Here’s a small clip from a interview of Saoirse and Peter Jackson by ABC. She’s very cute in it.

Here’s a new interview with photoshoot that Soirse did for LA Times.

Don’t call her the new it girl. She’ll fidget with her sleeves; the pressure makes her a bit squeamish. The new lit girl? She’s OK with that.

Saoirse (pronounced SIR-sha) Ronan burst onto the scene at 13 with her Academy Award-nominated performance in the cinematic adaptation of Ian McEwan’s ” Atonement.” She played Briony in the period drama — a child who meddles in her sister’s love affair, causing devastating results — and held her own opposite the film’s lead actors, Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.

Her latest film, “The Lovely Bones,” an adaptation of the bestselling book by Alice Sebold and directed by Peter Jackson, hits theaters Friday.

“I’m a bit of a bookworm, aren’t I?” said Ronan, now 15, before taking a sip of orange juice at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel one recent morning. In person, she comes across much more measured and mature than her age suggests; poised and thoughtful with her answers, but retaining her teen sensibility — giggling when she’s “flummoxed” and sitting cross-legged in her chair.

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In “Lovely Bones,” Ronan plays 14-year-old Susie Salmon, who — early on in the story — is raped and murdered by her neighbor on her way home from school in 1973. She narrates the tragic story from the “in-between,” a place similar to purgatory, as her family copes with the tragedy and her murderer roams free.

“She was only 13 years old when we filmed,” said costar Stanley Tucci, who plays the neighbor George Harvey. “How someone acquires that kind of maturity as an actress at such a young age is remarkable. I can’t imagine it. She handles herself as well as any seasoned actor. I wouldn’t even be able to finish a sentence at her age. She’s a real actress. Bottom line. And she is Susie Salmon. No one else could play her.”

It was a role Ronan and her family were hesitant to accept because of the rape and murder content. But after meeting with Jackson, their hesitation eased.

“She’s just amazing on-screen,” Jackson said. “Just brilliant. I tend to not work with big stars for the key roles in most of my films. What’s appealing to me as a filmmaker is that audiences don’t bring a preconceived notion to the film of who this person is. They’re more likely to believe in Susie Salmon if they’re not so familiar with Saoirse.”

She may not grace the covers of Teen Beat or Us Weekly, but Ronan isn’t exactly unknown.

When she was 8, she landed a role in the Irish television show “The Clinic.” A year later, she played Orla Boland in another series called “Proof.” In 2007, three films that Ronan appeared in were released: the romantic comedy “I Could Never Be Your Woman,” in which Ronan played Michelle Pfeiffer’s daughter; “The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey” and the Joe Wright-directed “Atonement.”

“Atonement” got Ronan worldwide recognition from audiences and the industry. TheTimes’Kenneth Turan called Ronan “exceptional.” New York Times critic A.O. Scott described her as “remarkably poised.” And in London’s Sunday Times, Cosmo Landesman described her performance as “confident and gripping.”

Despite the attention, Ronan has avoided the flashbulb limelight that surround her young peers such as Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez. And she doesn’t expect that will change.

“I don’t think I would ever want fame like them,” Ronan said. “I have to say, I think Miley Cyrus is still quite young. She’s what? Seventeen? I think she’s very brave for all that fame to be thrown at her so young. She’s like another Britney Spears. I don’t envy her at all — or any of those girls who get that much attention. I suppose we’re different kinds of actors. I focus on my work. The stuff that comes afterward — the press and premieres — it’s fine, it’s fun . . . but what I really want to do is work on my acting.”

An only child, Ronan was born in New York City, where she lived until she was 3. Her parents, Monica and Paul — he’s a well-known Irish stage actor who’s appeared in such films as “Veronica Guerin” and “The Devil’s Own” — moved the family back to Ardattin, a small Irish village — really small; it has a population of about 300 — in County Carlow.

It was there that a glimpse into her passion for acting revealed itself . . . with the help of a plastic toy doll called Polly Pocket.

