7 Actors Who Really Messed Up Their First Day Of Filming
4. Daisy Ridley's 'Wooden' Acting - Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Episode VII)
After impressing director J.J. Abrams enough for him to offer her the lead role of Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Daisy Ridley's fairy tale journey to a galaxy far, far away soon hit a few speed bumps during her first day on set.
Sensing that he didn't have time to beat around the bush when trying to bring together a project of this size, Abrams wasn't afraid to let his new lead know that her early takes as the Jakku scavenger were 'wooden'.
Understandably, this response nearly reduced the fresh face to tears as it dawned on her just how huge an opportunity this was and how much was riding on her performance being anything but 'wooden'. Shedding more light on how she felt at that early stage in her Star Wars career, she told Glamour magazine, 'I was petrified. I thought I was gonna have a panic attack on the first day'.
It may not have been the ideal start Abrams or the young actor was looking for, but once she got that lacklustre first day out of the way Ridley was able to gradually put the nerves to bed and give a performance which eventually made her a household name.