In case you missed it, Saoirse received her 2nd Academy Award nomination yesterday for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. (with Brooklyn also picking up Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay nods) Here are her reactions from the press and her official statement:
“When we made Brooklyn, we had no idea of what was to come. It is the most personal film I have ever done, the hardest one too. I am honoured to represent this film with my friends – John, Nick, Finola, Yves, Colm, Amanda. This has all been a dream. To see how the film has been embraced has been heartwarming. Thank you so very much to The Academy – you are a group of people I respect greatly and to be recognized by you means so much.”
From Independent.ie:
Speaking to RTE Ten on Thursday night, following the nominations announcement, she said she had just moved in to her new apartment in New York. “It was my first night in this apartment and I was still kind of getting used to the New York traffic so I had my hear plugs in my ears and I actually had the best night’s sleep I’ve had in days because I was a bit jet-lagged,” she said. “I was finally getting to sleep, I was in a really deep sleep which was weird considering what was going on today, and about 8 o’clock, half eight, mam ran in and all I could hear was, ‘We’re going to the Oscars, we’re going to the Oscars!’
“It was kind of muffled and I couldn’t make out what she was saying but she had tears in her eyes and I pulled out my ear plugs and she was able to tell me the news straight away. Everyone from home started calling me. It’s wonderful. It’s a huge honour to be recognised now a second time, it’s unreal,” she said. “I think to have gone through something like that when you are young, it was great, but to a certain extent it does go over your head a bit which is good.”
From Good Morning America:
“Brooklyn” star Saoirse Ronan told “GMA”, “I was asleep and my mom ran in and she was crying and so it was either good news or bad news and it was great news. I’m going to start crying now, but to get Best Actress and to get Best Picture means the absolute world to us.”
From The Hollywood Reporter:
“”Everyone is cheering in here,” says Ronan with a laugh. She had just walked into the Greenwich Hotel in New York as she spoke to THR on the morning of her nomination. “I ran into a shower, jumped out, and then brushed my hair and rushed over here to do press,” she says. Ronan spoke to her Brooklyn director, John Crowley, right after the nominations and called her friend Eileen O’Higgins, who played Nancy in the movie. “As soon as I heard her voice I cried. She really helped me through some stuff in the film,” says Ronan.
As for the film, Ronan says her view on it continues to morph and change over time. “Before I shot it, I thought, ‘This film is my first Irish film and that’s what it is to me.’ But when we went into it, it took on the role of representing home and homesickness and my relationship with my mom. And then going through all this, I’ve never done this before, it’s been an eye-opener.” After the Oscars, Ronan will jump into her first Broadway play, The Crucible. “It’s a really good time to jump into something like a play. It’s my first one, and I’m absolutely terrified,” she says. “To go from all this industry stuff — which has been really exciting — but I want to go back and do what I do and get to work.””
From Deadline:
“Once I heard the film was Brooklyn nominated as well, that really means so much to us so we’re over the moon” offered Saoirse Ronan after hearing that she and the film Brooklyn received four nominations. When she got the script “there was never any doubt in my mind that it was a good story or that it was kind of important or special” and “hoped that people would get it and people would be able to appreciate it,” she said. She admits she didn’t expect that the movie would receive such critical acclaim noting, “Everyone’s taste from year-to-year changes, and you never really know what an audience is going to be drawn to.”
Nonetheless the actress is grateful for the positive attention the film has received. “I knew when it came to our director, editor, and amazing writers, we’re doing the best job that we could, but you never know where it’s going to go from there … to get all of the nominations and the recognition has been brilliant, but to know that families are going to see the movie on Christmas Day or have been to see it 2 or 3 times is amazing. That’s what really touches you.” When asked if she had any expectations come Oscar night, she said, “I don’t think you can have expectations. I try to be as realistic as I can with everything whether it comes to going for a job or doing these awards shows where it’s better to expect not to win because, and not in a negative way, but if you’re just in that mind-set, then you’re a prepared person and can hopefully enjoy the night a little bit more.”
From Entertainment Weekly:
“I was in bed asleep, and my mam ran into my room sobbing,” says Ronan, laughing. “She told me the news, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Atonement was the third film I had done, and I was really excited about it and appreciative, but it was one of those things were I was like ‘That’s really nice, I was nominated,” recalls Ronan, who’s currently in New York City preparing for her turn in a Broadway production of The Crucible. “Now it means so much more. I’ve been working since I was 10, and I’ve spent more than half of my life on a film set. To be acknowledged by your peers and the people you look up to, and the people that are actually filmmakers means an awful lot. I can appreciate that now.”