“I used to make up stories,” Ronan recalled. “Little soap operas. Polly Pocket’s boyfriend was Woody from ‘Toy Story.’ They were together for a very long time — since high school, actually. In college, he had an affair. It was very complex — things that probably a 7-year-old shouldn’t have been imagining. I was a weird gal.”

But it’s that vivid imagination that makes her an unforgettable actress, Jackson insists.

“When she’s performing — when she’s in the moment — there’s no sense that she’s acting,” Jackson said. “It just feels completely authentic. I can see her being one of the premium actresses of her generation. It’s impossible to predict things, but she’s so versatile. I could easily see her having a career as esteemed as Cate Blanchett or Kate Winslet.”

But, for now, she’s still enjoying the perks of being a teen. She lives most of the year with her parents in the Irish countryside, two hours from Dublin.

Her mother travels everywhere with her, and to keep the homely vibe on while on location, they rent houses instead of staying in hotels. She loves her dog, Sassy.

She likes to get lost in the pages of books — the latest have been Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea” and ” Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.” When she’s not reading, she enjoys watching movies such as “Dirty Dancing” and “Grease.” Music? She’s a fan of Lady Gaga, Jay-Z and Beyoncé. But she’s also jams to Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie and Bob Dylan.

If this acting thing doesn’t work out, she’s interested in painting and writing — “anything creative.” But she’s hopeful her time in front of the lens continues. She would even like to work behind the lens, sitting in the director’s chair.

“I’ve got more in me,” she said. “I’ve only given you a taste.”

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Saoirse did a photoshoot and interview for WWD Lifestyle. Here’s the interview:

For a 15-year-old girl, Saoirse Ronan has experienced her fair share of cinematic drama. As the pre-pubescent Briony in 2007’s “Atonement,” she witnesses a sexual crime and lies to investigators, a role for which Ronan (whose first name is pronounced SER-shuh) scored an Oscar nomination. And in the Peter Jackson-directed “The Lovely Bones,” opening, she portrays a teenage girl raped and murdered by her unassuming suburban neighbor. It would take a toll on someone twice her age.

Yet despite her slight frame and delicate, porcelain face, it is easy to see why directors choose Ronan for such dark fare. Curled up on a banquette in The Four Seasons Hotel in New York, she projects both the innocence of youth and the self-possession of a working professional. “I’ve always been a bit of an old soul,” she says.

She gives new meaning to that descriptor in “The Lovely Bones.” After her character, Susie Salmon, is killed, she spends the majority of the film in a middle world between life and death. Set in Seventies Pennsylvania and based on the Alice Sebold novel of the same name, the movie follows the Salmon family’s struggle with the tragic loss of 14-year-old Susie. Ronan acts as both narrator and spiritual force, watching as her parents (Rachel Weisz and Mark Wahlberg) self-destruct while her killer (Stanley Tucci) continues to roam unnoticed.

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“A couple of times I did get upset. But when you’re working on a movie for a long time, you just have to push it to one side, really, and get on with the job,” says Ronan of handling the challenging material, which includes a chill-inducing murder scene with Tucci.

Though she didn’t read the book until after the shoot (“I was 13 at the time and I was a bit too young — the first chapter’s a tough read”), Ronan found tapping into Susie easier than one might imagine.

“She’s this normal teenage girl. She comes from a strong family unit. She’s been protected her whole life. And that was very easy to understand because I’m the same way,” explains the Irish actress, who studied with a dialect coach for a mere two weeks to nail her pitch-perfect American accent.

Born in New York but raised as an only child in rural County Carlow, Ireland, Ronan didn’t grow up with typical child star intentions. Though she staged pretend soap operas with her dolls (“Woody from ‘Toy Story’ was having an affair with Polly Pocket’s best friend — this was when I was four,” she remembers) and landed a small part at eight on the Irish TV show “Clinic” through her father’s casting agency, she came to her passion for acting slowly.

“I didn’t know until I started to do it really. It’s sort of like, ‘How do you know if you want to be a footballer if you’ve never kicked a football?’” she explains. “When I did ‘Atonement’ the level was raised. It was a challenging role for me to take because it was a drama and I was working with really talented, professional people, and I was 12. So that’s when I started to think, ‘I really love this. How can I give this up now?’”

