As a veteran of action movies, director Martin Campbell has worked with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, most notably helming the debut efforts of two James Bonds (Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig). Campbell’s next film, the Die Hard-esque Cleaner, sees the filmmaker team up with another action veteran: Star Wars sequel trilogy star Daisy Ridley. While Ridley has proven her ability to handle extravagant set pieces before, her role in Cleaner required her to adopt a different approach when handling the action sequences. Cleaner isn’t as reliant on CGI effects as a Star Wars film, but that wasn’t an issue for Ridley.

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“Well, first of all, she’s a terrific actress. I’ve seen her, obviously, [in] Star Wars, but, I’ve also seen The Young Woman and the Sea … she was terrific,” Campbell said in an interview with ComicBook when asked why Ridley was the perfect fit for the starring role in Cleaner. He continued, “When I spoke to her, I said to her, ‘How do you feel about the action?’ she was all for it. I think the idea of doing an action film … obviously, in Star Wars there’s a lot of action, but a lot of that action is reliant on visual effects and so forth. But this, there’s a down-and-dirty quality about it … It’s a kind of realistic scenario. She’s outside the building like a goldfish bowl. She’s looking inside. And there’s the eco-terrorist, right? She sees them, and she can’t get back in, and, she believes [her brother] is in great danger.”

Cleaner is described as, “Set in present-day London, a group of radical activists take over an energy company’s annual gala, seizing 300 hostages in order to expose the corruption of the hosts. Their just cause is hijacked by an extremist within their ranks, who is ready to murder everyone in the building to send his anarchic message to the world. It falls to an ex-soldier turned window cleaner, played by Ridley, suspended 50 stories up on the outside of the building, to save those trapped inside, including her younger brother.”

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Of course, any good action movie needs memorable villains, and Cleaner has that covered with the group of eco-terrorists who take over the building. Marcus (Clive Owen) is the leader of the group, but there’s dissent among their ranks. Campbell also talked about how Cleaner provides a twist on an established formula.

“So there’s a coup d’état between the terrorists, which is very unusual, I think, in the film,” Campbell said when discussing the dynamic between the antagonists. “And it was a good twist. And I thought that the Clive Owen character … I think what he’s doing is absolutely correct. Talk about him and his eco credentials, what he’s doing. I’m 100% behind … exposing this corrupt company. You’ve got Clive, who is a nonviolent threat. Yes, of course, threat, but he’s dead against using violence, right? He’s there, to expose a very corrupt company, of course. And then you have Taz [Skylar], who’s an extremist in the least. You have a character who is literally almost insane by the end of the movie, who really wants to annihilate the planet of all human beings simply to allow the planet to survive.”

Campbell took a moment to praise Owen’s performance, saying, “He’s got such a sense of humor, Clive. And he believes in seducing his audience rather than belting the hell out of them.”

Cleaner opens in theaters on February 21st.

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