Felicity Jones Reveals Who Was the Inspiration Behind Jyn Erso in Rogue One
Oscar nominee Felicity Jones sat down with Yahoo Movies at the Toronto International Film Festival and talked about her latest emotional role in the movie “A Monster Calls”. Jones also briefly discussed her role as Jyn Erso in the upcoming first Star Wars stand-alone movie, and revealed which popular movie character inspired her for the role.
From YahooMovies:
Let’s talk some Star Wars. Are there any past action heroes, male or female, that you based Jyn Erso on or looked to for inspiration?
Well, it’s interesting because I didn’t know [when shooting A Monster Calls] that I would be playing Jyn, who is very much inspired by Sigourney’s character [Ripley] in Aliens. So it’s interesting that we had worked together. But I’ve been so inspired by her work and she was a role model growing up.So Ripley was part of the basis in the writing of Rogue One?
No, no, just in terms of, obviously, you have different references that you look at. And I love the qualities that she brought to that part. And early on in my research it was one of the films that I watched that informed my process.Have you talked to Sigourney about it?
I haven’t, actually. Yeah. It’s one of those things where I sort of have a silent respect and I’m quietly a fan of hers.What other characters in Rogue One do you think fans are going to latch onto?
I think you’ll love all the rebels. Because they’re flawed. They’ve all had histories, they’ve all had their own struggles, and I feel like people are going to really champion them and fall in love with them.
In case you lived under a rock and you still don’t know Jyn Erso’s biography, here’s Wookieepedia’s entry on the character. Actually there are bits that some of you might have overlooked:
Jyn Erso was born to the scientist Galen and Lyra Erso sometime prior to the outbreak of the Clone Wars. During the war, Jyn and her parents were captured by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, however they were rescued by Orson Krennic, an old friend of her father’s and a member of Republic Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine’s top secret Death Star project. Jyn was separated from her parents at the age of fifteen years old, developing a reckless and rebellious streak. She had a number of incidents on her record, including the forgery of Imperial documents, possession of stolen property, aggravated assault, and resisting arrest.
Almost two decades into the Empire’s reign, Erso was detained by the Rebel Alliance. However, with the Alliance having intercepted a transmission from her father, indicating that a major weapons test was about to occur, Erso was given another chance and was recruited by a leader of the Alliance, Mon Mothma, to learn more about the weapon test. As a result, Erso became a sergeant of the Alliance and involved in the theft of what the Rebels would discover to be the plans to the Death Star, an armored battle station capable of destroying entire planets, which would ultimately lead to the destruction of the station during the Battle of Yavin.
December 16, can’t come quick enough. 93 days left!
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
A character with a mind of Ripley? Eh, this is looking good so far.
Hopefully she won’t have a lesbian clone with super powers.
so that was what’s going on in alien 4…
Yup.
I just hope Jyn isn’t overpowered and keeps outshining her male counterparts, like Rey did. I want equality between the genders, not the empowerment of women at the expense of men.
Boo hoo. One instance of a woman out-doing her male counterparts and the whole world is up in arms.
Go watch some Marvel movies and relax, man.
You get all the upvotes 🙂
Sad how fans put up with imbalanced characters. The Original Trilogy characters were far more balanced out than Rey and Finn. TFA was The Rey Show. They made sure Finn was never a threat to her superiority.
No. It wasn’t one instance or even a few instances. Rey outshined Finn the entire movie. It was annoying. She was his superior in almost every way. She had a bunch of advanced skills while he had none. She kept winning fights, saving others and fixing her own mistakes while he kept losing fights and needing others to save him. He got his ass kicked with the lightsaber while she got to look good defeating Kylo Ren with it. She was treated with respect while he was made the butt of several jokes. Every time Finn tried to save Rey’s life, it backfired in some way. It either wasn’t necessary or he needed saving instead. Every time Rey needed saving (air strike and Starkiller Base about to blow up), Finn was always there by her side, unconscious, so that he would look worse off by comparison.
That’s what Finn was there for; to be inferior to Rey.
Finn was marketed as a reasonably competent main character, but the film treated him like a bumbling, emasculated comic relief sidekick whose main role was to make Rey look good at his own expense. I shouldn’t have to watch a Marvel film to get a main character who’s treated with respect. What other main character in Star Wars’ films have been treated as poorly was Finn in their first film?