For an actress who’s achieved global fame as Rey in the Star Wars sequels, Daisy Ridley probably has her pick of roles. It was a surprise, then, to see the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker actress appear in a trailer for ultra low-budget British horror flick Scrawl.
The preview has Ridley appearing as a character seemingly brought to life from a violent comic book created by a pair of teenagers. Although not boasting slick visuals, Scrawl does appear to go heavy on the gore. Still, the presence of Ridley in the trailer has confused many Star Wars fans, who variously call it a “bad student movie” whilst wondering “WTF happened?!'” for her to take the role. Was it a favour to a friend? A bet gone wrong? Or was it actually the career change Ridley was gunning for all along?
As it turns out, the reality is less exciting: Ridley acted in Scrawl before landing the role of Rey, and it’s just taken this long to reach US audiences via DVD/Blu-ray and online distribution by WildEye.
The timing of the release is no doubt intended to exploit Ridley’s star power. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that canny distributors have used this tactic, either, from Jennifer Aniston in the original Leprechaun to Leonardo DiCaprio in Critters 3. Ridley’s effort is unlikely to be as cringeworthy as John Boyega’s early stint as a stock photo model, though.
Still, it’s a good reminder of how far Daisy Ridley has come as we get closer to the December 20th release date for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. We’ve recently seen some intriguing theories about the Rey/Kylo relationship, Rey’s connection to Palpatine, and even her possible clone status. All will be revealed in due course, but for now, anyone wanting to see a pre-Star Wars Ridley can check out Scrawl.
