ROGUE ONE : A STAR WARS STORY © 2016 LUCASFILM LTD . hard when she was bringing us up . She was a working mother and a working single parent . [ Jones ’ parents divorced when she was a child ; she lived with her mom .] That instills in you a sense of determination . But my father [ a journalist ] is a feminist as well . He talked to us about school and work , and also gave us a strong sense of identity in terms of finding , What do you want to do ?
GLAMOUR : Was it important to you , even as a kid , to make your own money ?
FJ : I always had a very strong sense of independence . I really liked being able to buy my Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill album . I wore that as a badge of honor . I love not having to rely on anyone .
GLAMOUR : Was there a character you really wanted to play as a kid ?
FJ : The first film I ever saw at the cinema was The Little Mermaid , so I wanted to be Ariel . Now I am playing a Disney princess . [ Disney bought the rights to Star Wars from George Lucas in 2012 .] A very contemporary , kick-ass Disney princess !
GLAMOUR : Did you watch the Star Wars films as a kid ? Who introduced you to them ?
FJ : My boy cousins used to sit my older brother and me down and take us through a film-studies course . It included Tremors , The Goonies , and , of course , Star Wars . That was when it began : sitting cross-legged watching as the opening crawl goes up the screen .
GLAMOUR : What was your audition process like for Jyn ?
FJ : My agent called me up and said , “ There is a tremendous female lead in the new Star Wars film , and I think you ’ re really going to like it .” The opportunity to play someone determined , who ’ s trying to find her skills as a leader ; to be in a fantasy movie ; to be able to do a leading female role in a film of that scale — that ’ s very , very rare .
GLAMOUR : In a Rogue One trailer , Jyn is described as reckless , aggressive , and undisciplined . Those are traits we ’ ve grown accustomed to seeing in male heroes , but they aren ’ t traits we usually get to see in our female heroes .
FJ : She ’ s a bit of a wounded animal when you meet her . There were moments when she ’ s been blown over , she ’ s scrambling to get up , and she falls . It ’ s important that she ’ s not perfect . [ The director ] Gareth [ Edwards ] and I , we want to see her being a human being .
GLAMOUR : You could describe Han Solo using those same words .
FJ : She ’ s obviously completely her own woman , but I felt like [ she ] was a rather beautiful blend of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo — and that came up in discussions around designing the costume .
GLAMOUR : She does have that Han Solo – esque belt ! Gwendoline Christie , who played the first female Star Wars villain in The Force Awakens , said she loved how her character ’ s costume was sort of defeminized , utilitarian . Was yours always going to be the same way , or did you have to push back against attempts to sex it up ?
FJ : Not for a second . Everyone wanted to create a character that was not in any way objectified . We didn ’ t want to sexualize Jyn .
GLAMOUR : So there ’ s no moment where Jyn is suddenly a prisoner in a gold bikini .
FJ : No way . [ Laughs .] We don ’ t even see Jyn ’ s arms ! That ’ s not her priority . She ’ s a survivor , and she has a mission to complete .
GLAMOUR : That ’ s a big deal to me , as somebody who grew up on the early films — that there ’ s not an eye candy moment for teenage boys to jerk off to .
FJ : Gareth said very early on , “ I want guys to watch it and be like , ‘ I want to be Jyn !’” A female friend of mine said , “ I love that Jyn looks how we look , with trousers and a long-sleeved top .” We aren ’ t in hot pants . When do women walk around wearing hot pants ?
GLAMOUR : Rarely . In the first big trailer , five of the 10 lines of dialogue are spoken by women , suggesting that the year ’ s biggest tentpole passes the Bechdel test [ which rates films based on whether two female characters talk to each other about something other than a man ]. Were your feminist needs met by this movie ?
FJ : I ’ ve always been a feminist , and what I love in my work is being able to explore a full-sided woman and not patronize her . Particularly with Jyn , it ’ s such a rare opportunity to be able to play a female who ’ s not just thinking about [ romantic ] relationships .
GLAMOUR : Do you feel any relief in not being the first Star Wars female lead ? Does it feel like Daisy Ridley ’ s Rey in The Force Awakens did a lot of work at putting gender wariness to bed ?
FJ : Absolutely . And I hope now with Rogue One we ’ re in a place where of course women are going to be leading action films as well
Presenting : Jyn Erso Jones ’ character — here with costar Diego Luna — leads the mission to steal the Death Star plans in Rogue One .
“ My mother was very much like , ‘ You ’ re not going to be defined by how you look . It ’ s going to be about what you do .’ ”
as men . I feel like Sigourney Weaver in Alien and Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games , and then obviously Daisy in The Force Awakens , all passed on the baton .
GLAMOUR : Daisy ’ s character didn ’ t initially get her own action figure , an omission [ The Force Awakens ’ director ] J . J . Abrams called preposterous and wrong . How did you feel onstage at the Star Wars Celebration , holding up Jyn Erso ’ s action figure ?
FJ : It felt really momentous of how far we ’ ve come from when I was growing up . Playing with Barbies …
GLAMOUR : My mother wouldn ’ t allow me to have Barbies .
FJ : No , nor was I ! [ Laughs .] I was a tomboy running around in the garden . I used to play on a local cricket team . I grew up with all boy cousins , for the most part , and my brother . My mother was in the kind of late-sixties , early-seventies origins of female emancipation . And she was very much like , “ You ’ re not going to be defined by how you look . It ’ s going to be about who you are and what you do .”
GLAMOUR : I heard that people call you Tiny Warrior . How did you earn that nickname ?
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