Saoirse and Ian McEwan have given an interview to The Times! You need to register to their website in order to read everything, but we have a snippet below. A new picture has been released with it, and we’ve added it to our gallery.

The actress and the novelist, it quickly becomes clear, are each other’s best audiences. Saoirse Ronan tells Ian McEwan that when reading his novels she is always struck by his “incredible understanding of the mind of a woman”. McEwan, for his part, says she has “a wonderful ability” to convey what his characters are thinking without even speaking.

Having embraced delightedly, the pair are in a Soho hotel room talking about his new adaptation of his 2007 novel On Chesil Beach, in which she stars. They have known each since Saoirse (pronounced “Sursha”) played Briony in the film of his Atonement in 2007. She was just 13 yet was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar.

Read more here.