Rooney Mara is out and Saoirse Ronan is in for the long-gestating adaptation of Colm Toibin’s novel “Brooklyn,” according to Bleeding Cool, who heard it straight from the horse’s mouth, director John Crowley. But the good news is at least this project is finally moving along again and with a real Irish actress to boot.

Now Ronan will star as Ellis Lacey, a 1950s Irish girl who reluctantly leaves her small village to take a job offer in New York City. There, she begins to adjust and enjoy her new freedom, falling in love along the way. When she’s called back to Ireland suddenly, she meets another man on home soil, and must choose between the two men and the two cities they represent. Nick Hornby adapted the novel for the big screen and Crowley tells BC they want to shoot it next year.

Ronan, who’s been critically acclaimed in smaller films like “Atonement” and “Hanna,” has been linked to one big budget franchise after another lately, with “Fantastic Four” joining “Star Wars: Episode VII” and “The Avengers: Age of Ultron.” Even if none of those work out, she still has an impressive upcoming slate that includes Wes Anderson’s “Grand Budapest Hotel” and Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut “How to Catch a Monster.”