Saoirse Ronan stars in John Crowley’s Brooklyn, a romantic-drama which will begin filming in Ireland before shifting to Montreal (which we’ll guess is substitute Brooklyn) later this month. Crowley is known for directing Intermission, another Irish story about the influence of intersecting relationships. Brooklyn was developed by BBC Films, and is being co-produced by Item 7 in Canada and Parallel Films in Ireland.
Set in the early 1950s, Brooklyn circles around Ronan’s character, Ellis, a young industrial Irish immigrant, as she moves from a small town in Ireland to Brooklyn, New York. When she becomes involved in a romance with an Italian-American and pressures herself to adapt to a new environment, she finds herself caught between the safely familiar and the dangerously new.
Ronan is an actress best known for her performances in two of Joe Wright’s films, Hanna (2011) and Atonement (2007). The story’s locations of New York and Ireland seem fitting for Ronan to interpret, considering she was born in New York City and has a father Paul Ronan, who is an Irish actor.
Writer of the screenplay, An Education (2009) and the book that was later adapted to the screenplay of High Fidelity (2000), Nick Hornby adapted the screenplay of Brooklyn from Colm Tobin’s New York Times best selling novel, Brooklyn: A Novel. This book portrays a fearless Ellis, eager to embrace the Brooklyn community, while coming to understand the importance of staying connected to her past. Her two lives merge, when she is forced to reconcile a family tragedy in Emniscorthy, Ireland.
In addition to Ronan, the UK actors Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent, and Julie Walters will also lend their acting talents to the project. Gleeson was showcased in Richard Curtis’ About Time (2013), while Cohen is known for Derek Cianfrance’s Place Beyond the Pines (2012). Oscar-winner Broadbent is best recognized for acting in Iris (2001), and Walters is notorious for her role as Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter series.
Hanway Films is handling international sales of Brooklyn, and Lionsgate will release the film in the U.K. in 2015. Although a U.S. release date has not yet been established, with Ronan and the rest of the assembled ensemble, Crowley’s film is sure to have international appeal.
Leave a Comment