'Tried To Make It...': Joachim Ronning Talks About Creating Trudy Ederle's Biopic Young Woman And The Sea

Young Woman and the Sea, a biopic on Trudy Ederle starring Daisy Ridley, celebrates Ederle's historic 1926 swim across the English Channel, highlighting her trailblazing spirit.

By Shovan Roy

Published on Jul 30, 2024 | 11:32 PM IST | 51.7K

Joachim Ronning (Image via Instagram)

Joachim Rønning promises to take viewers on a nostalgic journey with his cinematic tribute to Trudy Ederle, an athlete who led the way forward. Starring Daisy Ridley, Young Woman and the Sea is a biopic that depicts how Trudy Ederle became the legendary Olympian, the first woman to swim across the English Channel.

Pioneering achievement

In a world often dominated by male athletes, Ederle's groundbreaking accomplishment gets the spotlight it deserves. This movie will certainly inspire millions of people around the globe as well as truly showcase what sportsmanship is all about for this year’s biggest sporting event which can be streamed on Disney+ Hotstar. It is one of those moments in sports history where Ederle made her mark that we get a glimpse into here.

Director Rønning, known for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, has stated that he wanted to bring Ederle’s story to life. In an interview with ETimes Rønning said “This film was made to radiate some sort of an energy, and in a way channel Ederle.”

Filming challenges

Producing this film was not easy at all but was rather difficult. "We were out there on the ocean for weeks and weeks, with Daisy Ridley swimming in freezing waters until their lips were blue, somehow channeling through Trudy Ederle," said Rønning. He also added, “I hope the audience can feel that we really tried to make it as real as possible, shooting in the elements and on the ocean."

When asked if such a tale was necessary for adaptation into feature films at a time marked by action movies full of gore and rated R, the director gave a positive response. He said that he thinks there’s room for every type of film. Why he loves Trudy Ederle’s story because it's a true story about a seismic event in history that very few people know about.

Historical and inspirational story

An American competitive swimmer as well as an Olympic champion, Trudy Ederle made history on August 6, 1926, by becoming the first-ever woman who swam across the English Channel.

It was her strength and capability that showed what she did and marked a huge milestone in the history of women in sports. Her win at the Olympics followed by channel swimming brought down many barriers between people and created opportunities for more female sports people to follow.

Addressing the balance between historical accuracy and creative liberty, Rønning emphasized the importance of truthfulness. The director says, “With Trudy’s story, we didn’t have to change much at all because it was such a riveting tale anyway.” According to him, it had to be edited somewhat just so that it could fit into two hours but this one didn’t need much finesse since it was so overly dramatic.

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