Daisy Ridley: Star Wars Episode 8 Script ‘is Fantastic’

By Sam Ashurst

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’s breakout star Daisy Ridley has revealed that she’s signed up for at least one more ‘Star Wars’ movie and says Rian Johnson’s script for 2017′s ‘Episode VIII’ is “fantastic”.

We asked the British newcomer at the film’s red carpet premiere how she thinks the ‘Looper’ director hopes to follow up the phenomenon that is ‘Episode VII’.

“[Rian] follows it up very well,” Ridley told Yahoo, smiling. “We’ve mainly been promoting number seven, but the script is fantastic and I’m very excited to get started. I’m signed up for one more, then we’ll see.”

‘Star Wars’ fans were out in force for the European premiere of ‘The Force Awakens’ last night, with several in costume, and most wielding lightsabers. The fans were the main focus of an event that was as star-studded as a Tie Fighter pilot’s bed spread.

After an opening ceremony that saw Darth Vader himself stalk the red carpet, with hundreds of Stormtroopers following up behind him, Warwick Davies was the first to celebrate the huge crowds - some of whom had clearly camped out overnight - announcing them as “The most important people here.”

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Quite a claim at an event that saw the likes of ‘Star Wars’ creator George Lucas, director JJ Abrams, writer Lawrence Kasdan, producer Kathleen Kennedy and their huge ‘Force Awakens’ cast (including John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Gwendoline Christie and lots more), all walking the red carpet (not to mention droids RD-D2, C-3PO and BB-8), but Warwick got such a huge cheer, he was probably right.

Soon, Daisy Ridley was joining in the celebration, shouting “May the force be with you all!” to the crowd at the top of her voice.

Luke Skywalker (aka Mark Hamill) took part in the fun, grabbing a lightsaber and balancing it on one finger. That might not sound like much written down, but it was so impressive we were pretty sure he’d used the force.

We grabbed him after his magic trick, to discuss his expectations for the next film in the franchise, ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’, and his thoughts on the director who has to follow JJ, Rian Johnson.“He’s a brilliant filmmaker, no two of his films are the same. He’s got such a command of the vocabulary of film, and he’s an enormous film nerd. I say that with affection, because I am too!”

But Mark doesn’t just love films, he also adores TV - and one show in particular. “Rian came over to my house, we talked about ‘Star Wars’, and I said ‘This is boring, let’s go watch ‘Sgt. Bilko’! I put on ‘The Court Martial’, where Sergeant Bilko accidentally inducts a chimpanzee into the army. It’s the funniest half an hour of television. Rian was aware of ‘Sgt. Bilko’, but I don’t think he’d ever seen it. And I thought to myself, this is a big test - if he doesn’t think this is funny, I’ll have nothing to say to him. Fortunately, he loved it.”

Next up, Harrison Ford - who initially pretended to not know who Rian Johnson was. But, luckily, we had our sarcasm circuits activated, and we pressed him for more information. “Rian who? Who is Rian Johnson?” Ford said, with a slow smile. The director of the next one, we replied. “Oh, that Rian Johnson. How does he follow ‘The Force Awakens’? One day at a time, just like we all do.”

Speaking of one day at a time, from the look on the faces of the fans we saw getting posters and autographs books signed by their heroes, it was the best day of their lives. If they’re as happy coming out of the cinema at the weekend, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ will be the greatest film of all time.

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is out now.

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Watch more highlights from the premiere below…

Image credits: Press Association