‘I’m very ready to go onto the next stage,’ the actress says.
Warning: Spoilers fromBrooklynlie ahead.
Now, Ronan makes the leap to more mature material with director John Crowleys romantic dramaBrooklyn.
Credit: Kerry Brown
Her performance has generated some early Oscar chatter, but shes not thinking about it too much.
I dont feel pressure, because the film is done, she tells EW.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:Brooklynis a film that you seem to be especially passionate about.
Did that initial fear help you in the process?
Its something that your character experiences, moving away from her family to a new, foreign city.
I think it did in hindsight, but it didnt feel like it at the time.
I was like, Im going to do a terrible job.
Everyone else was brilliant, and I didnt feel like I could keep up.
It definitely took me a minute to find my footing.
Even in that way, when it came to work, it paralleled Eilis.
I could compare everything that I was going through to the story.
Is there a moment that you’re free to pinpoint where you felt you got over that fear?
Where you felt: I have this, I understand my character?
Like Eilis, it was very gradual.
The confidence very slowly grew, and usually it wouldnt take me that long.
Im always quite self deprecating anyway, but I get over it and I get into it.
Ireland threw me a bit.
It was strange being at home, and having Irish people as extras.
It just very much felt like art imitating life, so all the struggles helped with the character too.
It was probably a good thing.
Youve said before that youd been wanting to be a part of an Irish film for some time.
Why is it important to you to tell Irish stories?
Im so proud of where I come from.
Then they brought me back home, and I grew up in this amazing country.
Im proud of the jot down of people we are.
As an industry, I think we lacked confidence.
I thought, Thats not who we are.
Were more than that.
It sounds likeBrooklyncould be a big step for Irish filmmaking.
She doesnt want to end up with the kind of guy that Nancy ends up marrying.
With Colms book, I had read it a couple years before I even knew about the film.
I didnt really go back to it once we started rehearsals because we had this great script.
He passes away, and we dont really go into that in the film.
Plus, Eilis wouldnt have gone to New York in the first place.
She would have stayed in Ireland, if it werent for Rose.
[Rose] was the one who decided [Eilis] was going to go and that was it.
Shes an incredibly strong character.
Even though this is a period film, theres such a contemporary resonance with the strong female characters.
What do you think the film has to say about female independence, then and today?
Shes gone through enough experience of living on her own, just basically surviving in this unknown city.
I think thats an amazing thing to see on screen, and we dont see that very often.
I was so proud of her even in that moment, even as I was playing her.
Theres so many scenes in the boarding house that just consist of women interacting.
You never see something like this on screen.
That doesnt happen in this.
I think its so unusual to see scenes with a group of women just chatting and helping each other.
Theres no spitefulness, theres no backstabbing or anything like that.
Its funny and you want to watch them and you want to know more about them.
Theyre all colorful in their own way.
Its not like one is the cheeky, quirky one, and one is the smart, nerdy one.
Theyre all just great women who bring their own thing to the story.
That said, romance is still an important element of the film.
How did you make this a story about Eilis independent life, while also keeping the romance alive?
[Tony] is the key to her blossoming.
That allows her to really hold herself up high, so the romance is a huge part of it.
Its not everything, and its not just about which dude will she end up with.
They did such a good job, and you want to fall in love with them.
Its very easy to fall in love with both of them.
With this, its not like that.
[Tony and Jim] are sincere and theyre dignified and theyre characters in their own right.
This film has you in a more mature role than weve seen you in before.
Do you want to take on more mature material moving forward?
I was really ready for it around the time ofBrooklyn.
Not in an ego way, but theres no complexity to them all of the sudden.
When youre 20 years old, youre living on your own.
How do you live as opposed to just exist in a place?
Its such an interesting time to document, so where are all these stories?
Im very ready to go onto the next stage.
