Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Rising Stars: Saoirse Ronan

"Be the person I'm playing. That's what acting is. You're pretending to be someone else."

I noticed I haven't written anything in this feature for a while. Also as with Performances I Love it seems to be dominated by women. I don't even know why that is and I will try to change it soon, but not just yet. Saoirse Ronan seems to be involved in a lot of projects nowadays and the new trailers for Byzantium and Violet and Daisy were released recently, so she is the star of today's post.

Saoirse Una Ronan was born on April 12th 1994 to  parents Paul and Monica Ronan in New York City. Although she was born in the United States, Saoirse moved to Ardattin, Ireland with her parents when she was 3 years old. Her father, Paul Ronan, is an actor in his own right, starring in films like The Devil's Own with Brad Pitt. As a baby, Saoirse accompanied her father to the set of that movie and was carried and held by Pitt.
Her first name is Irish and means "freedom". Her last name means "little seal". Saoirse seems like a normal girl, despite her success - she has a border collie dog named Sassy and she loves to play Farmville. She is currently homeschooled but she plans on pursuing her love for film and study it in the future as well as direct movies.

Saoirse posses very unique, natural kind of beauty. Her blue, pale eyes are mesmerizing. Most of her photoshoots are some of the best I have ever seen as she is usually surrounded by Celtic elements, grass, flowers and nature that seems to amplify her pure charm.
Her breakthrough role was in Atonement where she was as good as more experienced and older actors in the film. She was barely thirteen there yet she brought so much complexity to her role and even though her screen time wasn't that long, she was extremely memorable. Ronan received Oscar nomination for her work, making her one of the youngest Oscar nominees in history.

Her another big role was in disappointing The Lovely Bones but she was so good it nearly rescued the movie. Without her and excellent Stanley Tucci I'm pretty sure it would be unwatchable.

She also appeared in Peter Wieir's The Way Back and Joe Wright's thriller Hanna where she was very convincing as a teenage killing machine. Saoirse has this way of bringing subtlety to her roles, no matter who she is playing and even though Hanna was dangerous and deadly, you could still see innocent girl beneath all of that.
I think Saoirse panicked a little which led her to star in The Host, based on the novel by Stephanie Meyer, the same one who brought us Twilight. Perhaps she felt she needed a big, popular movie. I don't know how well The Host is doing and if it's performance in box office will guarantee sequels but it seems not to be doing as well as everyone involved hoped.

Fortunately, Saoirse has a bunch of diverse projects in the future. In June we will see her as a vampire in Neil Jordan's Byzantium.  Then there is Violet & Daisy, where she and Alexis Bledel play young assassins. The movie is waiting for theatrical release.

We will see her in new Wes Anderson movie The Grand Budapest Hotel opposite Ralph Fiennes, Adrien Brody and Tilda Swinton and in Ryan Gosling's How to Catch a Monster. I'm not sure Mary Queen of Scots movie is still happening but I'd love to see Saoirse in the lead role.

From the top: Violet & Daisy, Byzantium, The Way Back, The Host, Hanna, The Lovely Bones, Atonement
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40 comments:

  1. She's great.. except in The Host but that's more to do with the movie than her. Plus, she looks super good next to Alexis Bledel on that picture with the pizzas - a bit creepy for some reason but maybe it's because of the nuns in the AHS.

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    1. I still have to see this one, I'm sure it sucks but maybe the cast rescues it at least a little.

      The movie seems quite fun, but I'll probably wait for the DVD to see that, the pairing of these two is really awesome.

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  2. Wise choice. I'm definitely on the Ronan train, especially after enjoying Hanna so much. While I'll be skipping The Host, it sounds like there are a lot of great roles for her in the future. She's a star on the rise for sure!

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    1. I loved Hanna, such a great and underrated movie. I hope Saoirse keeps starring in awesome projects.

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  3. I absolutely love her. She's become one of those actors I will watch in anything *cough*The Host*cough*. But seriously, she was good in even that.

    So effing excited for her Wes Anderson and Ryan Gosling projects. I want to see what her acting opposite Matt Smith is like.

    Also she is gorgeous.

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    1. I haven't seen The Host yet but I'm sure Saoirse didn't embarrass herself. Well, more so than actually being in it.

      Her and Hendricks in Gosling's movie is so inspired, I really can't wait for this one.

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  4. I love this girl! Ronan and Fanning (Elle) are the two greatest things to happen to film in a long time!

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    1. Absolutely, Fanning is wonderful too. I'd love for them to do a movie together.

