Saoirse Ronan’s Breakout Is Finally Happening

Saoirse Ronan speaks with a lovely lullaby accent and is up for talking about pretty much anything — how she used to think L.A. was “kind of shit,” how she doesn’t want to play the teenager who hasn’t been kissed or lost her virginity because she’s past those points in her life, and how “In America” is one of her favorite films.

But what she wants to talk about most is being Irish. Ronan had two films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, including “Brooklyn.” In the romance, she plays a young Irish immigrant who journeys to New York in the 1950s in search of a brighter future. Ronan’s character navigates her first love, homesickness and learning to fit in when she is very much an outsider. A sudden return to Ireland briefly sets her whole plan off track. The film garnered so much attention at the festival that it became one of this year’s top purchases — Fox Searchlight bought it for $9 million.

“I was waiting for the right Irish project to come along with the right Irish character,” she told HuffPost Entertainment in Park City. “I didn’t want it to be the stereotypical Irish film. I’ve been offered a few of those and I haven’t felt like they were special enough.”

“I’ve always relied on my instinct pretty heavily. The director is incredibly important. They need to be clear about what they want. I started acting when I was young and even though I was lucky with the people I worked with, and they treated me with a lot of respect and as an equal, I was still the kid.”

But just like her character in “Brooklyn,” Ronan has grown out of the 13-year-old we saw in “Atonement” and left home for greater life roles. She hopes to move to New York one day, as it’s both a big part of her identity and “an inevitable destination.”

“I couldn’t ever go back to just being at home now. It’s different. I’ve changed and had my own experiences.”

The Huffington Post