Naomi Ackie was warned she’d be fired if news leaked about her casting in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’.
The 27-year-old actress will portray Jannah in the final installment of the sci-fi saga and when she first had the news, she had to continue to pretend she had no projects lined up because of the strict secrecy surrounding the film.
She said: "I just kept it shtum, I just kept on acting like I didn’t have anything on… They’ve got you on NDA if I told anyone and anyone found out and it got released, I would have been fired… I don’t think they can fire me now."
Naomi will "never forget" the "beautiful" moment she found out she had the part, where she had to try and contain her emotions because she had a friend staying with her.
She recalled to talk show host Jonathan Ross: "It was an interesting situation where I knew I would find out at a specific time. I woke up at seven in the morning and my hand reached to the phone and it started to ring. My agent called and said ‘I couldn’t wait… You’ve got it!’
"One of my really good friends was sleeping downstairs and I started screaming, naturally, but she wasn’t meant to know anything was happening. I was still living with my dad so my dad hears the yell, he knows. He runs upstairs, he’s sat at [the end of] the bed while I’m [sobbing]. It was a beautiful moment, I’ll never forget it."
And the news came as a huge shock to the British star because she was "certain" she wouldn’t get the role but thinks that ultimately helped her land the part because she was so "chill" in her audition.
She said: "It was a weird audition process because all the way through I was so certain I wasn’t going to get it. I didn’t even get nervous because I was like, ‘It’s not going to happen!’ [It seemed] too crazy.
"That jump between doing some really cool projects that were more indie focussed to this giant one – maybe the most giant one there is at the moment – was too much for my brain to process and I feel like it helped me out because I was as chill as I possibly could be in the room."
The full interview with Naomi airs on ‘The Jonathan Ross Show’ on ITV on Saturday (15.11.19) night.
Naomi Ackie faced strict Star Wars secrecy
