At 21, Saoirse Ronan already has the sort of enviable career many actors spend decades trying to achieve. Her first major role, in Atonement, earned her an Oscar nomination when she was only 13 years old. Instead of going down a perilous child-actor path, Ronan went on to build an impressive body of work, collaborating alongside directors like Peter Jackson and Wes Anderson, and next year she’s even tackling Chekhov in the upcoming film adaptation of The Seagull.
Yet one could argue her latest film, Brooklyn, based on the Colm Tóibín novel of the same name, will reintroduce audiences to a decidedly grown-up Saoirse Ronan. (In case you’re wondering, her name is pronounced Seer-sha, like inertia.) Directed by John Crowley, Brooklyn tells the story of Eilis, a young Irish woman who immigrates to New York in the ’50s. At first, Eilis struggles to adapt to a life in America, but that all changes after she falls in love with a young Italian boy (played by the charming Emory Cohen), and later is torn between staying in her newfound home or returning to the country she once pined for so deeply.
Ronan shares a very similar story to her on-screen character. She was born in New York to immigrant parents, who moved to the United States after a major recession hit Ireland in the ’80s. Her family eventually returned when Ronan was 3 years old, and despite growing up there, the actress always felt a strong connection to her birthplace. “To read something like this that is made up of the two places that essentially are in my DNA, it just felt perfect,” Ronan explained by phone from Los Angeles this week. “Brooklyn [and I] had both kind of been waiting for each other.”
When she was 19, Ronan decided to move to London by herself. And while she had the benefit of Skype and email to keep in touch, Ronan still felt deeply homesick during her time in England. “I really missed the people. I think we actually take for granted how friendly we are,” she said. “I also missed my mammy’s food.” A few months into her newfound independence, she started filming Brooklyn and was surprised at how much Eilis’s journey mirrored her own offscreen coming-of-age. “I had never had that before, where emotionally I was in the same place as somebody I was playing,” she said. “I guess it just kind of meant that there was nowhere to hide, so that made it all the more terrifying to do.”
Ronan had always planned for London to be a stepping-stone before moving to her dream city. “For me, I always wanted to end up in New York,” she said. “I had such a strong connection to the city straightaway. I instantly connected with it and loved it and got so much of a buzz from when I visited, and even still do.” She will finally be moving to the West Village in January, and the following month she’ll begin rehearsing for her Broadway debut as Abigail Williams in The Crucible. “I’m petrified,” she said with a nervous laugh. As of now, the Arthur Miller revival has a number of high-profile names attached to it: Scott Rudin is producing, Ben Whishaw and Sophie Okonedo will play John and Elizabeth Proctor, Tavi Gevinson will take on the role of Mary Warren, and Philip Glass will provide the score.
While Ronan has almost 20 movies under her belt, Brooklyn is the first one in which she had the chance to speak in an Irish accent. Although, as she explains, her Dublin one is different from “the more country accent” she used for Eilis. “I actually find that accents really help me to get into the mind-set of the character,” she said. “It’s the very first thing I think about when I take on a role. I’m already thinking about what [Abigail’s] voice should sound like.” As of now, she has no idea what she’s going to sound like onstage, so she’s thinking of watching the 1996 film adaptation of The Crucible, starring Winona Ryder and Daniel Day-Lewis, for some pointers. “I would hate to just do a modern American,” she added, before seamlessly transitioning into California-girl uptalk: “I’m a witch . . . Shut up!”
Brooklyn, which first premiered at Sundance to rave reviews, has already attracted Oscar buzz, most of which is focused on Ronan’s performance. “I grew up an awful lot. I could actually see it happening,” she said. “To have to completely rely on yourself and be self-dependent is the only way you’ll ever truly let go of childhood. It’s scary and it feels like shit and I hate being a grown-up most days,” Ronan continued, “but it’s almost like your body needs to go into shock for a while in order for you to overcome it and change from it.”
So what does Ronan make of all the talk of a potential Oscar nomination this time around? “I’m not going to lie, it really means a lot, because the film means so much to me,” she said. “I’ve been working for the last 10, 11 years. My approach to work means so much more now.” The significance of attending the Oscars has also changed for her. Back in 2007, the then-preteen was unfazed by the whole experience. Instead of remembering red carpets and movie stars, Ronan best recalls how hungry she was by the ceremony’s end. “I sat there for three hours and nobody fed us!” she laughed. “Jon Stewart came around with a big bucket of licorice and he fed everyone at the interval. It was probably the best part of the Oscars.”