Daisy Ridley is back in action mode with Martin Campbell’s Cleaner.
The English actor is coming off two years’ worth of acclaimed work in a number of different genres, including the biographical sports drama Young Woman and the Sea, the offbeat romantic dramedy Sometimes I Think About Dying and her self-generated neo-noir Magpie. But when the opportunity presented itself to work with the filmmaker behind two beloved James Bond films, Casino Royale and GoldenEye, Ridley knew it was time to return to the type of physical acting that made her a household name via the Star Wars sequel trilogy. (Campbell and Ridley hit it off so well that they’re already in development on another action-thriller called Dedication.)
Opening in theaters on Feb. 21, Ridley plays Joey Locke, a former soldier who’s now a high-rise window cleaner for a London building that’s home to a prominent energy company. During a shareholder party, a band of radical activists commandeer the gathering in order to expose the environmental damage that’s been covered up by the corrupt company’s fraternal CEOs and their co-conspirators in attendance.
Led by Clive Owen’s Marcus, the radical activism group quickly butt heads with one another, giving way to the eco-conscious extremists in their ranks and a significantly more violent plan. But the one fly in the ointment for the emerging terrorists is that they did not account for the fact that a highly skilled Joey would be forced to work later than expected. She then becomes the hostages’ only hope of survival, namely because her neurodivergent brother, Michael (Matthew Tuck), also happens to be waiting inside London’s One Canada Square for his sister to finally get off work.
So, Joey, who’s still dangling off the side of the skyscraper, must first find a way to break inside the building and then neutralize the collective threat. As expected, the nature of the role put Ridley through the wringer, becoming one of her greatest physical challenges in a career with no shortage of them.
“At the end of it, I was so covered in cuts and bruises. There’s a moment where … I hit the set so hard that the lights and everything [started shaking]. I also thought I broke something, but I think I just bruised my bone,” Ridley tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Also, the emotional maintenance at that level of angst was so high that I was exhausted by the end of the shoot.”
Somehow, it’s nearly been a decade since Ridley first endeared herself to millions of moviegoers as Rey in J.J Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). When the sequel trilogy eventually wrapped in 2019 with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Ridley’s future in a galaxy far, far away immediately became a question of when she comes back, not if. The answer then arrived at Star Wars Celebration in April 2023, when Ridley walked onstage to a rapturous applause, confirming her return as Rey in Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Star Wars: New Jedi Order.
At the time, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight had just inherited the script from screenwriters Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson, and his tenure on the film was soon interrupted by the nearly five-months-long WGA strike. Upon its conclusion, the clock started ticking as Knight already had a preexisting commitment to actively produce his Peaky Blinders film alongside director Tom Harper. Time eventually ran out, as Knight exited the project around the same time that the Peaky Blinders sequel pic began production in the fall of 2024.
THR recently broke the news that The Bourne Ultimatum’s George Nolfi has already taken over for Knight, and Ridley is as optimistic as ever due to Lucasfilm’s patient commitment to quality. Furthermore, the story that revolves around Rey’s efforts to relaunch the Jedi Order is set 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker, so the fictional timeline was always meant to provide some real-world breathing room. On top of that, Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy and Co. are no longer bound by Disney’s pre-2019 mandate of releasing a new Star Wars movie every year.
“People have talked about it a lot that the release date often affects films and how quickly things go into production. So the freedom to make sure that this [New Jedi Order] script is the best way to tell this story is wonderful, and I don’t think any fans would want it to be rushed,” Ridley says. “The wait will be worth it. I know what George [Nolfi] is working on, and he is a phenomenal writer. So I’m really looking forward to reading it, and yes, it’s all worthwhile.”
Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Ridley also discusses the overlap between her and Joey Locke, before explaining how Avengers: Endgame serves a key purpose in the actioner.
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Cleaner could also be called Joey and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
(Laughs.) Right!
She was at wit’s end even before the armed siege inside her employer’s building. When you have your version of a bad day, are you a bit more composed than Joey was in the beginning?
Absolutely not! One of the reasons I really love her is because I, too, am scrappy, I would say. I’m also quite loud, not to other people, but to myself. If things are really going wrong, I’m quite huffy, so, no, [I’m not more composed]. I’m known for being a toot-tooter in the car; that’s probably where I get my stress out. [Writer’s Note: Toot-tooter is basically British for horn-honker.] But I am probably like Joey. Weirdly, one of my New Year’s resolutions was to give myself more time so I’m not always in a rush, and it’s working very well.
Courtesy of Quiver Distribution
High-rise window cleaning is not for the faint of heart. Of course, you weren’t really scaling a real skyscraper, but were these make-believe scenarios still quite uncomfortable on set?
Yes, I’m not a fan of heights. There was a time where Martin [Campbell] said he really wanted me on the top of the building we filmed in, and I was genuinely terrified, so I was really relieved when insurance would not allow that. But I was still 30 feet in the air for the most part, and then up to 60 feet, so there were some heights that I became more comfortable with. Of course, the whole thing is that Joey couldn’t be more comfortable at those heights, so that was something I just had to get through. But particularly the scene where I’m literally without a harness, without a tether on the side of the building, even the make-believe version of it was super scary.
