When Daisy Ridley joined the film Young woman and the seabased on the true story of American swimmer Trudy Ederle’s quest to become the first woman to swim the English Channel, she had already been cast in the lead role, but another title followed.
“I wasn’t an executive producer initially,” Ridley told Yahoo Entertainment about the Disney film, based on the book of the same name, which opens in select theaters on May 31. “And actually that journey started because I had notes about the movie. script.”
Those notes focused on the relationship between Trudy and her sister Meg (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), who was also a swimmer in 1920s New York and a fellow daughter of German immigrants who had arrived in America after World War I.
“I really wanted to hit [up] that relationship between the two sisters,” she said, also painting a fuller picture of what immigrant life was like at the time. “There were certain things I thought would be interesting to see more in the script. But really it started with me talking about the relationship with the sisters and how I wanted that to feel on screen.
What could have been positioned as a power struggle between two talented sisters ended up being a love story between the pair, highlighting the support each of them gave to the other rather than a cutthroat race to the finish.
It is also the story of a woman who proves she can be successful in a male-dominated sport.
Diving into ‘Young Woman and the Sea’ – literally
Young woman and the sea follows Trudy from her early days, recovering from a near-fatal case of measles, until she learned to swim, competed in the 1924 Olympics in Paris, and eventually trained to become the first woman (and sixth person ever) to cross the English Channel swam over.
Director Joachim Rønning, who helmed water-heavy productions such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales And Kon-Tiki, it was clear that he wanted to film in the real ocean instead of a studio tank. Ridley was game.
“I wanted the actors to be in the water. I didn’t want a blue screen or green screen, and I told Daisy Ridley this before we started filming,” Rønning told Yahoo Entertainment. “And she said, ‘Yes, let’s do it.’”
For Rønning, that meant filming in the English Channel and the Black Sea in cold temperatures. For Ridley, that meant months of learning to swim in the open water next to Cobham-Hervey – a bonding experience in itself.
“She is a force of nature,” Rønning said of Ridley. ‘She was really into it and she was in the water. We were filming for weeks, and she never complained, her lips blue.
He added: “In my eyes she is a perfect Trudy, fighting for something you believe in so strongly.”
Jerry Bruckheimer, who also produced the film, agreed.
“She taught me things,” Bruckheimer told Yahoo Entertainment about working with Ridley. “She has such a great spirit and such a true leader.”
As she grew into her role as a producer, “a big part of it is the feeling of being heard and understood, and people making space for me,” Ridley explained. “And then part of it, honestly, is ‘fake it till you make it.’”
Her leadership comes from her own production experience before this film. While she is still on her way to collecting as many credits as Bruckheimer – Young woman and the sea is her fourth: she is clear about what she has learned behind the scenes, in addition to her work in front of the camera.
“On Sometimes I think about dyingthat I produced, the female producers on that [movie] were so inclusive and very open with me in a way that I could learn from it,” she said. “So that’s great too: being part of things where you can learn from other people, and other people can learn from you.”
What was also important to her was “making sure I was leading the way I would want to be led.”
So what is her advice for young women, young people, who want to lead and realize their own dreams – even in a field where it seems like the cards are stacked against them?
“Try to find like-minded people who won’t scare you away.” Ridley said. “Everyone is capable of doing great things themselves. But when you get to the end of a difficult journey, or whatever that may be, you want to turn around and say, ‘Wow, you helped me on this journey. We supported each other.’”
Young woman and the sea opens in select theaters on May 31.
