Saoirse Ronan discusses ‘The Outrun’: ‘I definitely felt like I came away from it changed’
Saoirse Ronan “really fell in love with how Amy [Liptrot] wrote about her home, how poetically she described her memory of growing up in the Orkney Islands, and balanced that so beautifully and so effectively with the raw honesty of her struggle with addiction.” That’s what attracted her to “The Outrun” as both an actor and producer. Watch our complete video interview with Ronan above.
“The Outrun” follows Rona, a fictionalized version of author Liptrot, as she returns home to Orkney in northern Scotland after living for a tumultuous decade in London. The scenes in Orkney were shot on location, and “when you’re outdoors and you’re either working on a farm or you’re at the side of a cliff by the ocean, the elements have such an impact on your sense of self, your energy, how alert and open you are to your surroundings … It was almost like a scene partner.”
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Producing as well as acting in the film meant that she had responsibilities off camera as well as on, but “it didn’t feel like I was constantly juggling roles. It all felt quite organic.” She adds, “I’ve acted for so long now and I love it, but you do get to the point where you need more and you need more responsibility.” So she was “invigorated” by the challenge. And “to be able to implement everything that I’ve learned over the years in order to hopefully make the set an even nicer place to be, it was just an honor, really.”
Ultimately, because of this experience, “I understand the mind of an alcoholic a lot more than I did before,” Ronan says. “I’ve been able to humanize the experience as opposed to just demonize it. And it was a very cathartic experience for me because I’ve watched people close to me go through it, and I’d felt so much pain because of that and confusion … So as an actor, I definitely felt like I came away from it changed.”
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