Daisy Ridley studied MMA for 'Cleaner' fights

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Daisy Ridley says she watched mixed martial arts fights to prepare for her action movie Cleaner, in theaters Friday. Ridley plays Joey, a skyscraper window cleaner who battles terrorists that have taken over the office building.

In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Ridley said studying actual MMA bouts for the role was a bit much for her to take.

"I tried to watch MMA fights," Ridley, 29, said. "Honestly, they're so violent I struggled to watch that many of them."

Ridley saw enough to decide how she wanted to portray Joey in the film's Die Hard scenario of one hero against a gang of villains. By the time Joey re-enters the building to do battle, Ridley said, she embodies a cage fighter.

"That level of aggression and that level of being very in your body, that was really the thing that was driving me physically for her," Ridley said.

Ridley engaged in fight training In addition to watching MMA. She did not go so far as to say she trained in the MMA style, but she did learn fighting and hit pads to prepare for Cleaner.

"One of the fights particularly is in a really contained area," Ridley said. "So trying to figure out how to realistically battle someone while quite restricted physically was a challenge."

Cleaner is the latest in a series of physical roles for Ridley. She played aspiring Jedi knight Rey in the Star Wars films, and English Channel swimmer Trudy Ederle in last year's Young Woman and the Sea.

Ridley said some of her films are purely "an emotional journey." She played a woman who imagines her own demise in Sometimes I Think About Dying, and a mother who suspects her husband of cheating in Magpie.

"Of course, there's always physicality that lends itself to the role," Ridley said. "But the films that I get to do the physical stuff on screen are always great and always a challenge, but I'm also particularly tired when I finish those ones."

The production of Cleaner did not hang Ridley from a real skyscraper, though she said she was dangling from the side of a portion of a building in the safety of a studio. Visual effects created the distant ground below, but Ridley appreciated having a physical set with which to work.

"Everything you see that I'm hanging off of is very tangible and interactive," she said.

The reason Joey is still working when the terrorists arrive is because she was late to work that morning. Her brother, Michael (Matthew Tuck), was kicked out of a care home that same day.

Joey has to bring Michael to work and leave him inside the building while she cleans windows. With Michael as one of the hostages, the rescue becomes personal for Joey.

"I think it really is the heart of the story," Ridley said. "Joey does what she does really to save her brother."

Ridley will be back in action as Rey in a new Star Wars film that was announced previously. Ridley knows the general plot and is awaiting a screenplay, currently being written by George Nolfi.

"I know where it's going and I'm very excited to read the script," she said.