Daisy Ridley Is In A New Action Movie From The Director Of Casino Royale – And It Sounds Awesome [SXSW 2024]

Daisy Ridley, known best as Rey in the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy, has had a pretty fascinating career outside of a galaxy far, far away. From narrating documentaries to failed YA sci-fi adaptations, she's certainly spread her wings. Later this year, Ridley will get the chance to lead a straight-up action flick called "Cleaner." It sounds like a riff on "Die Hard" from director Martin Campbell, who directed two of the greatest "James Bond" movies ever made. We may not even have a trailer yet, but it sounds very much like the film is going to live up to the promise of the talent involved.

The actor was on hand at this year's SXSW film festival in Austin, Texas, to promote her new movie "Magpie." During a panel, Ridley got to talking about some of her more physically demanding roles as of late, including the upcoming Disney drama "Young Woman and the Sea." While she noted that the movie was indeed demanding, it was "Cleaner," her action flick directed by Campbell, that truly kicked her ass:

"I thought ['Young Woman and the Sea'] was the toughest thing on my body I had done, and then I did an action movie with the amazing Martin Campbell, which is the movie I did before Christmas and I was like, 'Ow. Everything hurts.'"

When "Cleaner" was first announced last year, the plot synopsis made it sound like an action movie ripped straight from the late '80s or early '90s. Hearing Ridley discuss the project only supported that in the best of ways.

Beyond her evident commitment to the point of hurting her body, Ridley did delve a little bit into the film's plot, which sounds delightfully ridiculous.

"It's fun in a Martin Campbell way. I play a window cleaner who is ex-army, knows how to use a gun. All of the useful things in an action film. I'm outside the building when a team of eco-activists storm the building, and I have to fight my way in, in tandem with the police outside, and try to find my brother, and try and save the people who have been taken hostage."

Campbell directed both "GoldenEye" and "Casino Royale," kicking off the Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig eras of Bond on respective high notes. He also has the old-school blockbuster "The Mask of Zorro" and the very underrated "The Foreigner" under his belt. But he also made the much-maligned "Green Lantern," and his recent action efforts such as Liam Neeson's "Memory" haven't been quite as exciting (to put it lightly) as some of his earlier films.

So, which version of Campbell are we getting here? If Ridley is to be believed, we're getting a vintage Martin Campbell joint here as he was not settling for good enough on set:

"It's very exciting. The action is brutal. I was rewatching all of Martin's films as we went, and what a filmmaker. Amazing performances, always a lot of humor, and amazing action set pieces. So, I felt like all of the action is what people think of with Martin oftentimes but also, emotionally, it was wonderful working with him. Such a taskmaster. Many, many, many, many takes. One of his notes was, 'Didn't feel it that time. Try again.' One of the things he said to an actor was, 'Fake!' literally. It was amazing to work with someone who was so laser-focused on condition and togetherness, in amongst all of this fun action. Wonderful."

"Cleaner" does not currently have a release date but it is expected to arrive sometime this year.