Daisy Ridley's Career Is In An Odd Place Right Now [Sundance]

Blasting into the mainstream as Rey in 2015's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," Daisy Ridley instantly became an exciting new presence in the world of movies. We don't need to wade into the idea of whether or not she qualifies as a movie star since the discourse around that subject has become obnoxious recently, but when you watch her on screen, it's undeniable she has "it" — that elusive X-factor that draws you in as an audience member and makes you want to see more of what she's doing.

It's now been almost a full eight years since she became a household name. With her newest movie, "Sometimes I Think About Dying," playing at the Sundance Film Festival, it's time to take stock. What's going on with Daisy Ridley these days and does her latest movie do her justice?

Though you may not have seen her in much outside a galaxy far, far away, Ridley has actually been making some really cool choices as an actor and budding producer. She appeared in the star-studded remake of "Murder on the Orient Express" in 2017 and the equally star-studded Judd Apatow Netflix comedy "The Bubble" (not great movies, but that wasn't her fault), played the title character in a 2018 indie called "Ophelia," voiced Cotton-Tail in 2018's "Peter Rabbit," and starred opposite Tom Holland in the ill-fated and incredibly long-delayed "Chaos Walking," which finally came out in 2021. In addition to her work in the movies, she's been branching out and lending her voice to things like a fascinating time loop video game called "Twelve Minutes" and a virtual reality short called "Baba Yaga."

Daisy Ridley easily could have been cast in "The Force Awakens" and taken the path of least resistance (no pun intended), staying close to "Star Wars" and riding that particular wave for the rest of her career. Instead, she's doing what I hope to see from all young actors: She's taking chances and making moves. On paper, every project she's been a part of has looked like a great decision. But unfortunately, what looks great on paper doesn't always translate into mainstream success.

Her latest movie just debuted at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. In "Sometimes I Think About Dying," Ridley plays a quiet young woman named Fran who works in the most boring office building of all time. Picture the phrase "monotonous office life," and that's basically what you get for about an hour: Fran, whose favorite food is cottage cheese, works in a cubicle and quietly fantasizes about death while her co-workers make "jokes" like saying the words "hashtag no filter" aloud. (If you thought the banter in "The Office" was cringe, wait until you get a load of this.) When a new employee (Dave Merheje) arrives at work and innocently starts quasi-flirting with Fran over Slack, she slowly begins to break out of her monotonous patterns. Ridley is incredibly mannered here, often purposefully withheld but with hints of emotion occasionally sneaking out from her blank face. It's a far cry from the expressive, bombastic type of acting she's asked to do in the "Star Wars" movies, and while the movie doesn't always work, it's nice to see Ridley back on screen in a starring role again.

There have been whispers that she might return to the "Star Wars" franchise in some form or another, and while I enjoyed the Rey character and her performance (she's one of the best parts of the new trilogy), I'd personally love to see her headline other projects instead. I get the feeling Ridley has so much more to offer than what we've seen, and with her skillset, it feels as if she could lead just about any type of movie — she could crush a studio rom-com in her sleep, and her physicality could lend itself well to another big action-adventure. Whatever she does in the coming years, I hope she has another big hit that connects with audiences, because she's too good of an actor to get sucked into the streaming vortex and algorithm'd into oblivion.