Meet Your Star Warriors: Daisy Ridley
VERY FEW PEOPLE GET AN OPPORTUNITY TO POINT TO ONE SPECIFIC MOMENT IN THEIR LIFE AND SAY "Oh yeah, that's when my life changed irrevocably." BUT AMONG THEM ARE THE UNKNOWN ACTORS WHO JOIN POPULAR MEGA PROPERTIES. WE MIGHT COMPARE THIS TO OTHER THINGS, BUT IT'S SORT OF A UNIQUE OCCURRENCE. TO TAKE SOMEONE IN THE MIDST OF CHASING THEIR FORM AND CRAFT AND TO BE SHOVE THEM IN FRONT OF THE EYES OF UNTOLD MILLIONS CAN BE A DISCONCERTING THING. FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, THE PHANTOM MENACE UNSPOOLED ONTO AN UNSUSPECTING PUBLIC AND WAS THE KINDS OF MASSIVE ATTENTION AND EXPECTATION RARELY SEEN. BUT MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO WERE THROWN INTO THE FRAY WERE RELATIVE HEAVYWEIGHTS: THERE WAS THE UBER-RESPECTED LIAM NEESON, THE YOUNG ALT-DARLING IN EWAN MCGREGOR, AND EVEN NATALIE PORTMAN WAS PRETTY ESTABLISHED AT THAT POINT. SO WHEN THAT FILM... UH... DID WHAT IT DID, THEY ALL MANAGED TO SURVIVE SOMEWHAT IN TACT THANKS TO THEIR PRE-HISTORY WITH AUDIENCES... BUT FOLKS LIKE JAKE LLOYD, AND TO A LESSER EXTENT, HAYDEN CHRISTIAN, WERE NOT SO LUCKY. NOW IT CAN'T BE AS SIMPLE AS THAT "THEY WERE JUST UNKNOWNS," BUT WHEN YOU ARE THROWN INTO THE MACHINE SANS CONTEXT, THEN TRY AS YOU MIGHT, THAT CONTEXT CAN INEVITABLY COME TO DEFINE YOU... FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE KIND OF LIKE THAT.
ENTER DAISY RIDLEY.
WHICH IS A NAME HULK HAS NEVER HEARD BEFORE! IT'S NOT LIKE THEY JUST FOUND HER ON THE STREET. SHE'S ACTED IN SOME STUFF AND APPARENTLY DONE A GOOD DEAL OF WORK ON THE STAGE. AND AT SOME POINT SHE HAD THE UNFORTUNATE DUTY OF ACTING OPPOSITE JEREMY PIVEN (WHY CAN'T HULK GET TO BE SNARKY ONCE IN A BLUE MOON?). BUT HULK WILL HAVE YOU KNOW, THAT UNLIKE THE MAJORITY OF OTHER YOUNG ACTRESSES CAST IN THE MAJOR SUMMER BLOCKBUSTERS, DAISY IS PRETTY TO LOOK AT. EXPECT THIS IMPORTANT DISTINCTION TO BE CONTEXTUALIZED WITHIN THE NARRATIVE.
IN CASE YOU CAN'T TELL, HULK'S NEVER REALLY TALKED ABOUT CASTING NEWS OR POSSIBLE ROLE PROGNOSTICATION, BUT SINCE THE ENTIRE BAD TEAM IS PITCHING IN WITH THE STAR WARRIORS TREATMENT, THEN WHY CAN'T HULK?
SO IF DAISY RIDLEY WILL INDEED DEFINITELY HYPOTHETICALLY MAYBE SORT OF BE PLAYING THE YOUNG MISS ORGANA-SOLO, THEN LET'S ALL AGREE THAT THERE SHOULD BE A HYPHEN IN HER LAST NAME. IT SEEMS ENTIRELY CORRECT, RIGHT? GIVEN THE STRONG PARTNERSHIP OF HER TWO PARENTS? HULK'S POSITIVE THAT MARRIAGE WAS BUILT TO LAST, AFTER ALL. AND THEN WE CAN HAVE A FUN SCENE, WHERE LIL LADY SOLO WANTS TO GO OUT WITH HER FRIENDS AND HAN SAYS NO AND SHE CALLS HIM A SCRUFFY LOOKING NERDHEARDER AND THEN HAN TURNS TO THE CAMERA BREAKS THE FOURTH WALL. BUT THAT'S JUST THE LIGHT-HEARTED LAUGHS AMONGST THE REAL DRAMA, WHEREIN LEIA AND HAN ARGUE ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT SHE SHOULD STUDY INTERGALACTIC RELATIONS AT VASSAR SO SHE BECOME A DIPLOMAT LIKE MOM OR WHETHER SHE GOES TO SPACESHIP MECHANIC SCHOOL LIKE DAD DID (READ: DROPPED OUT). BUT THEN THE MYSTERY BOX KICKS IN FOR NO REASON AND IT TURNS OUT THE WHOLE THING WAS ACTUALLY A BIG DISTRACTION FROM THE REAL THREAT, WHICH IS OF COURS THAT LIL LADY SOLO IS MAKING A CHOICE IN LOVE THAT MAKES HER PARENTS DEEPLY UNCOMFORTABLE! NO, NOT BETWEEN HER AND FILM HEADLINER / GREAT ACTOR JOHN BOYEGA, BUT WHEN STAR WARS FINALLY DECIDES IT'S TIME TO EXPLORE A NON-STRAIGHT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HER AND THE OTHER FEMALE CHARACTER IN THE MOVIE... OH WAIT THERE AREN'T ANY? ... HMMM... THEN LET'S GO WITH AN EWOK.
HULK CAN ONLY KEEP IT UP SO LONG... (THE SNARK. NOT THAT OTHER THING). BUT THE TRUTH IS THAT THERE IS A HISTORY TO THIS KIND OF THING THAT REACHES DOWN DEEP INTO THE EMPATHETIC PART OF HULK'S BUTT. REALLY. HULK SINCERELY HOPES THAT DAISY RIDLEY, NAY ANYONE, WILL HEROICALLY NAVIGATE THE UPCOMING DIFFICULTY OF POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE WITH GUSTO. AND DESPITE HAVING EVERY REASON TO BE CYNICAL (SERIOUSLY, 7 NEW DUDES? ONE LADY?) THEN OF COURSE HULK HOPES THE ROLE ITSELF IS EQUALLY REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL THE GREAT PROGRESS WE'VE MADE AS A SOCIETY AND UNDERSTANDING OF GENDER (HECK, LEIA IS STILL SOMEHOW ONE OF THE BEST FEMALE CHARACTERS THAT POPCORN FARE HAS TO OFFER... WHICH IS SAD). AND BEYOND THE FILM ITSELF, HULK GENUINELY HOPES WE'VE SECRETLY UNEARTHED A YOUNG ACTRESS OF SHEER GENIUS, COMPLETE WITH STREEPIAN DETERMINATION TO CRAFT MEANING INTO HER ROLES. HULK'S SERIOUS. WE COMPLETELY HAVE THE RIGHT TO PARSE OUT ALL OUR FEARS, BUT AS LOVERS OF CINEMA, THAT'S ALWAYS OUR HOPE.
AND HERE'S TO THE NEW ONE.
... SEE WHAT HULK DID THERE?
<3 HULK
