Three more stills for Violet & Daisy have been released. Thanks to Jessica for the tips.

I added the first photos of Saoirse and her co-star Caleb Landry Jones filming Byzantiumin Dublin, Ireland. Enjoy! Thanks to M for the heads up.

Irish actors Michael Fassbender and Saoirse Ronan have received nominations for the Critics’ Choice Awards which were announced this morning.

Fassbender is in contention in the Best Actor category for his role in Shame and is up against George Clooney for Descendants, Leonardo DiCaprio for Clint Eastwood’s biopic J. Edgar, Jean Dujardin for The Artist, Ryan Gosling for Drive and Brad Pitt for his portrayal of baseball’s Billy Beane in director Bennett Miller’s Moneyball.

Saoirse Ronan has a chance of scooping the award for Best Young Actor/Actress, though she is up against Elle Fanning, Ezra Miller, Thomas Horn, Shailene Woodley and Asa Butterfield.

The Help, Hugo and The Artist have come out as strong contenders for awards season. Other films which have come up strong in the BFCA’s list include My Week With Marilyn, Drive, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and Young Adult.

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‘Byzantium’, the latest film by Irish director Neil Jordan (The Borgias, Ondine) is set to begin shooting on location in Hastings, UK in the first week of December, moving to Ireland in mid-December until the beginning of February.

The fantasy thriller project is confirmed to shoot in Ardmore Studios and around the Dublin and Wicklow area. Producers at Irish production company Parallel Films are also currently scouting Irish locations in the West and South West of the country.

‘Byzantium’ was written by Moira Buffini and will star IFTA winning Irish actress Saoirse Ronan (Hanna, Atonement), British actress Gemma Arterton (Prince of Persia, Quantum of Solace) and ‘X-Men’ star Caleb Landry.

Hot on the heels of ‘Twilight’, Neil Jordan’s flick ’Byzantium’ is a thriller which tells the story of a mother and daughter vampire duo, who form a deadly pact. Other cast members include Brit favourites Sam Riley (Brighton Rock, 13) and Daniel Mays (The Adventures of Tintin, Doctor Who).

’Byzantium’ is a co-production between Parallel Films and UK production company Number 9 and is expected to release in 2012. Producers are Alan Moloney (Neverland) of Parallel films and Liz Karlsen (Made in Dagenham) of Number 9 Films and Stephen Woolley (Perrier’s Bounty).

The film carries an estimated mid-range budget with funding support from Irish Film Board and the UK Film Council.

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Monday, 21st November 2011: ISPCC Ambassador Oscar Nominated Actress Saoirse Ronan and Leinster and International Rugby Star Jamie Heaslip took time out of their busy schedules today to join Elverys Sports and the ISPCC to launch the sale of ISPCC beanie hats in Elverys Sports stores this Christmas.

These colourful, fun beanie hats make the ideal stocking filler and are available to purchase in all 54 Elverys Sports stores and on www.elverys.ie. Priced at €3.99, Elverys Sports will donate €2 of the selling price to the ISPCC. Elverys Sports hope to raise €60,000 from this initiative.

Elverys have also launched a special Christmas competition in store, where they will donate Elverys Sports hampers to the ISPCC to give to underprivileged children this Christmas. These hampers are to be chosen by Elverys Sports customers and those whose hampers are chosen can win great prizes with the top prize of a Trip to Disney Land.

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SAOIRSE Ronan is scaling new heights with noteperfect preparations for her latest role.

The young star has confounded musical experts by learning to play a complicated Beethoven piano sonata in just 12 weeks, despite having never played the instrument before.

The 17-year-old also stunned director Neil Jordan and left him “speechless” with her grasp of a difficult piece that even accomplished pianists find tricky.

Ms Ronan had never had a piano lesson in her life when Mr Jordan cast her as a music-loving vampire in his upcoming movie ‘Byzantium’.

The actress will play one half of a mother and daughter duo who arrive in a small English town in the movie, which co-stars Gemma Arterton and begins shooting in the UK and Bray’s Ardmore Studios next month.

“There’s this scene in the film where my vampire characters sits down to play an old piano and entrances everyone with her playing,” Ms Ronan revealed yesterday.

Mr Jordan had expected the Co Carlow teenager to mime her way through Beethoven’s ‘Piano Sonata Opus 2, No 3’.

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Saoirse has an editorial photographed by Steven Meisel in the December issue of Vogue US. The editorial is amazing, she looks so different in it.

On Halloween a report came out listing the actors that would potentially be taking one of two lead roles in the Andrew Niccol-directed adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s The Host. Though a total of eight actors were mentioned in the article, only two of them were going to walk away smiling. Now it seems like the selections have been made.

According to sources over at EW, Max Irons, son of Oscar winner Jeremy Irons, will play Jared, the boyfriend Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan); while Jake Abel has landed the role of Ian, a guy who falls in love with the alien inside of Melanie. Confused? Well, the story is about an alien called “The Wanderer” that comes to Earth and inhabits Melanie’s body, so expect a complicated love triangle (or is it a square?). The book was the first novel put out by Meyer following the end of the Twilight series. Irons doesn’t have a large number of films on his resume, but has had roles in movies like Being Julia, Unrequited Love, Dorian Gray, and Red Riding Hood. He also has a recurring role in the UK television series The Runaway. Abel’s resume is much longer and he even has a previous credit alongside Ronan, as both actors starred in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lovely Bones.

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