She shows no signs of stopping: Next up is Peter Weir’s World War II-era drama “The Way Back” with Ed Harris and Colin Farrell.

But the personal consequences of her chosen career have proved a difficult adjustment. For one, she had to switch to home-schooling after her Oscar nod.

“With everyone knowing who you are, it just wasn’t working out. I wanted to go to school, but it’s not going to be that way,” says Ronan.

Indeed, the stakes will only rise with the release of “The Lovely Bones.” At the New York premiere, Courtney Love accosted Ronan to gush about her performance, much to the young actress’ surprise. And at a recent appearance on MTV’s “It’s On With Alexa Chung,” Ronan was shocked to find photographers waiting outside for her arrival.

“I got ‘papped’ in the States for the first time last night,” she says of the experience, her eyes widening. “I think it’s different when people recognize you here. I knew it was going to happen in Ireland and that was fine; it’s Ireland and it’s grand. But in the States it’s like, ‘This is actually happening for real now.’”

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Uploaded screencaps from Saoirse’s appearance of It’s on with Alexa Chung and the interview for Access Hollywood. Thanks to green for getting the videos to me.

Saoirse did an interview for Access Hollywood.

Saoirse Ronan, who plays Susie Salmon in “The Lovely Bones,” discusses how it was difficult to watch the murder scene between her and Stanley Tucci – but was it difficult for her to film it? Plus, how does she know Brad Pitt and did he ever give her a kiss?

USA Today posted a new interview with Stanley Tucci and Saoirse Ronan about The Lovely Bones.

Some characters, Stanley Tucci will tell you, you take home as an actor. Others you can leave on the set.

Then there’s George Harvey, the child rapist and murderer at the center of The Lovely Bones, which opens Friday.

That guy, Tucci says, “you try to go home, take a shower to wash him off you and have a drink. That was the hardest character I’ve ever had to play. I think because it was such a departure from anything I am or believe in.”

Based on the 2002 best seller, Bones was a departure for many involved with the $64 million film.

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For director Peter Jackson, Bones marked an exodus from the fantasy worlds of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong. Set in 1973 small-town Pennsylvania, Bones takes an unblinking look at a family dissolved by a murder (though Jackson concedes he gets a little trippy with his heaven sequences).

For Saoirse Ronan, a knowing 15-year-old Irish girl already drawn to adult dramas, the movie is her grimmest yet – and she was in Atonement. “This was the first time I felt like a grown-up and really absorbed the material,” she says.

And for Tucci, the 49-year-old who lost his wife, Kate, to breast cancer in April, Bones was a test of how dark he could take a character and not let it invade a personal life already set on its ear. “I’ve seen the finished movie,” Tucci says. “But to tell you the truth, I’m not sure how many times I’ll be able to see it again.”

That likely won’t be an issue for the legions of fans of Alice Sebold’s novel about a 14-year-old girl who is raped and murdered by a neighbor (Tucci) on her way home from school.

From a heaven-like perch she calls the “in-between,” Susie narrates as her family, including her father (Mark Wahlberg), mother (Rachel Weisz) and grandmother (Susan Sarandon), mourn her death and try to find her killer.

Though the movie, like the book, examines unimaginable loss, Jackson and his stars find something uplifting in the story. There is a passage in the book in which Susie reflects on the strengthened relationships forged from her death, “the lovely bones that had grown around my absence.”

“It was the first time I looked at heaven as a possibly real place,” Ronan says.

And for all the violence that acts as the film’s linchpin, Bones backs away from some key scenes of brutality, a departure that could irk die-hard fans of the novel.

Tucci doesn’t care.

“I couldn’t have done this movie – I don’t think any of us could have done it – if the story weren’t still beautiful,” he says. “People relate to this book in a very personal way. That is what you have to get right, not the violence. That was the key for all of us, even if it meant going someplace we don’t always like to go.”

Not the Susie anyone expected

In truth, Bones was exactly where Ronan wanted to go. After filming the atmospheric fairy taleCity of Ember (2008), Ronan sought roles that reflected her maturing taste in novels and scripts.

