Daisy Ridley Discusses ‘Young Woman and the Sea’ Before Heading Back to ‘Star Wars’
Before Daisy Ridley travels back to a galaxy far, far away for her upcoming Star Wars movie, she is turning back the clock to the 1920s in her latest film, Young Woman and the Sea.
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the film tells the story of real-life swimmer Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle, who became the first woman to swim across the English Channel in 1926.


Photo: IMDB
Young Woman and the Sea was initially scheduled to go straight to streaming on Disney+. After test audiences raved about the film, however, Disney decided to give the biopic a theatrical release.
In fact, according to Bruckheimer, the film 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.”


Photo: Jun Sato/Contributor/Getty Images
Considering Bruckheimer has produced the likes of Pirates of the Caribbean, Bad Boys, National Treasure, and Top Gun: Maverick, his statement carries weight.
Training For the Role
In order to prepare for her role, Ridley spent three months training with Olympic medalist Siobhan O’Connor.


Photo: IMDB
“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.”
Not only did Ridley have to swim at a professional level for her role, but she also had to do so in late Victorian and early Edwardian swimming outfits.


‘Young Woman and the Sea’. Photo: IMDB
“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.
“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?'”
Assuming a New Role
In addition to her physical role in front of the camera, Ridley also took on the role of executive producer for Young Woman and the Sea.


Photo: IMDB
“I was treated very much like a partner,” she said of the production. “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 from then on. I knew who was being cast. My opinion was always valid and heard.”
“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.”


Photo: 20th Century
Young Woman and the Sea is in theaters now.
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