Daisy Ridley Talks ‘Star Wars’ and Lightsabers

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Daisy Ridley struggled to wield her lightsaber on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, because it was so heavy. The British newcomer portrayed Rey in the sci-fi blockbuster, and in one scene, she is featured facing off against Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren, using the Jedi’s signature weapon.

Ridley admits picking up the lightsaber for the first time was “epic,” but co-ordinating the fight scene proved tougher than she had originally thought.

“You actually feel as epic as you’d think you would feel,” she explained to fans in a Facebook.com chat on Monday. “They’re heavy, so it’s difficult, and it took a lot of training with our incredible stunt team to make sure we were wielding them in the right way and not about to hurt anyone. But it feels amazing because they light up. They genuinely are that color… and because you can feel the light on your face (it feels real).”

Meanwhile, Ridley is still in awe at how much her life has changed since The Force Awakens was released in December.

“I obviously hadn’t wielded a lightsaber before or been able to be in a film with people I genuinely love and adore and look up to, and seen amazing places,” the actress said recalling her good fortune. “It’s just pretty amazing. I’ve literally seen parts of the world I never, ever thought… I’d see at this point in my life.”

And the 23-year-old, who wanted to be a zoologist as a child, can’t stop gushing about her castmates, especially fellow franchise newcomer John Boyega, who plays Finn.

“John was honestly, John is brilliant; he is like my brother,” she smiled. “It’s just been glorious… We work together so much so to have him and to genuinely love him as much as I do, and we get on so well, and we come from kinda very similar places (backgrounds)… so to have him there has just been brilliant.”

Ridley, Boyega and Driver will all reprise their roles in the next installment of the hit franchise, Star Wars: Episode VIII, which is currently in production in the U.K.

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