TIFF Recap: In Conversation with Saoirse Ronan
BY SCOTTIE KNOLLIN
It seems each generation has a budding child star that captivates audiences and bounds to a successful career. For Irish-American actress Saoirse Ronan, that trajectory includes an Oscar nomination at the age of 13, leading roles in celebrated independent and studio features, and a reputation for being just as driven and kind as many of the protagonists she’s become known for playing.
As part of the ongoing In Conversation With series of this year’s mostly-virtual Toronto International Film Festival, Ronan chatted with Canadian writer and comedian Anne T. Donahue about career highlights and what it’s been like to grow as an actress in front of everyone’s eyes.
Ronan was born in New York, but grew up in Ireland, which is why you may recognize an accent accompanying her charm. Being an actress who is constantly on the move, Donahue’s first question opened the door for Ronan to set the stage for explaining a recurring theme in her career: finding home. “I think it’s less of a physical location for me and I think that’s kind of always been the case. I think I used to try and find it in a country or a place, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized there’s a few core people that are home for me.”
Though she made her acting debut in 2003 in the Irish medical drama series “The Clinic,” Ronan’s breakthrough came in Joe Wright’s “Atonement.” Her performance as the young Briony Tallis earned Ronan a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She’s followed that with three Oscar nominations for Best Actress for her work in 2015’s “Brooklyn,” 2017’s “Lady Bird,” and last year’s “Little Women.”
Donahue also led the conversation to explore what inspired Ronan to get into acting. The actress said it was watching her father, a professional actor, hustle throughout his adult life for his next role while also embracing the real-life ‘character’ she finds in her mother. She also nods to the fact that, for her, she chose to seek out acting as a childhood hobby rather than a specific career goal. “I wasn’t conscious of careers or vocations or anything like that at the age I started at.” She later shared how being surrounded by artists and actors while her family was based in New York that really introduced her to the world of storytelling. “I was surrounded by these people that were essentially like big kids and encouraged me to be expressive as a child.”
Like with any good retrospective piece, Donahue took the opportunity to dig deeper into how Ronan has become such a consistent and balanced actor. When discussing “Atonement,” Ronan said it was an experience where she recognized she didn’t have the mental capacity to fully understand the weight of everything happening in that film, but that that unbiased and genuine headspace is what she continues trying to channel as she explores new roles.
When taking a look at “Brooklyn,” Ronan returns to sharing her feelings about home and how it’s changed over the years. “I was an absolute wreck [while filming “Brooklyn”],” she said. “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 neighborhood I hadn’t been there in years.”
She continued, “I think what made it overwhelming was a meeting two worlds. My acting was really starting 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 me in a way that no other film has. So many Irish immigrants have gone through that experience, including my mom and dad.”
At this year’s TIFF, Ronan has earned rave reviews alongside costar Kate Winslet for the cold drama “Ammonite” from director Francis Lee. Like in her definition of home, Ronan expressed that much of her success in acting is finding people with whom she can be vulnerable and personable. Should Ronan earn an Oscar nomination for the film, she would be one of the youngest, if not the youngest, people to be nominated for 5 Academy Awards.
“Ammonite” is scheduled to be release in the United States on November 11, 2020. Ronan is also a member of the ensemble cast of Wes Anderson’s upcoming film, “The French Dispatch,” co-starring frequent collaborator Timothee Chalamet.
