Saoirse Ronan Reveals Axed ‘Barbie’ Cameo & How She Helped Deliver Seven Lambs Filming ‘The Outrun’
Saoirse Ronan, in an interview, shed some light on her recent movie “The Outrun”, a film adaptation of author Amy Liptrot’s memoir. She revealed that she was introduced to the book by co-producer Jack Lowden and instantly fell in love with Amy’s writing. The movie portrays the struggle of addiction and the beauty that can come out of healing. Saoirse talked about the differences in preparing for a modern-day role compared to a period piece and the challenges of playing a character struggling with alcoholism. She also discussed the importance of music in the movie, revealing that she used her personal music to enhance her performance. Additionally, she shared her love for dancing and the freedom she feels when she gets to dance on screen. Saoirse also mentioned the fascinating nature facts she learned while shooting the movie and the enjoyment she felt learning about sales. Overall, Saoirse’s insights into the making of “The Outrun” provide a deeper understanding of the personal and artistic journey involved in bringing Amy Liptrot’s story to the big screen.
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You actually that was real you actually did help yes that was all real I delivered seven Lamps premiere of your movie was last night what was it like watching it with an audience yeah it was absolutely terrifying it was really nerve-wracking um to see it with an audience we’d had our cast and crow about two weeks before that which was lovely um because
Everyone really wanted it to be great but obviously when you take it to a festival um anything anything kind of goes so uh it’s so personal to so many people uh who worked on it in front of the camera and behind and of course fry
Lip Trot who it’s about so uh I’m really glad it went well and um this movie is based on Amy’s Memoir how did the project land on your radar did you find the book first did you did you get the movie script yes we found the book first
Um the rights had already been bought by Sarah brocklehurst who we ended up co-producing the film with and it was introduced to me through jack Lowden who also produced it um who’s a very proud Scotsman and had been to the artney islands a couple years before that and
Had completely fallen in love with the place and the people and the culture and when he goes to a new place he tends to read a novel or something from that place um and that’s when he discovered the out run and so we were in lockdown a
Few years ago and he said this is the book you need to read Because this is the role you need to play um and so I instantly read it and just really fell in love with Amy’s writing and how she C captured the struggle of addiction regardless of whether it’s something
You’re going through or something that you’re watching someone you love go through and the pain of that but also the the sort of beauty that can come out of um healing from it I suppose and this is a more modern role than we’re used to seeing you in is your prep different
When you are taking on a project that’s set a little more modern day that’s a good question um yeah I think it is from an exterior point of view or from a sort of external point of view should I say um when you’re doing something that’s
Like set in the second world war you’re more likely to do some kind of in-depth Research into the time period and you kind of need to pay attention to um I don’t know just etiquette I suppose social etiquette how people held themselves how they communicated how intimate they were with one another
Physically things like that um whereas when it’s modern of course you don’t have to think about any of that stuff at all so there’s a real Freedom with that you know cuz you can just focus on the performance and your character has a Scottish accent so what are some of is
Yeah what I was wondering what are some of the nuances or differences from your Irish accent uh well so I’ve done a fully Scottish accent before um which I would love to redo because I didn’t I I live half of my time up in Scotland so now um
So I I’m more sort of in shune with the with the with the accent and the different sounds depending on where you go um so I wish I could do that again but I guess what’s the difference um I would say in general Irish people are
Probably a bit louder than Scots um I think their accent is the Irish accent is a lot more round and it’s very very muscular um Scottish is a little bit like they keep everything a bit like a bit flatter I’d say yeah I’d say that’s the main
Difference um and what was it like to develop such a personal story with the the person who the story is about um very intimidating really and uh I don’t know you just feel like there’s an awful lot of responsibility on your shoulders especially with a story like
This which is not only her life but it’s a very very intense traumatic part of her life and we delve into her relationships with her family with her friends some of whom she lost along the way um so it was a very vulnerable place for Amy to put herself in initially and
So for me to protect that well also still authentically um you know showcasing her her life what she went through it’s difficult to find that balance I guess initially um but you know then it sort of starts to become yours as well and it’s in your bones
After a while and um what was it like um in the flashback sequences where she is you we see her struggle with alcoholism capturing that on screen and maybe approaching it with sensitivity but also playing someone who is intoxicated yeah it was really difficult yeah there
Were times where uh I found it very upsetting um it was hard to shake it off it was hard for the crew but it was also quite cathartic so and any any uh challenges or anything you channeled before those sequences when you were having to play Drunk music physicality work that I’d
Done beforehand on how she was going to move um um how sort of centered she was in a certain scene where she was drunk or how uh wooy she was you know I’d sort of make that decision beforehand just so I had something to hold on to so yeah
And music feels like a big part of the overall structure of the story um what was your interpretation of how music helped enhance the movie um uh what was my interpretation of it I mean music for me is always important and I feel like uh Amy is a
Real music lover you know we we didn’t include this in the character of Rona but uh Amy was like a music journalist as well and she spent a lot of time in like the underground music scene in London um so that’s a real sort of
Passion of hers it is of mine as well um so I think it was always going to sort of play a vital role in the movie um we were still sort of figuring out what the sound was while we were shooting so there were certain scenes where I just
Really needed my own personal music to be played like things that really uh sort of resonated with me um but yeah music’s always important to me so any songs in particular you remember going back to I mean this might be surprising but Renaissance had just come out so it
Was actually a lot of Renaissance which I think is a perfect album love that um there are a lot of nature facts in the movie was there were there any little tidbits that stuck out to you that you remember um yeah what was it like we
