Saoirse Ronan on ‘The Outrun’ and Wanting More Flawed Female Characters  

Saoirse Ronan is opening up about wanting to see more flawed female characters represented onscreen after working on The Outrun. 

The Irish actress’ career has been packed with angsty yet relatable roles for young women in films like Lady Bird, Little Women and Brooklyn. Before turning 30, she received four Oscar nominations. Ronan recently spoke with Elle and revealed what it was like to play Rona, a complex character, who’s struggling to get sober in The Outrun. 

“I was so ready for it. I felt confident enough in my ability, but also confident enough in who I was,” she said. “I didn’t feel like I was being held down by a need to only play likable people.”

Ronan recalled seeing traits in other characters onscreen that helped her draw inspiration. “I really responded to Lena Dunham’s characters in Girls, who are arseholes sometimes, but we’ve all got the capability for that. I just started watching Hacks, and I’m like, ‘These girls are selfish. They’re self-involved. They’ve got massive egos, but they always have redeeming qualities.’” 

She continued, “We’ve gotten into this habit of filtering our personalities so much, reducing them to a line on Instagram or Twitter. And to be able to have the opportunity to go, ‘Look, this person can be fully formed and have shitty qualities and also redeeming ones, and let’s honor all of that’ — I’m at the point in my life where I’m like, ‘That’s what I want to see onscreen.’” 

Since working on the film — and behind the camera, too, as her first producing credit — the experience on Outrun helped her to see addiction as an illness and not a character flaw. 

“If you don’t suffer from your brain essentially being altered by a substance, then you don’t understand why they can’t just choose not to live this life. You don’t understand why they don’t want to, or don’t feel like it’s worth choosing you over it,” she said. “There’s a lot of confusion that’s born out of it, and resentment, which is what I had, and I still have to a certain extent.”

The role was personal for Ronan, as she said she has loved ones who also experienced addiction, but by “stepping into the psychology of someone going through it” she could “take some of the sting out of it” and heal. 

The Outrun is now in theaters.