She figured – correctly so – that Jackson would be seeking an American actress who could capture the mannerisms and flat accent of a suburban Philly girl. Still, she had her father videotape a few scenes of her acting dialogue from the book and sent a DVD to Jackson.

Jackson says he was leery before putting in the disc and done casting Susie Salmon by the time he took it out.

“We honestly assumed it would be an American actress,” he says. “Then we get this beautifully shot DVD of a girl with a perfect American accent, doing dialogue from the book. There wasn’t much point” in continuing the search.

Jackson says he finds many young American actresses “have a Nickelodeon quality to their acting, like they’re goofing. We needed a girl who looked like she was from 1973 and who got the reality of the story. Saoirse is fiercely courageous. In a way, I like to think that Susie Salmon found us.”

Finding George Harvey, though, proved difficult. While Jackson had long wanted Tucci, who impressed the director with turns in The Devil Wears Prada, Big Night and particularly his portrayal of Adolf Eichmann in 2001′s Conspiracy, the actor was hesitant.

“Kate had read me parts of the book when I was thinking about taking it,” he says. “I couldn’t even listen to the whole book, just the parts about Harvey. I was intrigued, but I wasn’t going to do the part. I just have a real problem trying to watch kids and families suffering, even in movies.”

Then Tucci had a call with Jackson and his partner, Fran Walsh. “It became clear the smart choice would be to take the part,” Tucci says. “They were telling an important story. It was nice to be part of an important story.”

‘More terrifying than a body part’

Still, stories in Hollywood have to be commercially viable. So the director, Walsh and collaborator Philippa Boyens set out to turn a brutal novel into a PG-13 film.

The territory wasn’t unfamiliar for the trio, who won a raft of Oscars tackling J.R.R. Tolkien. Still, Bones’ subject matter was so personal that they struggled with which relationships to kill (such as the affair between grieving mother and cop) and, more important, what graphic violence could be scaled back.

Much debate focused on, of all things, an elbow. In the book, Susie is raped, murdered and dismembered, leaving behind only that body piece and a bloodstained hat. To Tucci’s relief, the trio left only the bloody hat in the film.

“In any book adaptation, you’re only going to get 40% to 50% in,” Jackson says. “And we didn’t want to portray Susie as a victim in that kind of graphic way, with a dog carrying her elbow.”

The tougher decision, the three say, was whether to excise the book’s rape scene from the film. Ultimately, they did, deciding instead to focus on Tucci’s next-door-neighbor killer. “It’s much more effective if you can show someone who seems normal but is in no way relatable,” Walsh says. “He needed to be grotesque, but innocuous. That’s much more terrifying than a body part.”

And a lot easier on the conscience, Tucci says. “You’re already trying to play someone who would hurt a child. Gratuitous violence isn’t going to add anything to that.”

If the violence against children created challenges for the filmmakers, Susie Salmon’s personal heaven was giving Jackson headaches.

It’s one thing to create the fires of Mordor or an Empire State Building adorned with an oversized gorilla. Quite another, Jackson says, to create an afterlife that doesn’t look hokey, particularly to fans of Jackson’s digital wizardry.

“That was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done as a filmmaker,” Jackson says. “As a filmmaker, you want heaven to be subconscious and intangible. But you still have to put something on the screen.”

Instead of painting heaven in concrete colors, Jackson’s afterlife is a shape-shifting realm that responds to Susie’s thoughts and emotions. “We wanted it to speak in the language of dreams,” Walsh says.

Ironically, Ronan says the toughest days of shooting Bones involved her days in heaven. “It was all green screen,” she says. “I liked the scenes where it was me and Stanley alone better. Even when we were doing the tough scenes, we were close but respectful. It was uplifting in a weird way.”

So is Bones, Tucci says. “It’s not really about tragedy; it’s about all of the good that can come from it,” he says. “That’s what makes the story worth telling.”

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I’ve uploaded screen caps of Saoirse’s interviews for Talking TV and Hollywood Previews to the gallery.

Stills from Saoirse’s appearances on It’s On with Alexa Chung and additional photos of The Lovely Bones LA Press Conference are now up in the gallery.