Have 50% of the same DNA as jellyfish or 60% or something that’s kind of wild um my fascination with sales just went to a whole new level while I was making the out run yeah nature played a big role in the movie um and your character also has
A lot of these cathartic dance sequences what I was wondering what was that like for you to film H it was great really fun I love dancing um you know I I feel like I I have a real Freedom whenever I have the excuse of a camera
Being there and I have to give all of myself over to it so I’m very uninhibited um when I get to dance in a saying even if I look ridiculous so yeah and your your character goes through a lot of hair color changes were you actually dying your hair were you
Wearing wigs no we we didn’t have the money for wigs we had Cat Morgan who did the hair and makeup found this like clay um I have to figure out what the what the brand is it was quite amazing so we didn’t spray painted or anything it was
This clay that she would put on my hair every morning um because sometimes times we were doing so many scenes in a day we’d go from like a blue hair scene to an orange hair scene to a blue tip scene um and you could just wash it right out
And change it to a different color so it was quite amazing did you have a favorite color that you felt like captured your energy the most captured my me as sersa um I actually loved the orange I really love the orange I just Fel felt it was so vibrant and fun and
Um that’s when she’s sort of at her most alive so yeah I love that um do you think that it would be more terrifying in real life to help a lamb give birth like you do in this movie or uh jump out of a moving car like your character does in
Ladybird well the only thing I’ve done for real is deliver a lamb um and that was very terrifying because I didn’t know if like I was going to kill the lamb when I was trying to pull him out or or you know they’re also they’ve got
A lot of like goo in their Airwaves when they come out so you’ve got to get hay and stick it up their nose so they sneeze it out and you’ve got to rub them really aggressively to just like get the air moving through them and if you don’t
Do that they’ll die so I think that’s scarier you actually that was real you actually did help yes that was all real I delivered seven Lambs yeah where where were you finding the Lambs what do you mean like um the timing had to work out right for the
Lambs to be giving birth when you were ready to shoot yeah so uh lamming season takes place at a certain time every year so in Scotland on the mainland it’s earlier it’s I think usually like February or March but in Arney because it’s further north it’s it’s later so
It’s around April so we knew it was going to happen in April um and I had just finished a movie in Australia and I flew straight to orne and we would get to the farm for about 4:30 a.m. um we did it for about three or four days and
I don’t know how explicit you want me to get but you would know which use were pregnant like the farmers would know and there was some stuff going on you know at the back that would uh that would make it very clear that they were basically when their Waters would break
It was very obvious um so you knew then that that uu was probably going to go into labor in the next like hour so you’d have to pinpoint the U in a pen of like maybe 40 sheep and tackle it which is really difficult um cuz they’re
Really strong and they don’t want to be caught and then you’ve got to you know it’s everything that I do in the movie it’s all one take so I’ll put my leg on the U and make sure that she’s calm and stick your hand up her and pull her lamb
Out that’s what I did so seven times was there any hesitation or were you like yes I’m I’m ready to do this on camera I I was totally up for doing it but I was really scared I’d never done anything like that before I grew up in the
Country but like I did not grow up on a farm and to see kids that have it’s it’s like there’s just such a nonchalantness to it and you know it’s just what they do every day some of the Lambs live some of them die you know
It’s life um so it was it was very humbling to start our movie like that and that was the first thing we shot so wow yeah it’s crazy um well speaking of Lady Bird Greta gerwick has said recently that she would love to revisit your character in a sequel I don’t know
If that’s something you talked about with her but uh does that interest you what do you think that ladybird would be doing now I mean she’s based on Greta so like does she make Barbie I don’t know um I remember we did discuss it when we
Were making the film that we’d love to revisit it I didn’t I’ve heard this that she started talking about that so yeah I mean obviously I’ll do everything with her for as long as she’ll have me and um Timothy sham said that you and he were supposed to have cameos in the Barbie
Movie and so did you ever figure out what maybe you guys would have been playing if you were your schedules worked out I don’t know what he was going to be but I was definitely going to be a weird Barbie I don’t know how to take that you
Know um I mean I would have been with Kate McKinnon so that would have been nice but yeah I worked with jacqulyn Duren the costume designer after they’d made it and I was like who was I going to be anyway cuz I had a scene but
Didn’t ever get to do it and it wasn’t in the movie what I was going to do and she was like oh obviously you were going to be a really weird Barbie search what was the scene that didn’t end up making the movie I can’t even
Remember now but it was weird what would the intricacies of your weird Barbie be if you were to have to bring that to life I think I’d always I’d be like the very strange girl that talked to herself and always had her pet dog with her all
The time and she just talked to the dog and wouldn’t like look at anyone I think that’s probably what I’d be what kind of dog probably my kind of dog which is a a petite Basset Griffon Von Dion she’s a Hound love that yeah she’s not as pretentious as she
Sounds um the last question I have for you is our uh studio is sponsored by Audible and so we’re asking everybody just with the way that um the mediums of Storytelling are changing what do you see as the future of audio entertainment you know what the thing is
With audio entertainment like I I love radio more than anything else um and I actually don’t think it will ever drastically change change and that’s what I really love about audio there’s only so far you can go with it um I don’t know how else it can change and I
Really love that like I I love I’ve only started getting into audio books recently but I’ve been listening to all the Harry Potters on super long drives that I do and you know when I’m driving into work in the morning I’ll I’ll put a book on and that’s been really great so
That’s actually quite a new thing for me but yeah what I like about it is there’s sort of like there’s a purity to audio entertainment that we can we’ve always like been able to rely on you know great well thank you so much it was so great to have you here thanks
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Video “Saoirse Ronan Reveals Axed ‘Barbie’ Cameo & How She Helped Deliver Seven Lambs Filming ‘The Outrun’” was uploaded on 01/21/2024 to Youtube Channel Variety