Not too long ago, Saoirse Ronan found herself face-to-face on a red carpet with mega star Jennifer Lopez.
Not too long ago, Saoirse Ronan found herself face-to-face on a red carpet with mega star Jennifer Lopez.
“She didn’t have a clue who I was,” said the young Irish actress, who has earned her second Oscar nomination in the haunting and sweet immigrant film Brooklyn.
“I was like, ‘J-Lo!’ She was like, ‘Yes ’” recounted Ronan.
And then, in her gorgeous, lilting accent, the young actress dropped a mini-bombshell on Jenny From the Block: “I’m from the Bronx, too.”
“She’s like, ‘Oh, OK,’” said Ronan. “I said, ‘Yeah. We’re from the same block.’ She didn’t have a clue what I was talking about but I was delighted that we shared in that for a second — or at least I did.”
J-Lo — like many of us — may definitely be starting to get a clue about this New York-born, thoroughly refreshing 21-year-old. This month, she’s started work on her first stage role.
Something easy to start with, perhaps “No. I can never do that, can I ” she said, laughing.
No, Ronan has decided to star on Broadway in a revival of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, considered among America’s best plays. And she’ll be playing Abigail Williams, the vengeful fulcrum of the play. Previews begin Feb. 29. “What I wanted to do was go to a small, little theater and do a new play and have it be something that nobody paid attention to, just to get me into it,” said the actress with striking blue eyes.
“Then this came along and you kind of can’t say no. I don’t know. Maybe it’s a good thing to be thrown in the deep end because then you’re just exposed to everything.”
Directed by Dutch visionary Ivo van Hove, the revival will also star Ben Whishaw, Sophie Okonedo, Ciaran Hinds, Tavi Gevinson and Jim Norton. It will have an original score by Philip Glass.
The multi-talented Gevinson, who plays Mary Warren, is making her second Broadway appearance and said if Ronan is fighting any nerves, it’s not apparent.
“When Saoirse is on that stage, I’m genuinely scared of her. She’s got nothing to worry about.”
Born to Irish parents in the Bronx, Ronan’s family moved back to Ireland when she was 3. Her career breakthrough came in the 2007 film Atonement, playing a tween who coolly tears apart lovers. She earned an Oscar nomination.
Ronan, whose first name is pronounced SUR’-shuh, was also in The Lovely Bones, Hanna and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Awaiting release is a film adaptation of The Seagull. She is clearly an actress drawn to subtle shadings.
“I knew from an early age what I didn’t want to do,” she said.
“Unless the right one came along, the idea of doing a franchise or anything like that for me wasn’t something that appealed to me.”
When she was 12, before she got Atonement, Ronan was offered a part in an action film. “It was all fire and guns and I was the kid that was rescued. I knew then that I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to play the strange child that ruins everyone’s life.”
Ronan had been offered stage scripts before but decided she wasn’t ready until now.
“I needed to at least be an adult to take it on and be experienced enough at just acting. I always had it in my head, ‘I’ll do a play when I’m about 21 or 22.’ And it’s perfect.”
