Saoirse Ronan is set to direct and shares the advice her frequent collaborator Greta Gerwig gave her about taking on the role.
The 30-year-old actress, who starred in and produced the Sony Pictures Classics film The Outrun — said he aspires to take on more roles behind the camera after producing for the first time. “I would love to do it [directing] next,” Ronan said The Hollywood journalist Thursday night at the film's Los Angeles premiere.
“It's always been a passion of mine, and it was actually Greta who said you have to dig into the preparation first to see if it's something that piques your interest, because that's where the really hard work is,” she said. “[Producing] it was an education in that, all the kind of tough decisions you have to make early on, and it made me feel more confident and a storyteller involved so early in the project.
The Oscar-nominated actress plays a young Scottish woman struggling with addiction The Outrunbased on Amy Liptrot's memoir. Ronan said that Liptrot's writing – she also co-wrote the script – attracted the actress to the project, along with “how it portrayed a story of addiction and how it was so much more than that”.
The Outrun it was apparently a transformative experience for Ronan. “You can't help but learn so much from this experience [of producing]for better or worse,” he said. “I think it's given me a new appreciation for independent filmmaking, particularly because it's very difficult to get most things off the ground and takes an incredibly long time.”
Ronan noted that “every day you're not necessarily sure you're going to make it to the next day.” The producer said the process of getting the film off the ground was a “challenge”, but the crew who worked on the film were “wonderful” and were used to working in such an environment.
Scotland, the backdrop of the film, is a special place for Ronan. “It's a place I'm very passionate about,” she said, adding that the film's subject matter is “very personal” to her. “Seeing it written like this, in such a unique way, felt really fresh to me.”
Ronan added: “[I] I felt like if we could make it as an adaptation, it would be really special.”
The Outrun is in theaters now.