Sunday Sitdown: Saoirse Ronan on Her Name, Fame & 'Lady Bird' Success

NBC ID: AR8RR42ORL | Production Unit: Weekend Today | Media Type: Aired Show | Event Date(s): 02/25/2018

Transcript

Event Date(s): 02/25/2018 | Event Location(s): Today New York Studio | Description: MS: (Excerpt from Lady Bird) (Begin VT) GFX: Graphics of Saoirse Ronan and Geist in interview MS: During interview, WILLIE GEIST (08:31:12): I think your drink is ready. SAOIRSE RONAN (08:31:12): It's-- my drink is-- WILLIE GEIST (08:31:13): Yeah. SAOIRSE RONAN (08:31:13): My glass of alcohol is on the way. WILLIE GEIST (08:31:14): What took so long? GFX: Graphics of Ronan in interview MS: During interview, SAOIRSE RONAN (08:31:22): I mean, it ranges from— MS: Video, DENNIS QUAID (08:31:22): Saoirse Ronin. MS: During interview, WILLIE GEIST (08:31:25): It's pretty. SAOIRSE RONAN (08:31:26): It's actually quite a nice name. WILLIE GEIST (08:31:27): Yeah. SAOIRSE RONAN (08:31:28): Exotic like me. To— MS: Video JESSICA CHASTAIN (08:31:32): Saoirse Ronin. MS: During interview, SAOIRSE RONAN (08:31:33): To Shelly. WILLIE GEIST (08:31:34): Shelly? SAOIRSE RONAN (08:31:35): Yeah. There was this person that was picking me up from the airport once in London, and I scanned and I went back and I saw Shelly Ronan. And I was like that's me. That's got to be me. MS: (Excerpt from Lady Bird) GFX: Graphics from ‘Lady Bird’ MS: Clips of ‘Lady Bird’ MS: During interview, SAOIRSE RONAN (08:32:07): I think that the film just came out at exactly the right time. I think we've kind of been starved of strong female protagonists forever. MS: (Excerpt from Lady Bird) MS: Clips of ‘Lady Bird’ MS: (Excerpt from Lady Bird) GFX: Graphic of Ronan and her mother, Monica MS: During interview, WILLIE GEIST (08:32:47): Did you have with your mom sort of that push and pull, the loving push and pull? SAOIRSE RONAN (08:32:51): No. WILLIE GEIST (08:32:51): You didn't have that. SAOIRSE RONAN (08:32:52): We didn't. We just had pull. WILLIE GEIST (08:32:54): Just pull. SAOIRSE RONAN (08:32:55): Just pull. WILLIE GEIST (08:32:55): We're all pull. SAOIRSE RONAN (08:32:56): We have a really very, very special relationship. She's always had a lot of respect for me. To be given that respect and to feel like you're really being listened to meant that I gave that to her in turn. So we've always had a really great kind of partnership. MS: Ronan at the Golden Globes MS: During acceptance speech, SAOIRSE RONAN (08:33:17): Oh, thank you. My mom is on FaceTime over there on someone's phone right now, so hi. GFX: Graphics of Ronan and Geist INT MS: During interview, WILLIE GEIST (08:33:24): Your mom loved Lady Bird? SAOIRSE RONAN (08:33:25): She loves it so much. She loved Laurie in it so much. I mean, I think she likes me in it as well but. WILLIE GEIST (08:33:31): She didn't mention you. SAOIRSE RONAN (08:33:32): She only-- yeah. She only talks about Laurie for some reason. GFX: Graphics of Ronan growing up INT MS: During interview, WILLIE GEIST (08:33:51): So when you went back to Ireland, at what point did you pick up acting? SAOIRSE RONAN (08:33:57): Maybe when I was six or seven. My dad was doing a short film and they needed a kid to be in it. And he had one. So he's like, can you-- will you do this? But I remember there was a producer on set and he was talking right up until we were about to start the scene. And I remember turning around to him and just going, shh, quiet on the set. He must have thought I was horrible. But so I loved the discipline of it. WILLIE GEIST (08:34:23): You sound like someone who might want to be a director. SAOIRSE RONAN (08:34:26): Yeah, I've always wanted to do. I feel like that was something I was drawn to before I was acting because even before I started acting, I'd get all my-- I'd like bully all my friends into being in little films that I made-- WILLIE GEIST (08:34:37): Right. SAOIRSE RONAN (08:34:37): --and I'd get the camcorder out and I loved bringing all of this together to make one thing. MS: Clip of Irish Television show GFX: Graphics of Ronan GFX: Graphics of Ronan in film and TV MS: (Excerpt from I Could Never Be Your Woman) GFX: Graphics of Ronan MS: (Excerpt from Atonement) MS: Clips of ‘Atonement’ MS: During interview, SAOIRSE RONAN (08:35:17): Atonement was like a summer camp. That was definitely the moment where I kind of thought, oh, this is what I want to do, you know. WILLIE GEIST (08:35:22): This is it. SAOIRSE RONAN (08:35:22): Because I really cared about it. This was this thing that I had found that I really believed in, you know. MS: Clip of ‘The Lovely Bones’ MS: Clip of ‘Hanna’ MS: Clip of ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ MS: (Excerpt from The Grand Budapest Hotel) MS: Clip of ‘Brooklyn’ MS: (Excerpt from Brooklyn) MS: During interview, WILLIE GEIST (08:36:05): When that script came to you, did you say, oh, my gosh, this is my family, this is my life? SAOIRSE RONAN (08:36:10): Yeah, I did. Even just thinking about it, I get quite emotional because there was so much of me and my parents and my country and New York that was in it and all these things that like are parts of me; and then knowing that it was going to mean so much to immigrants. At the time, I was only thinking about Ireland. But when it came out to see the response from everyone whether it was people who had left home or people who were in long-distance relationships even, everyone sort of could tap into us. GFX: Graphics of Ronan MS: Great Gerwing MS: Behind the scenes of ‘Lady Bird’ MS: During interview, SAOIRSE RONAN (08:36:57): I read it. We Skyped, had like the giddiest Skype meeting ever, where we just sort of shared our love for each other. I mean, I love you. But I love you. But we’ve never met and this is weird but it's not weird. MS: Behind the scenes of ‘Lady Bird’ MS: Clip of Ed Sheeran’s music video for ‘Galway Girl’ MS: (Excerpt from Galway Girl) MS: Clip of ‘Saturday Night Live’ MS: (Excerpt from Saturday Night Live) MS: Ronan on red carpets GFX: Graphics of Ronan MS: During interview, SAOIRSE RONAN (08:37:41): So many people have said to me like I honestly feel like I’ve been understood for the first time, that my teenage self has been sane and somebody else gets it. And so that's really incredible, like, to-- to be part of. (End VT)

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February 25, 2018
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