Ever since the 2019 release of The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars sequel trilogy star Daisy Ridley has been experimenting with a wide variety of genres. Shes starred in a dystopian sci-fi thriller, a rom-com about daydreaming of your own death, a psychological thriller, a neo-noir thriller, a sports drama, and an animated movie.I feel like Im drawn to very different things, Ridley told Polygon in a video interview. While its true that her recent projects are spread across a wide group of genres, though, many of them have featured physicality as an important part of her performance. Ridley trained with Olympic swimmer Siobhan-Marie OConnor in preparation for the historical drama Young Woman and the Sea, while Sometimes I Think About Dying required her to stay deathly still for a significant portion of the movie. (I barely walked, she jokes.)Next up for her: a more traditional action star role in Martin Campbells Cleaner. Its a Die Hard riff where Ridley plays an ex-military window cleaner who has to save the day when environmental activists (led by Clive Owen and Taz Skylar, who gives a scene-stealing performance) threaten the offices of the energy company she cleans windows for, including her brother, who is trapped inside as a hostage.For Ridley, it was a cant-miss opportunity to work with one of the industrys most experienced action directors. Campbell, the director of GoldenEye, Casino Royale, and the Antonio Banderas Zorro movies, has worked with many of the foremost action stars of the last few decades: Jackie Chan, Liam Neeson, and multiple James Bonds. Ridley was up for the challenge of a physically demanding role in Cleaner, which sees her spending a lot of time in a harness suspended above the ground, or fighting opponents in narrow hallways or small rooms.I was bruised and battered after Cleaner. I was covered in bruises. Im pretty sure I ripped something in my shoulder, she says. I really delighted in being able to overcome physical things. I love to do as much of it as possible with Young Woman and the Sea, too. I love watching something where you can feel that the persons really done the thing.Physical training was a significant part of the Cleaner role: I always do physical prep anyway, because obviously it informs a character emotionally so much. I feel like it brings me close to the character. Its the adrenaline were all addicted to. It is such a rush.The most difficult sequence for Ridley came late in the movie, when she had to drop from a ceiling to surprise an opponent before quickly taking them down. Ridley says the stunt was not only physically demanding, but very technical she had to land on a tiny mat before executing some complicated choreography, all while making sure to hit the exact right marks for the camera.Essentially, I do become Spider-Woman, she says. The adrenaline each time was so high, but its also such a dance with the crew, because you might do the stunt perfectly, but if it focuses out, or the camera is not right, or the camera is perfect and you are just slightly out, [it doesnt work]. The symbiotic relationship between cast and crew is so beautiful anyway in a film, but particularly with choreography like that.The sequence took 11 takes to film correctly, Campbell told Polygon in a separate video interview. To her credit, she stuck with it, he says. I know a lot of actors that wouldnt do that. They would say, Well, use my double. She wanted to do it herself.Campbell says thats true of most of Cleaner. Ridley performed the majority of the stunts herself, including a fight sequence where her character has to leap over a railing to drop onto her opponent. But one of the most demanding parts of the role involved very little interaction with other people.Ridleys character spends a lot of the first half of the movie in a cleaning cradle, stuck 700 feet above the ground outside the building. (In reality, the Cleaner team built a set with three levels of windows and positioned the cradle outside. Campbell says, If we had the money, we wouldve built a huge set with four or five stories.) As the action kicks up and things start to go wrong, the cradle becomes unstable, and Campbell was particularly impressed by Ridleys ability to bring across the tension of the moment.She does a terrific job, Campbell says. She sells all that tension outside. When shes outside of the building, of course, everything starts to go wrong on the cradle. Gears start to fall apart, the whole thing starts to tip over, bombs start to drop you name it. Shes great at all of that, reacting to that kind of stuff and making it convincing.Next up for Ridley: leading We Bury the Dead, an Australian survival horror thriller due to premiere at South by Southwest this March. The premise sounds like there could be some undead ghouls for her to face off against. Sounds like another opportunity to take on a new physical challenge for an actor who relishes them.Cleaner is in theaters now.