Berlin: Saoirse Ronan talks about addiction, recovery and sheep in drama ‘The Outrun’

during filming overtakingSaoirse Ronan has given birth to lambs, swam with seals and interacted with her fair share of flora and fauna.

The four-time Oscar nominee plays a young woman named Rhona who leaves London and returns to her small hometown in the Orkney Islands of Scotland as she discovers all the harsh realities and natural wonders of a small island. While doing this, she walks on the path of restraint. The Scottish coast has to offer.

The film is directed by German director Nora Fingscheidt (system crash) and based on the novel of the same name by Amy Liptrot, will be screened in Berlin after premiering at Sundance, where it received rave reviews (heartDavid Rooney observed that Ronan “puts himself through physical and emotional difficulties”). Ronan speaks before a screening of the film in Berlin heart He discusses why he partnered with Liptrot’s book, the benefits of producing the project, and how the unique culture of the Orkney Islands influenced the film.

How did you discover Amy Liptrot’s book?

It was Jack Lowden, who was also a producer, who introduced him to me. He is a very proud Scotsman and has spent some time in the Orkney Islands. Whenever he goes to a new place, he tries to read a book written by a local author if possible. So he had already fallen in love. overtaking, and while we were in lockdown – reading books left, right and center because we had all the time in the world – he recommended I read it. He said, “This is the next role you should play.” » So of course, Typical Actor, I was a little bit excited. I think almost everyone has had their own relationship with addiction, whether it’s something you’ve experienced yourself or you’ve watched a loved one go through it. It is a disease that has affected all of us in some way or the other and I am no different. It’s a disease that has shaped my life quite dramatically, I haven’t experienced it myself, but I’m a victim of what it can do. I always wanted to understand it more, because it was something that caused a lot of pain. Eventually I felt like I was at a place where I wanted to dive into the other side, trying to understand it better.

When it comes to on-screen addiction stories, few follow young women. Did you think about this when developing the project?

That was one of the first things we noticed. It was going to follow not only a young woman’s recovery, but also someone suffering from alcohol addiction, where the torture, the heartbreak, the spiral is only fueled by her relationship with a man or his partner. Not there. You can even take the addiction element out of it, and it would still be a very relatable story about a time in a woman’s life where she’s approaching her thirties and you have to examine your life that way. Have to do it as if you have not done it. Never actually did. First. This element of dependency adds to the journey that we as women are already on at this stage of our lives.

Did the fact that the book was so internal help you prepare your performance?

We knew that the central performance was really going to be the heartbeat of the movie, because even in the book, you really follow this person. Nora, when she read the book, she really captured this silly element of Amy’s psyche. She is really fascinated by specific topics and goes into detail about things like the current in the ocean, the DNA of jellyfish or how ethanol affects the brain. Nora really wanted to incorporate this into the overall story of the film. From a producers’ perspective, we really wanted to capture the energy of Orkney. It’s off the coast of the continent, and it really feels like it’s all its own. If you’re an Orcadian, you say you’re an Orcadian, you don’t say you’re Scottish. We really fell in love with the mentality of the people living there, very positive and can-do attitude, which is really admirable. But combining that kind of mentality with mental illness and the emotional turmoil that someone might be going through, Jack and I always thought it would be really interesting.

You filmed on location on the islands, correct?

We started in London, which was so intense because it was like the highest highs and lowest lows that the character experiences. We then headed to the mainland of Orkney to focus on relationships with parents and reintegration into the community. We ended up on Papa Westray, this is the island it ends on. We gradually isolated ourselves more and more. That’s the advantage of being a producer in this business: I said, “Look, this is the way I want to shoot it. »I have been working with myself for over 20 years. It’s a tool: you know what you have to do in your work.

How do you think living in Orkney affected the film?

When we reached Papa Westray’s house, there was real satisfaction. It was at the end of Covid – we had all come out of multiple lockdowns – so to be able to reconnect with a small community, surrounded by friendly faces, we were grateful. All of this inspired the performance in a very organic way. We shot at (Amy’s) house, and we shot at her farm. We met his father, who still lives on the farm. When Stephen (Dillane) and I were filming the scene between Amy and her dad, her dad was there, so it was quite a surreal experience. I think it was very helpful to remind the actors that this is a true story and that it deals with real people.

I had made two other films (during the pandemic). One of them was in Australia, and even when we were there we were very limited. This was a movie that Paul Mescal and I made (Garth Davis’s 2023 sci-fi drama enemy), and actually we both got Covid one after the other. We were in a very barren, dry desert, and it was basically just the two of us. what is interesting to do Enemy first, then do overtaking Is this Enemy It’s 100 years, 150 years in the future, where everything that’s alive, all organic matter, will be dead. So I went into this film from an environment where I was keeping sheep on the ground. It went from zero to so much life in the span of a few months.

Was there a lot of infrastructure on the island?

We were the first film to be shot in Orkney. In general, this is not a place that people know about, so all this infrastructure has been introduced into the island. In a small community, it takes a lot of effort to keep everyone really engaged and doing something. So there were a lot of amateur actors, especially a lot of young people who were very fond of theatre. I’ve shot in small towns before, where there’s always that one person who will be a little difficult or who will make your filming day really difficult. We haven’t experienced even an ounce of it. I hope it has inspired them to do more because there is just romance in this place. It’s a real kind of mix of Celtic and Nordic culture. This is basically the land of Vikings.