In full force: Daisy Ridley pushes her limits for Star Wars sequel

Daisy Ridley went to work on Star Wars: The Last Jedi shortly after being on the road doing press for the 2015 instalment The Force Awakens, with time in between only for a short vacation and filming her small part as a governess in the mystery drama, Murder On The Orient Express.

The 25-year-old English actress, who reprises her breakout role as lightsaber-wielding, Jedi-in-training heroine Rey in the sci-fi space opera, said: "I was all sorts of exhausted, but it was time to get back to work.

"I walked into the studio, and they had made this incredible wax face of me that was 3D. It looked really weirdly like me. It was so surreal.

"That was before I read the script for the first time in a room all by myself. I read it and was quite surprised. So I talked to (writer-director) Rian (Johnson) about it... (and) he made it all seem great instead of nerve-wracking."

Currently showing here, The Last Jedi is the second of the sequel trilogy and eighth in the line-up of Star Wars movies.

It picks up where The Force Awakens left off, with Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher (who finished shooting before her death last year), John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis and Gwendoline Christie returning.

We were at the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills earlier this year to talk about the latest one without really talking about it.

As usual, the details were under wraps, and the cast could not tell the press anything.

It became a game for the journalists to try to make her spill something.

If I bump into someone and they recognise me, I would much prefer them to have a conversation with me than say, 'Can I have a picture? Daisy Ridley

We started with the action scenes, especially the underwater diving as seen in the trailer.

"The dive for me was probably the most scary, thrilling (yet) favourite thing. It was frickin' awesome. I literally stood on a platform 30 feet up and had to launch myself down and supposedly survive. It was mad.

TRAINING

"I did dive training, which I had never done before. And the fact that I was able to do everything that happened in the film... is satisfying."

She added: "The lightsaber stuff was great (too) because I felt like I got a lot stronger, and I could push myself a lot further than I thought I could the first time round."

What was "hardest" for Ridley was the final scene of The Force Awakens, when Rey finds the hooded figure of Luke Skywalker (Hamill) after climbing to the top of a mountain.

She recalled: "I walked up those hundreds of stairs so many times. But what was more incredible was Colin, our Steadicam man, was walking backwards up the stairs with a camera on him. So I am not complaining. When we were up there, it was so beautiful."

There was another wrinkle - answering nature's call.

Said Ridley: "Going to the toilet on the top of that island... The path was (narrow), and there was no railing. So I would be thinking, 'Why am I going to a toilet on the top of a cliff? If I take a step to my right, will I fall to my death? Is this worth it? Is it all worth it?'

"So that was really surreal."

Has she kept any souvenirs?

"The first time round, nothing. Second time round, I was given a prop lightsaber. I literally could not believe it. It was on my bookshelf and then someone said, 'You need to put that in a safe place.' So that is now in a safe place."

Ridley was a total unknown before being cast in The Force Awakens, and global stardom has its challenges.

"If I bump into someone and they recognise me, I would much prefer them to have a conversation with me than say, 'Can I have a picture?'

"I do find it a bit weird if I am having a conversation with someone and then they say, 'Can I have a picture?'

"It is the social media thing. People feel like they have to prove that they have had this interaction with someone.

"But for the most part, I don't feel like I have to protect myself. Everyone is so kind. It is never with malice; it is always with really good intentions."

Ridley left Instagram in September and "will never go back".

She said: "I think it is highly (detrimental) to mental health.

"It is such a weird thing, especially for young people to look at distorted images of things.

"I think for me anyway, so much of my life is on screen, I think it is nice to protect more of it."