Sure, she has come to be well-known for playing the tenacious, new Jedi, Rey, in the growing Star Wars cinematic universe, but actress Daisy Ridley has built a career over the years that has proven, time and time again, that she can and does effectively embody a wide array of deep, multi-layered characters for the screen.

In her latest zombie horror film, We Bury the Dead , the London-born actress plays Ava, a young woman in search of her husband in a post-apocalyptic world, where some of the dead rise again for uncertain reasons. When Ava joins efforts to help clean up the deceased bodies around the Tasmania region of Australia, she ultimately goes on a journey of self-discovery, filled with conflicted human interactions and a universal theme around grief.

Written and directed by Zak Hilditch, We Bury the Dead is an outstanding cinematic achievement that goes far beyond the surface of just being a zombie post-apocalyptic film. Through Ridley’s exceptional acting performance as Ava and Hilditch’s raw storytelling around the meaning of life, Vertical Entertainment’s We Bury the Dead is a must-see film in movie theaters this weekend.

I sat down with Ridley and Hilditch to discuss their new film and their collaborative efforts, wondering first how this We Bury the Dead story idea initially came to mind for the filmmaker.

Hilditch said, “The whole original kernel of an idea was sort of born out of grief. After the passing of my mother, sort of dealing with the idea of like there is no rule book when it comes to something like that. You got to find your own way forward. It was like packing the family home, the house that I grew up in - the house that she died in, and sort of going room-to-room and making discoveries and just being in such an intimate, weird, surreal world with all of that. It was very cathartic, as well. I knew there was something there to sort of explore further in a film.”

As for what it was about the character of Ava and her journey on-screen that struck Ridley’s interest to join the film, she said, “I was struck very much about Ava’s journey of trying to figure out how to say goodbye - and if you aren’t able to get closure, how is it that you transcend to the next moment of your life? What Zak was saying about grief, it’s interesting, because I was thinking yesterday, it’s not just the grief of what Ava might find with her husband. It’s the grief of what her life might have looked like. It’s the grief of what their child might have been. There were so many versions of grief in that I thought was so beautiful and this sort of road trip that is representative of her going on this emotional journey to find that. I just thought it was really beautifully done.”

Ridley added about Ava and We Bury the Dead : “She also has unfinished business and what you do when you get an answer, even if that answer is not what you want it to be. So, all of that I loved about her. I loved the journey. I love the people she meets. It’s just everyone is dealing with their own grief in different ways.”

Having now built a diverse acting career and a Hollywood leading presence around her work over the years, I wondered if Ridley has noticed her creative interests and priorities evolving or changing at all at this stage of her career.

“I don’t think so,” Ridley said. “I always feel like I’ve liked what I’ve liked - and I like a real wide variety of movies. I like reading a real wide variety of books. So, I’ve always had large interests. I think I can articulate myself now more in knowing why I like something, whereas before I was like - I like it! Now, I guess I’m better at articulating why, but I have always felt very emboldened by the people around me to make choices that feel good for me. So, that has been consistent.”

As for writing the character of Ava and pursuing Ridley to potentially say yes to this film, Hilditch says that she was the first actress that came to mind when the We Bury the Dead script was ready and within one week of Ridley reading the script, the two were jumping on a Zoom to chat about the film.

Hilditch said of casting Ridley, “It’ll never be that perfect amount of timing ever again. It was just meant to be in so many ways. She just fit the mold of exactly who I needed to pull off Ava in every step of the way. I was a big fan of her work going into the meeting, and you look back and there is no other person on earth that could have pulled off this role. I was just very lucky and fortunate to get Daisy to read the script.”

With Ridley having plenty of experience working with several prolific writers and directors within her acting career already, what was it about Hilditch and this We Bury the Dead filmmaking experience that was perhaps unique for her?

Ridley said, “When I got to Australia, what was great, we had a few days to really talk through everything. One of the things I was concerned about is, it’s so emotional for Ava, but I didn’t want to live in that place the whole time, because she’s going on this journey. So, something I felt like I really trusted Zak with is sculpting that emotional arc of how very quickly it sort of becomes mundane and in an awful way of retrieving bodies and doing all of that, and making sure that I felt trusting enough in Zak to be guided through that and trusting the sort of ups-and-downs of Ava’s journey. Also, what’s hilarious is I think I had one of the best times I’ve ever had on a set on this film, because we were just having so much fun. Then, we dive into this very emotional story, but the whole filmmaking process was really joyful.”

Without spoiling the film’s ending, of course, which in my opinion is one of the most heartfelt and memorable conclusions on-screen in the past year, I asked Hilditch and Ridley to address their own outlooks around the thoughtful culmination of this We Bury the Dead story.

Ridley said first about the film’s finale, “I remember feeling that moment was so beautiful because to end in such a hopeful way after everything that has gone on is so wonderful. The idea of what this end scene really means for humanity in Tasmania is incredible. It’s sort of a summation of the whole of Ava’s journey.”

Hilditch continued by saying, “Every draft of the script always had that ending or a version of that ending, where she takes so many hits, Ava, throughout the course of the movie that I absolutely wanted to end on a positive, nice note. Where is the win? There’s got to be a win here somewhere and you don’t see it coming, but they say the best endings are inevitable but surprising.”

While wrapping up my conversation with these We Bury the Dead filmmaking creative artists, I left Ridley with my signature and original interview question, wondering what she would say to her on-screen character of Ava, if only she could.

“Ooh, that’s a good question,” Ridley said. “I suppose my answer would be keep doing things the way you’re doing them. People grieve in different ways and there is no right way to do it. The journey to closure spans many different amounts of time for everybody. So, for me in playing her, I feel that all of the things she did were the right thing, really. There were also 300 other ways she could have done it and they would have been the right thing, too.”