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  5. She's definitely one of the most promising young actresses working today. I've been impressed w/ her since Atonement.

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    1. Yes, she is so talented! Hopefully she won't do more things like The Host :)

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  6. LOVE Saoirse Ronan. (Love her name too, it's so pretty) I'm hoping she got paid a ton of money for The Host, because I can't see any other reason an actress of her caliber would be in it. She's so great with accents too.

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    1. Yes, her name is lovely, even though I'm still not quite sure how to pronounce it :)

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  7. I love her in Hanna, she just kicked a lot of ass in that film. She's definitely going to be a star in the rise in the future and I've liked what I've seen her in so far. She and Tucci were the only things in The Lovely Bones that were any good as the rest of the film was just fuckin' crap!

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    1. TLB was so misguided. Just awful movie. They couldn't even find consistent tone for the whole film.

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    2. I blame Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson for that debacle. They made it into such a mess that it was practically unwatchable. If the project was still in the hands of Lynne Ramsay, it would've been a better film but no... they took it away from her and we fans had to wait 9 years for her to return with We Need to Talk About Kevin.

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    3. Oh Ramsay was originally going to do this? I bet it would be awesome then.

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  8. Excellent post!

    She has been a quiet force in everything I've seen her in (with those piercing eyes!) and I always come away impressed. A child star no doubt, but in a very nontraditional way.

    I expect a very eclectic career from her. Hopefully she continues to do interesting projects.

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    1. Thank you!

      Yes, she has certain maturity to her, even when she was in Atonement when she was so young there was something hiding behind those eyes.

      I hope she will continue to land good roles, she is talented and there are not many young actresses with such charisma.

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  9. I love her too. Definitely a rising star.

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    1. I hope her movies will get at least some attention, Byzantium and Violet & Daisy don't exactly look like crowd sweepers.

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  10. Not sure if it's already been mentioned, but The Host got a much-needed pummeling at the box office so the possibility of any sequels to that absolute disaster is next to null. I've liked her in most everything else she's ever done though, so I won't hold it against her. Glad to see her getting some love :)

    Also, it's pronouced "Seer-Sha" apparently, or at least that's close enough for her to not correct the interviewer in the clip I saw

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    1. Yeah I noticed some arguments on imdb whether it actually got back its budget, so it's never a good sign when people have to argue about it :)

      Woah, that's....surprising ^^ I'll try to remember that, it sounds quite pretty.

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  11. I hear The Host was a pretty big mistake! She was great in Hannah and I'm really looking forward to Byzantium. She definitely has the potential to be a mega-star one day!

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    1. Yeah, that's what I hear too, what a shocker :P

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  12. Nice spotlight, I know she blew my socks off in Hanna. Great actress and I had hoped that she would have landed the Carrie role.

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    1. Oh, she would be amazing as Carrie! MUCH better choice than Moretz.

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  13. It was amazing to watch her steal the show right out from under everyone in Atonement.

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    1. Yes, she was amazing as Briony! Such a great performance.

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  14. Great piece! I've only seen her in a couple of things but I've been really impressed with her. Definitely one to watch!

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    1. Thank you! She is always so good, I bet she even managed to be great in The Host.

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  15. Love her as well. She's been great in the few films she's done so far, and she has several interesting projects coming out. I'll even see The Host because she's in it.

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    1. Yeah me too, I'm just postponing the viewing of this one :)

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  16. She's great and definitely looking forward to seeing her with fangs in Byzantium!

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    1. Yeah, it looks cool! I love all the stills I've seen from the movie so far.

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  17. I love her, for the reasons you mentioned. I definitely love her eyes and yes she's very unique. I think she did a bit of a mistake by taking the lead in The Host, she might be the best for the role but she could NOT took it, ahah. Great post!

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    1. I agree, The Host just seems like such a waste of talent, I hope at least she was payed well :) Thank you!

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  18. Excellent post! Saoirse can do no wrong. She had one sell-out, but hell. They've all got to have one. And it's honestly amazing she's made it so far without one. I'm glad to see she's got better, brighter things in the future! Definitely keeping an eye on this one's career.

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    1. Thank you! I agree, I still respect her. I'd probably do some crappy movie for money if I were her too :)

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  19. Nice post, Sati :D I've only seen her in Atonement, but that was two or three years ago and I gave up on that because I was bored... I'll have to give it another go. The cast's awesome. I'm going to have to watch one of her movies in its entirety soon... I think I have The Way Back recorded... Anyway, she seems awesome :D Byzantium looks great!

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    1. Thank you! Oh, Atonement definitely deserves another shot!

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