Daisy Ridley got a 'pat on the back' from swimmer Diana Nyad during 'trippy' encounter at Young Woman and the Sea premiere: 'It was the most surreal thing'

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Daisy Ridley recalled a 'trippy' encounter she had with legendary long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad at the recent Hollywood premiere of her film Young Woman and the Sea, in which she portrays legendary swimmer Gertrude 'Trudy' Ederle.

'It was so surreal. I was washing my hands in the bathroom, waiting for my people, and she came in,' the 32-year-old Star Wars alum told THR on Tuesday.

'It was the most surreal thing. I kept going, "This is so trippy, this is so trippy. You are real. You did the thing, and I just played the person that did the thing." But she was very encouraging because she could see that I had trained really hard. And that's wonderful [to hear], particularly from the sports people that were there last night.

'I really wanted to do justice by swimmers, and in a physical way, I wanted to try and do as much as I could to look able and to sell the story. So getting a pat on the back from Diana Nyad was pretty cool.'

The feeling was mutual for the 74-year-old motivational speaker, who wrote on Instagram on May 17 that Daisy was 'captivating' in her performance as the first woman to ever swim the English Channel.

Daisy Ridley (L, pictured May 16) recalled a 'trippy' encounter she had with legendary long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad (R) at the recent Hollywood premiere of her film Young Woman and the Sea, in which she portrays legendary swimmer Gertrude 'Trudy' Ederle

The 32-year-old Star Wars alum told THR on Tuesday (pictured): 'It was so surreal. I was washing my hands in the bathroom, waiting for my people, and she came in. It was the most surreal thing. I kept going, "This is so trippy, this is so trippy. You are real. You did the thing, and I just played the person that did the thing"'

It's been a year since Diana's own 110-mile journey across the Florida Straits, at age 64, in 2013 was depicted in the critically-acclaimed Netflix biopic Nyad starring Annette Bening.

Ridley was trained by an Olympic silver medalist named Siobhan-Marie O'Connor to more authentically portray Trudy Ederle in Joachim Rønning's biopic, which hits limited UK/US theaters this Friday.

The British beauty - who's vegan - even ate fried tofu in one scene just like the daughter of a German butcher from Manhattan who evidently ate fried chicken while swimming the English Channel.

'We did a day of underwater work in a tank. We had done all of the open water stuff in the Black Sea at nighttime, which obviously had to be more controlled because it was more dangerous,' Daisy - who was also an executive producer - recalled.

'But then we did a day of underwater work, and it was more comfortable to stay in the pool. So I had my little floating [lunch] tray, and I ate my lunch. It was enjoyable. But it's that funny thing where you don’t want to eat too much. You're starving because you've done so much work, but you don't want to eat too much in case you vom, basically.'

Ridley came up with the original story for her next film - Sam Yates' indie neo-noir Magpie - which was co-produced and written by her real-life husband Tom Bateman.

Signature Entertainment procured the UK and Ireland distribution rights for Magpie, and The Marsh King's Daughter actress confirmed: 'We also have distribution in the US. We just haven't quite announced it yet.'

'Beyond just being an actor, there's a lot of joy in being a part of a team that's bringing a story to life,' Daisy gushed.

Daisy continued: 'But she was very encouraging because she could see that I had trained really hard. And that's wonderful [to hear], particularly from the sports people that were there last night'

She added: 'I really wanted to do justice by swimmers, and in a physical way, I wanted to try and do as much as I could to look able and to sell the story. So getting a pat on the back from Diana Nyad was pretty cool'

The feeling was mutual for the 74-year-old motivational speaker, who wrote on Instagram on May 17 that Ridley was 'captivating' in her performance as the first woman to ever swim the English Channel

It's been a year since Diana's own 110-mile journey across the Florida Straits, at age 64, in 2013 (pictured) was depicted in the critically-acclaimed Netflix biopic Nyad starring Annette Bening

Daisy was trained by an Olympic silver medalist named Siobhan-Marie O'Connor to more authentically portray Trudy Ederle (R) in Joachim Rønning's biopic, which hits limited UK/US theaters this Friday

The British beauty - who's vegan - even ate fried tofu in one scene just like the daughter of a German butcher from Manhattan who evidently ate fried chicken while swimming the English Channel

Ridley - who was also an executive producer - recalled: 'We did a day of underwater work in a tank. We had done all of the open water stuff in the Black Sea at nighttime, which obviously had to be more controlled because it was more dangerous. But then we did a day of underwater work, and it was more comfortable to stay in the pool'

Ridley came up with the original story for her next film - Sam Yates' indie neo-noir Magpie - which was co-produced and written by her real-life husband Tom Bateman (R, pictured in 2023)

Signature Entertainment procured the UK and Ireland distribution rights for Magpie, and The Marsh King's Daughter actress (pictured Tuesday) confirmed: 'We also have distribution in the US. We just haven't quite announced it yet'

Daisy is set to reprise her breakout role as Rey 'Skywalker' in Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's 2026 continuation Star Wars: New Jedi Order, revealing: 'I have not read actual words on actual paper, but [a script] is soon coming'

'Honestly, making films is really hard, and I knew they were, but the making of the film was actually not difficult. It’s just the after stuff that’s such a maze. Being independent and then finding distribution, we have amazing partners, which is wonderful, but I just didn't realize how long everything took. So that was surprising. But I love our movie. We wanted to do something that we felt we hadn't seen in a while, and I'm very happy that we are able to share Magpie with audiences this year.'

Ridley is set to reprise her breakout role as Rey 'Skywalker' in Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's 2026 continuation Star Wars: New Jedi Order, revealing: 'I have not read actual words on actual paper, but [a script] is soon coming.'

The Sometimes I Think About Dying producer-star - who just wrapped Zak Hilditch's zombie thriller We Bury the Dead - relearned kickboxing to star in Martin Campbell's upcoming environmental terrorist thriller Cleaner.