Young Woman and the Sea director Joachim Rønning has praised his leading lady Daisy Ridley for her commitment to swimming training.

In the biographical sports drama, the Star Wars actress plays Gertrude ‘Trudy’ Ederle, the first woman to swim across the English Channel in 1926.

To prepare for the role, Ridley spent months training with British Olympic medallist Siobhan-Marie O’Connor and overcame her fear of swimming in open water.

“They trained many times a week for months and months, she took it very, very seriously,” Rønning told Cover Media. “What I learned later was that she’s scared of swimming in the open water, she never told me that. So she had to overcome that. It was so amazing that she put so much effort into it. I feel it really paid off.”

The Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales director revealed that he barely needed to use stunt swimmers because Ridley was so convincing as Ederle in the water.

“When we were out there, I could really feel her channelling Trudy Ederle (as) Daisy has such a force to her strokes,” he continued. “I had stunt swimmers and doubles and stuff out there but I ended up using Daisy for almost everything, even wide shots where there’s no way I can see her face, because I just felt, somehow, that it was Trudy out there, with the kind of swimming, the forceful swimming. It was so amazing to see.”

Heaping praise on the British actress further, the Norwegian filmmaker added, “She went all-in and I was so happy on a daily basis that I had her as my partner out there, honestly.”

Young Woman and the Sea was released in select U.K. cinemas on Friday 31 May.

© Cover Media