 in Paris, winning a gold medal in the process.
Ederle eventually set her sights on swimming across the English Channel, an accomplishment only achieved by men until she made her successful attempt. She faced discrimination, doubt and a litany of physical challenges before making the swim in record time, beating the time of the five men who had completed the feat before her.
Ridley said of the film, “I hope that people come out and give each other a little hug and feel like they’re connected to the people around them and that we all have accessibility to try and achieve our dreams, even if they seem like they do not seem like they’re ready to be taken right now. To strive for it and try and find the people who will help you get to where you want to get to.”
“Young Woman and the Sea” is in theaters now.
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