Apparently some other actresses who auditioned ( or were considered ) for Rey were:
Elizabeth Olsen
Billie Lourd
Jennifer Lawrence
Saoirse Ronan
Shailene Woodley
I think Saoirse Ronan might have been interesting but I doubt she could have matched Daisy Ridley's physical commitment to the role in terms of body building gym work.
I'm no fan of the sequels, but I thought Daisy Ridley was fine as Rey. Not a lot to work with there; she did what she could, I think.
Of that list, I might have gone with Billie Lourd for that connection.
I don't know Shailene Woodley at all.
Saoirse Ronan is a great actor, but feels "small" to me; like you say, the physical aspect might not have been there. Then again, I think if Star Wars signs you up, they get you in shape and she'd have been fine. But because the character was an underwritten cipher, I doubt she'd have been "better", just "different".
Olsen and Lawrence are both attached to blockbuster franchises; I don't think they would have worked because we'd be sitting there going, "Scarlet Witch/ Mystique". Olsen could have gotten away with it more than Lawrence.
Yes Saoirse Ronan's Rey would have been a softer, less in your face version than Daisy Ridley's Rey I think. Maybe that's why they didn't go with her.
I had no issues with Daisy Ridley's performance and even the Rey character was mostly fine in this movie. It's the terrible writing in the sequels that ended up hurting the character.
shareExactly. Mary Sue isn't about the actress; it's about the character. I thought Daisy was really cute and had some really good moments in this film. My favorite moment of hers is when the Falcon lands on the planet to see Maz and looks around because it's the first time she's ever seen green/vegetation and water. It's one thing the original didn't really think of doing with Luke as he would have had the same reaction landing on Yavin for the first time. So I really liked that they added that.
But when they started making the character over powered and super important for no reason is where the character itself starts to get the hate. What's the reason she hugged Leia even though she hasn't met her yet (or barely met her...can't remember the order of the movie) and had no connection to her at the time? It should have been Leia hugging Chewie; that kind of stuff.
Rey didn't hug Leia. Leia hugged Rey. Leia would have sensed that Rey was "strong with the Force" and so she was one of them, and a very important one of them. Jedi don't grow on trees.
Also Leia realised that Rey was sad about Han Solo's death just as Leia was. And Rey may have even seen Han being killed ( which of course she did ) and been traumatised by it ( which of course she was ). And to Leia Rey was still a child so why wouldn't she hug her ?
The movie shows Leia feeling Han's death through the force and then shows her sensing something else and it cuts to Rey as she reacts to Han being killed. Their connection through the force was established at that moment.
Abrams admitted on the commentary that there was a continuity error caused by stage direction from him which made it look like Leia walks past Chewie to hug Rey. But if you watch the whole scene you can see that Chewbacca is looking out for Finn and is close behind as the resistance crew rush him to the infirmary. But then when it cuts to the Leia shot, Chewie is just meandering slowly past her. Hardly a big deal. But it all goes into the minestrone as far as criticism of the ST goes.
It’s not the actress, but the writing.
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