Amid whispers of a second Oscar nomination, Saoirse Ronan brought Brooklyn to the BFI London Film Festival last night, and with it a touch of mid-century glitz. Adapted from Colm Tóibín’s 2009 bestseller, the ‘50s-set transatlantic romance is a lavish tearjerker that attracted support from Jim Broadbent, Domhnall Gleeson and a scene-stealing Julie Walters.
Her first lead role since 2013’s How I Live Now sees Ronan lead its stellar lineup as Eilis, who ups sticks and boards a ship to New York having struggled to find work at home in rural Ireland. Despite sunny job prospects and a friendly new home at the heart of Brooklyn’s Irish community, adjusting to life in the States proves tough. Still, before long Eilis has a promising career and a blossoming relationship – until tragedy strikes back home, leaving her torn between her two lives.
Following an impressively genre-spanning career so far, what drew Ronan in was how similar Eilis’s experiences were to her own. “I didn’t realise how much of a challenge it would be”, she told Empire. “I read the script before moving away, and when it came to shooting a year later I related to it on a much deeper level. I was scared going in. Usually I take on roles that are so different to me, but with this character I couldn’t escape the parallels. There was nowhere to hide.”
Brooklyn marks Nick Hornby’s third adapted screenplay following An Education and Wild. “I was approached with it this time, and responded very strongly”, he told Empire, “but it’s delicate and we had to turn it up a notch for the screen so audiences would be moved more immediately.” As for Hornby’s own novels on film, High Fidelity remains his favourite but it seems there’s more to come. “All the ones that haven’t been adapted, someone’s trying to do – they’re all in various stages of being stuck!”
Ronan and Hornby were joined on the red carpet by novelist Colm Tóibín, director John Crowley and co-stars Emory Cohen, Eve Macklin and Eileen O’Higgins. Brooklyn is released in UK cinemas on 6 November 2015.
*Reporting by Alastair Livesley, with thanks to Go Think Big and O2. For amazing work opportunities go to Go Think Big.co.uk. *