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Join Telegram ChannelShe started as a child on the sets. Played for Greta Gerwig, Wes Anderson, Peter Jackson and Joe Wright… She shines this month in The Outrun. Saoirse Ronan looks back on her roles as free and modern women.
Saoirse Ronan is once again astonishing in The Outrunby Nora Fingscheidt (Benni). We met the Irish actress, just thirty years old, so that she could tell us about the notable films of her already busy career.
The Outrun: masterful Saoirse Ronan [critique]
Come back to me BY JOE WRIGHT (2008)
The role of emergence. That of an aspiring novelist who, at the age of 13, through a lie wrongly accusing her older sister's lover of a crime, causes a tsunami in the lives of those around her. The actress' first Oscar nomination in a supporting role.
“The first image that comes back to me is that of this very hot summer in the heart of the English countryside where I was the only child among adults. Something idyllic. A dream summer camp where everything you live is multiplied to the point that once filming was over, I had a little depression because I was afraid of never seeing again these people with whom I had spent these wonderful weeks. Obviously, I didn't know what to do. that moment that I would shoot again with Joe and there was a real violence in experiencing for the first time this abrupt transition between my passion for a character and the return to normal life As if you were suddenly awakened from a. dream without knowing if one day you would be given the chance to relive another one.”
Lovely Bones BY PETER JACKSON (2010)
She finds her first major role in this adaptation of The Nostalgia of the Angel by Alice Sebold, that of a murdered young girl who, from beyond, monitors the progress of the investigation and the absolute dismay of his parents. Happy with this collaboration, Jackson asked him to play an Elf in The Hobbitwhich she will decline to find Joe Wright in Hannah in 2011.
“Here too, I remember the locations. We started filming in Pennsylvania before leaving for New Zealand where we spent more than five months. Peter felt freer there because he was filming in his own studios. I immediately understood the importance he had when I arrived there. People adored him because he had changed the country's place on the world cinema map with The Lord of the Rings. had in their eyes as much love as respect. His strength on. Lovely Boneswhile he brought together a lot of stars in the casting, is to have placed everyone in the same boat. There was not one lodge car bigger than another. No diva behavior was accepted. I recommend the Peter Jackson school to any beginner!”
Come Back to Me is a brilliant work populated by fantastic actors
The Grand Budapest Hotel BY WES ANDERSON (2014)
In this twisty story, the actress plays an apprentice baker, fiancée of the bellhop who will become the owner of a rococo palace during the interwar period. The first of his two films with Wes Anderson, before The French Dispatch (2021).
“It's the only time to date that from the first version of the script that I read to the finished film, not a single comma has changed! How can we better tell the story of this genius of precision that is Wes Anderson? Working with him, it's joining a family where, in such a specific setting, you feel incredibly free. You only need to shoot once with him to become addicted because you won't experience that on any other set. a green screen shoot All the sets were built and painted by hand, as an actor you just have to immerse yourself in the fantasy created by Wes and think about nothing other than your performance. and that of your partners because everything else is under control And like with Peter. [Jackson]the collective takes precedence. We all stay in the same hotel and in the evening, we all have dinner together. It's a cocoon like no other.”
Lost River BY RYAN GOSLING (2015)
With Eva Mendes and Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan forms the female trio
star of the only film directed to date by Ryan Gosling. Although selected
in Cannes, this chronicle of the ravages of the economic crisis on cities
American industrial companies will not find its audience.
“I first met Ryan when I was just 14, when he was
question he plays in Lovely Bones. At that time, I admit that I didn't know him well because I hadn't seen Never Forget and Half Nelson. But we got hooked right away. And when I found him again five years later, it was as if we were resuming a conversation that had never been interrupted. On set, the Lost River scenario evolved a lot over the course of improvisations. Ryan had a very concrete idea of the whole artistic aspect of the film. But he wanted our characters to start from us more than from the script. I had never worked like this. As an actor himself, he has complete trust in those he has brought together in front of his camera. Whereas I know plenty of filmmakers who, uncomfortable with actors, are afraid to give them such space.”
Ryan Gosling: “I wanted Lost River to be a trip in itself”
Brooklyn BY JOHN CROWLEY (2016)
She reached a new milestone with this adaptation of a novel by the Irishman Colm Toibin, which earned her her first Oscar nomination for best actress.
“I don't think I've ever made a film that's so personal to me. Because my parents fled recession-hit Ireland in the '80s and entered the United States illegally, where they lived without papers. It's the first time I was given a leading role in years Because for a whole period, the industry didn't know what to do with someone as young as me. But as soon as I read the script, I. I knew how to play this character, born twenty minutes from the place where I grew up. Once committed, I thought I would experience the most peaceful shoot of my entire career. I have never experienced anything so difficult and frustrating. However, I am not one of those actors for whom the acting process involves suffering. But this film marked a break with my years as a child actress where it was. There was a lot of unconsciousness, even though I was doing my job very seriously. I was struck by a realization because I had the impression of bearing a great responsibility towards these Irish immigrants that my character had. represented on the screen. The first two weeks were a nightmare. We could do up to eleven takes per scene. I thought John thought I was worthless. And then I ended up understanding that he was just adding nuances here and there so that I was exactly the character he had in mind.”
Lady Bird BY GRETA GERWIG (2018)
A second Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe reward his composition as a teenager dreaming of escaping his social condition in Greta Gerwig's first solo feature film. She will meet the filmmaker to The Daughters of Doctor March (2020), her third Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
“I had a somewhat special audition. I presented Brooklyn at the Toronto and Greta festival, 20th Century Women by Mike Mills. Greta is a great admirer of Irish literature, including Colm Toibin. This is undoubtedly what made him want to see Brooklyn then to meet me. I remember my immense anxiety during our meeting. I wanted to impress him so badly. We read the script from the first to the last line. I knew it was a comedy, a genre I had never explored. So I was obsessed with the idea of being funny. And I really felt like I wasn't living up to what she had written. Besides, when she hired me, I thought I was going to ruin this wonderful scenario. I can't thank Greta enough, like John, for believing in me enough to push me to my limits.”
From Frances Ha to Barbie, a look back at the irresistible rise of Greta Gerwig
The Outrun BY NORA FINGSCHEIDT (2024)
She went into production for the first time with this portrait of a thirty-year-old trying to cure her addictions, which won her the performance prize at the Nouvelles Vagues festival in Biarritz.
“It was my partner Jack Lowden who introduced me to this book by Amy Liptrot during confinement, assuring me that it was my next role! I had the same love at first sight as him. Once the rights were acquired, we started looking for someone who could adapt it. The trap was to take the easy route by looking for someone who had already made a film in the same spirit. can't lock up The Outrun in a box. This complexity has also frightened many. Nora's name arose because we liked Bennihis first fiction film (it comes from documentary). When we met her, she offered us a vision of the film that no one had presented to us until then. She wanted to approach it like a documentary about the main character, with as much improvisation as possible. We decided to trust him and build the film day by day. Producing it didn't change anything in my work as an actress. It just allowed me to nourish my game with the overall knowledge I had of the project. As for my relationship with the director, it remained the same. I let her guide me where she wanted me to go.”
Saoirse Ronan could have played an Elf in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit