Ridley makes her mark in Christie's film remake

CHICAGO - British director Kenneth Branagh had a brilliant twist for a pivotal Murder on the Orient Express scene in which British actress Daisy Ridley, as beautiful Mary Debenham, confronts obnoxious fellow passenger Gerhard Hardman (played by US actor Willem Dafoe).

The director thought space age for the moment with Star Wars breakout Ridley on the opulent 1930s train.

"I said to Daisy that she could certainly pull out a lightsaber and toast him where it hurts," Branagh recalls.