Daisy Ridley’s first time starring in a movie was Star Wars: The Force Awakens. You know, the No. 5 highest grossing movie of all time under the Avatar movies, Avengers: Endgame and Titanic? Talk about a big splash into Hollywood. Over four years after capping off the sequel trilogy with The Rise of Skywalker, Ridley leads one gem among 2024 movies, Sometimes I Think About Dying. In the upcoming release, Ridley plays quite the foil to Rey Skywalker – a quiet, lonely office worker living in Oregon, just struggling to connect with the people around her.
After Sometimes I Think About Dying first caught our eyes when it premiered at Sundance last year, the movie is finally making its way to theaters this month. Ahead of its release, I asked the actress how playing the cottage cheese-loving woman named Fran may have spoke to her after being greatly known for playing larger-than-life characters. In her words:
I'm really just drawn towards stories and filmmakers. Someone I won't name said to me last year or the year before or something, some big important person goes, ‘You know, the way you choose things is very you know…’ and I was like, ‘What?’ And he goes ‘You know, it's just’ and I was like, ‘Is that a compliment?’ But basically, I think I don't have a grand plan, essentially. I don't have an idea of what I wanna do. And I mean that in a general way. I'm like, ‘Oh, I'd love to do a comedy or I'd love to do this’, but I'm not like, ‘Okay, first it's this, then it's this, then it's this’. I think, I guess because I got a job that would be unusual in its scope for a first job.
As Daisy Ridley spoke during her interview with CinemaBlend, since she started her career on such a big stage leading a Star Wars movie, there’s a lot of eyes on her regarding how she will follow the whole thing up. She recalled a “big important person” kind of judging her choices post-a galaxy far, far away, but ultimately, as Ridley communicated, she’s not necessarily being strategic when it comes to her roles after Rey. While Sometimes I Think About Dying may feel like the opposite of Rey, her decision to play the role came from her love of the script that came her way.
Sometimes I Think About Dying follows Fran, an introverted and isolated office worker who’s life gets shaken when she gets a new coworker in Dave Merheje’s Robert. The movie is based on a 2013 play called Killers and was directed by Rachel Lambert. Ridley expanded on her love for the film, saying this:
I just really loved this script and I really loved Fran, but I also loved the world and I loved the people around her. I think this film talks about connection, giving people grace, giving people room and like letting people up and still meeting them with kindness and warmth and generosity. That's a long way around of saying that's why I wanted to do it and I did. Though I'm quite far from Fran, I recognize her and I think a lot of people who have watched this film and received it recognize Fran. We all know people who are like that, who maybe struggled to connect in whichever way that presents itself. So I always felt like I really recognized her as a person.
Ridley was attracted by how the movie approaches human connection, rather than being guided by how different the character may be to her Star Wars protagonist. Sometimes I Think About Dying is hitting limited release on January 26, with a wider release reportedly to come.
The new Daisy Ridley movie comes following the announcement that the actress will once again be in one of the upcoming Star Wars movies. As announced at Star Wars Celebration last spring, she will play a Jedi Master in a new movie directed by Ms. Marvel’s Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy from a script by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. The latest on the new movie is Lucasfilm is awaiting a new draft of the movie’s script. Ridley has also recently said that she thinks the movie is going to be a “really fantastic exploration of the Star Wars world.”
Sometimes I Think About Dying is a fantastic new performance from Ridley, and we cannot wait to see what choices she continues to make throughout her career.
