Saoirse Ronan is ready to step into the director’s chair, and she’s sharing the advice her frequent collaborator Greta Gerwig gave her about taking on the role.
The 30-year-old actress – stars in and produces the Sony Pictures Classics film transcend – said she was eager to take on more behind-the-scenes roles after her first production. “I’d love to do that [directing] Next up,” Ronan told hollywood reporter The film premieres in Los Angeles on Thursday night.
“It’s always been a passion of mine and Greta actually said you need to dig into the preparation first and see if that piques your interest because that’s where the really hard work is,” she said. “[Producing] It was an education that you have to make all the hard decisions early on, and it made me feel more confident, like a storyteller who was involved early in the project.
The Oscar-nominated actress plays a young Scottish woman battling drug addiction. transcendadapted from Amy Liptrotter’s memoir. Ronan said Liprot’s writing – she also co-wrote the script – attracted the actress to the project and “how she could portray an addiction story and how it was so much more than that.”
transcend For Ronan, it seemed like a transformative experience. “You can’t help but learn a lot from this experience [of producing]the good and the bad,” she said. “I think it gave me a new perspective on independent filmmaking, especially since most things are hard to get off the ground and take a really long time.”
Ronan noted, “Every day you’re not necessarily sure you’re going to make it to the next day.” The producer said the process of making the film was a “challenge,” but that the crew that made the film was “awesome.” And I am used to working in such an environment.
Scotland, where the film is set, is a special place for Ronan. “This is a place that I’m very passionate about,” she said, adding that the film’s subject matter is “very personal” to her. “It was refreshing to see it written down in this way, in such a unique way.”
Ronan added: “[I] It felt like if we could do it as an adaptation, it could be really special.
transcend Now in theaters.
