Something has been hanging over me for the last few days. While Rian Johnson, Mark Hamill and company were a few hours away shooting the opening scenes for Star Wars Episode VIII, Daisy Ridley was nowhere to be seen. We ran a piece which said that she was in Kerry, along with her stunt double. However, as the week went on, not one photograph showed her in Kerry and not one report surfaced of her on location.
Kerry's Eye, a local newspaper ran a front page story, leading with the headline "Star time in South Kerry". Check out the screen grab from their Facebook page below.
But take a look at the photograph that appeared in Kerry's Eye on July 31st 2014
She's got the same jumper on and even the same hairdo. Look at the photos yourself. It's reused. A photograph did appear in Kerry's Eye that allegedly shows Ridley getting off a chopper. It could quite easily be her stunt double as the image quality isn't the best
There was no shortage of photos and videos of Mark Hamill pulling pints, or even director Rian Johnson in the town. Hell, even Jimmy Vee even made the papers. But nothing of Ridley. Nada.
This has bothered me for the week, and I've done a lot of digging over the last while, reaching out to press contacts and a few other sources too. They all agree. Ridley wasn't in Kerry, unless I'm told otherwise.
However, it's now being confirmed that her stunt double, Chloe Bruce was indeed in Kerry during the week. If anything, this may well go to disprove the users on Reddit who claim to have seen a first cut of TFA and the arc for Rey, especially considering the ending they've described which I've tragically read.