You’ve done a lot of action on the big screen, so where does Cleaner rank among the most physically challenging work you’ve done?
It was a challenge. At the end of it, I was so covered in cuts and bruises. There’s a moment where Joey slams through a door, and she pulls her arm back to slam someone across the face with a wrench, as you do. But I swung back too far, and I hit the set so hard that the lights and everything [started shaking]. I also thought I broke something, but I think I just bruised my bone. So that was the beginning of it all. I had cuts, bruises, and I wrenched something in my shoulder. Also, the emotional maintenance at that level of angst was so high that I was exhausted by the end of the shoot. I then started shooting something else six weeks later, and it is very unusual for me to have such a short amount of time [between jobs]. So, on the level of difficulty, it’s up there. Yeah, it’s up there.
Courtesy of Quiver Distribution
Do you suggest potential stunt doubles to production? Or do they tend to reach out to your past doubles first?
I hadn’t worked with my double, Estelle [Piget], before, but she is phenomenal, oh my gosh. She’s a phenomenal fighter, and she’s just a great double for me. I’d worked with some of the stunt guys before, like [stunt coordinator] Matt [Stirling]. We call him “Magic Matt.” He’s wonderful. But for the most part, because I’ve done physical roles, I do know the stunt teams in England, and everyone I’ve worked with has been amazing.
To boil it down, Joey has to save bad people from other bad people, and her brother is the exception in all of it. Overall, there’s a lot of gray area in Cleaner. Did you respond to the fact that this story’s dynamics weren’t as cut and dried as many action films are?
Yes, it’s interesting because the original plan to take over the building is really driven by the human desire to be eco-conscious. And when that is thwarted by someone in the ranks who is much more of an extremist, things become more binary, I suppose, in that they feel like the bad guys more, even though the root of what they’re searching for is good. They are trying to help the world. So it is an interesting balance, and Noah’s [Taz Skylar] belief in what he’s doing is so strong he can’t be swayed.
But what I loved was Joey, for the most part, is trying to save her brother. Of course, she’s trying to save as many people as possible, but so much of it is driven by him. Joey has such a clear idea of what she’s going to do. And there’s the bittersweet moment at the end where some of the bad guys have survived, but such is life.
Courtesy of Quiver Distribution
I wasn’t expecting Avengers: Endgame, Kevin Feige and the Russo brothers to be referenced, and I certainly wasn’t expecting a Thor-like hammer to serve a purpose. Did you have to make a courtesy call to your Disney friends?
(Laughs.) I think I asked Simon [Uttley], who wrote it. There was a reference that was put in later about the Infinity Stones, and I remember thinking, “Wow, are we allowed to do this?” But I guess we are. It’s so beautiful because the relationship between Joey and Michael is so complicated. They just love each other so much. Joey has made mistakes, and she’s trying to atone for that and save her brother. So, in that moment where she’s trying to explain to Michael what’s gone on, she’s able to talk to him about it, in the most brief of terms, using the plot of Avengers: Endgame, which was very fun.
THR recently broke the news that Rey has a new wordsmith in her life (George Nolfi). Overall, it seems like Lucasfilm is willing to take however long it takes until the script (for New Jedi Order) is unimpeachable. Plus, you’re no longer beholden to the sequel trilogy’s timeline where you have to release a new film every two years without fail. Do you also see it as quality over quickness?
100 percent. People have talked about it a lot that the release date often affects films and how quickly things go into production. So the freedom to make sure that this script is the best way to tell this story is wonderful, and I don’t think any fans would want it to be rushed. The wait will be worth it. I know what George is working on, and he is a phenomenal writer. So I’m really looking forward to reading it, and yes, it’s all worthwhile.
You told me that your initial idea for Magpie centered on the Alicia/movie star character until writer Tom Bateman became more drawn toward Annette, the young mother at home. But does that mean that you were originally going to play Alicia instead of Annette?
At the time, because we were still fleshing the story out as a whole, I hadn’t really thought about it. The Alicia character was so interesting either way that we probably had a conversation about it, but Tom changed the core of the story so early that Annette felt very close to me from very early on. And, honestly, when you cast someone who is as wonderful as Matilda [Lutz], you think, “Well, there’s no way I could have done that anyway.” So it’s really a beautiful thing to be able to cast people around you who are one of one.
This question isn’t specifically tied to my Star Wars inquiry, but do you think Tom would ever want to take a crack at writing something on that scale?
He is writing something at the minute that isn’t quite that, but it is certainly, scale-wise, larger. I have given him a timeline, and I keep asking when the script will appear. (Laughs.) But it’s really fun. So it’s not nearly that scale, but the thing he’s working on is really, really exciting.
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Cleaner opens Feb. 21 in movie theaters.
