Saoirse Ronan ‘In Conversation’ Reveals Acclaimed Actor’s Debt to Her Directors

By Kim Hughes

Leave it to Saoirse Ronan, an actor of towering skill and palpable charm, to turn the inherently awkward, slightly hiccup-y nature of an online In Conversation With… interview segment into something folksy and fun, delivered in an irresistible Irish lilt to boot.

Appearing split-screen opposite Cambridge-based author and chat moderator Anne T. Donahue to promote her new period piece Ammonite, Ronan appeared relaxed and satisfyingly unstyled, which made the conversation feel more like a Zoom chat between friends than a sold-out marquee event at a film festival. Ongoing talk of pets (dog for Ronan, cat for Donahue) abetted the vibe.

Ammonite might have been the ICW’s raison d'être, but Donahue used the opportunity to dive deeper into Ronan’s catalog, often seeking parallels between Ronan’s real-life and those she portrays. Asked off the top to define home, Ronan said, “It’s less a physical location for me. I used to try and find it in a country… and I’ve moved so much that I’ve developed the ability to make a home wherever I am.”

Noting Ronan’s early life in New York before moving back to ancestral Ireland as a child, Donahue asked Ronan to connect the dots between her character Eilis in 2015’s critical and commercial smash Brooklyn and homesickness.

“I was an absolute wreck [on that film],” Ronan admitted. “I was 20 and hormones were pinging all over the place. I had moved to London when I was 19 and I would stay in my flat terrified. I did Brooklyn in the middle of that transition and going back to that neighbourhood (in New York) I hadn’t been there in years.

“I think what made it overwhelming was a meeting of two worlds. My acting was really starting [to become established] and the story was so important to so many people and I just felt that I had to get it right. I felt a bit paralyzed by the camera which I had never had before. But it ended up being such a special film for me and it gets to me in a way that no other film has. So many Irish immigrants have gone through that experience, including my mom and dad.”

Next up was talk of the 2017’s universally fêted Lady Bird, and it was here Ronan’s perception of her directors — or more specifically, her director’s relationship to the character Ronan was playing — came into view in a way that seemed illuminating even to Ronan.

To effectively play a part, Ronan said, “I think you just have to have a really good sense who the individual is. With Eilis (in Brooklyn) she’s very guarded and conservative being an Irish woman from the country in the 50s. Lady Bird was more brash. In both cases I had a director really connected to the characters in their own way.

“John Crowley (Brooklyn) is from Cork. Greta (Gerwig, Lady Bird director) is just a big Lady Bird. I was already so influenced by her and so I think I knew already that that’s what Lady Bird needed. I am very influenced by the directors and they must be connected to those characters because otherwise, why would they do [the movie]?”

Lady Bird and Little Women co-star Timothée Chalamet also got a quick but affectionate mention. “I always knew he was very special and magnetic as an actor even though we are very different as performers. We have always felt very comfortable around each other. Plus, he’s American but European as well so it was nice to have someone like that around. I hope to work with him more in future.”

When talk finally turned to Ammonite — which, curiously, moderator Donahue admitted to not yet having seen — Ronan stressed the personal rather than the story arc. “Kate (Winslet) and I got on straight away and a big part of that is her. She is very personable.

“One of the good things about the awards circuits is you meet wonderful people amid the madness. I had met Kate this way. Prior to the movie, we had talked a bit on the phone — I was doing Little Women at the time — and we were lucky we just got on straight away. Two women getting to come together, and being able to choreograph the intimate scenes ourselves was great.”