Saoirse Ronan: ‘I refused to do one thing while playing a mother in Blitz’ --[Reported by Umva mag]

Hollywood star Saoirse Ronan, who plays mum Rita in Sir Steve McQueen’s World War Two epic Blitz, wanted to make sure her character felt ‘real’ after a lifetime of watching ‘fake’ mothers on film sets.

The Irish actor, 30, has brought some iconic literary and cinematic daughters to life (from Jo March in Little Women to Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird). But now the tables have turned and Blitz marks the first time her role as a fictional mother has been centre stage.

In Blitz, set in 1940s London, Rita is the young mother to nine-year-old George (Elliot Heffernan) who is raising her son with her father (Paul Weller) after he husband is deported.

When the bombing in the city’s capital grows worse, George is evacuated to the countryside. But the bond between mother and son is unbreakable and after George escapes to find his mother, both fight to reunite once more against all the odds.

Needless to say, Rita and George’s relationship is at the heart of this stirring war drama.

Saoirse – who herself has worked in the industry since she was a child – drew inspiration from the female actors who had played a mother on set with her before to imbue authenticity into her portrayal.

‘The female actors I’ve worked with over the years who had a natural maternal instinct even when I was a kid like Elliot, I could tell who could do it,’ she told Metro and other press at the Blitz press conference ahead of the World premiere at the London Film Festival on Wednesday night.

She continued: ‘There were the actresses who would be like “Sweetie” [in a high-pitched voice] and it was all very forced.

‘And I always vowed to never do that whenever I played a mother. I wanted it to feel real. I wanted it to represent my mother and the women I know in my life who are incredibly wonderful people.’

Saoirse approached Rita ‘like any other character I would play’.

‘[There’s a quote from actor Peter Mullan that goes] “Just because you are playing a king doesn’t mean you need to play a king.” He’s still got to put his clothes on in the morning like anyone else would,’ she added.

The Outrun star was ‘so curious and inquisitive to the mothers around [her]’ who she would ask about their experience, but that was just one aspect of the process.

She explained that she wanted to ‘find what mine and Elliot’s relationship was’ and that filmmaker Sir Steve ‘would build it around us’.

The Foe actor shared: ‘He was inspired by our natural dynamics and relationships that were forming when we got to know each other and what naturally came out for the two of us was friendship.

‘I [also] needed to acknowledge that Rita was very young when she had George and I didn’t want to lose the youth of this woman.

‘But still, we had conversations about the loss we had gone through as a family and the tragedy of losing her mother so young and having to step into that role and find this inner strength that naturally formed over time.

‘So it was really about all of us deciding in the privacy of our rehearsal room “okay who is this person, what’s she gonna be and how do we build it from there?” It all felt very organic, nothing felt too contrived.’

Elsewhere in the press conference, Saoirse admitted that although she can sometimes feel ‘jaded’ working in the high-intensity industry, working with a young person ‘re-sparked’ that joy within her.

She said: ‘When someone young comes in and it’s their first job, especially, they remind you of why you did this in the first place.

‘They remind you of all the love that you have for it and why it’s such an incredible job to have. That’s why I feel really grateful working with young people too, because it just re-sparks something in you.’

Whatever magic Saoirse, Elliot, Sir Steve, and the wider cast and crew put into the movie clearly worked.

Metro’s film critic Tori Brazier gave the film five stars, calling it ‘a moving love letter to London’ and Saoirse ‘one of her generation’s greatest performance talents.’

For Oscar-winning 12 Years A Slave director Sir Steve, the ‘seed’ for this film was planted in 2004 when he was plunged into the depths of the Iraq War as a war artist.

‘In this part of the world to be in a war zone is really unusual so there I was in theatre they say – a very romantic word for being in a war zone – and surrounded by British troops from all different parts of the UK, all different regional accents,’ he told an enraptured audience.

It became the ‘first time’ he had felt a ‘sense of nationality’ and ‘camaraderie being British’ although he acknowledged the ‘perversity of that’ given he was at war.

The acclaimed filmmaker added: ‘That was the seed, in fact, of why I wanted to look at civilians and war. And I thought about 1940s Britain, what was happening in my city London.

‘And then, of course, I found this photograph (while doing research for Bafta-winning drama Small Axe) of a small Black child on a railway station in a large coat and oversized briefcase being evacuated and I thought “who is that child? I want to see the war through his eyes”.’

Ultimately he wanted ‘to bring it back to someone who has a future’.

The critically praised film resonates with a modern-day audience, with the many parallels between the hardships faced by families in World War Two and those in war zones across the world now playing out on the news daily.

‘You’d put on the news, and you’d see exactly the same thing. So it was the first time I’d ever had an experience on a project where there wasn’t really an escape from it,’ Saoirse admitted, adding that it provided ‘so much motivation to continue on with the picture.’

Saoirse will campaign for best supporting actress at the Oscars for her role in Blitz.

Blitz comes out in cinemas on November 1 before streaming on Apple TV+ on November 22.

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