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Stagecoach Student lands role in Disney’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

January 16, 2020
Stagecoach Student lands role in Disney’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Josefine joined Stagecoach Bearsted on her fourth birthday, where it opened her eyes to just how much she loves acting. Stagecoach provided her with confidence and helped teach her how to perform in front of a crowd. 
 
Having attended Stagecoach for a couple of years, she started auditioning for various roles through the support and coaching of her teachers. While at an audition, Josefine was approached by the casting director and asked to come for an audition for another film, which turned out to be Star Wars. 
 
Six-year-old Josefine was cast in the 2019 release as Young Rey, the child version of Daisy Ridley’s character. The strong resemblance between Daisy and Josefine was also one of the reasons she was cast. Josefine was over the moon to be cast in such a big franchise, she said: “It was really great to do good acting, and Rey is my favourite character in Star Wars”
 
The filming took place at Pinewood Studios in London where Josefine was on set for two hours. “She was very professional and coped really well under the large heat lamps which were used on set to help create the desert. It was a busy set with hair and make-up artists, producers and directors all trying to ensure the cast were cool and topped up with water" says Josefine’s mother Anitra, who attended the shoot with her. 
 
Throughout her time on set, Josefine was focused, engaged and professional and it was clear that Josefine loved every minute of it, she said: “I loved that I got to act for a long time, but it went by too quickly”.  
 
Onset, Josefine was rubbing shoulders with some big names, including J.J.Abrams. Before filming started J.J. took some time to go over the scene with Josefine and her ‘on stage’ parents to ensure he was able to get the most out of her. Josephine recalled, “J.J. was very nice and he was good at teaching”. Jodie Comer also took time out to get to know her ‘on set’ daughter and they built up a friendship off-screen too. 
 
J.J. was clearly pleased with how Josefine embodied her role as Young Rey, and she received a round of applause on set at the end of her scene. He said “I’m sure we’ll see each other again” to her and her mother as they left the set. 
 
Josefine has had an amazing end to 2019, which will continue into 2020. She now attends Stagecoach Tunbridge Wells and will continue to audition and will hopefully be back on our screens soon.
 
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