Photos from City of Ember have been added to the new gallery. So be sure check them out.

On August 29th, Hanna comes to Blu Ray and DVD, so what better time to look at the young, but already stellar, career of its leading lady; Saoirse Ronan.

There seems to be, right now, a glut of young female talent in Hollywood. We’ll likely come back to people like Elle and Dakota Fanning, Chloe Moretz and Hailee Steinfeld, but for most people – certainly those who saw Atonement – Saoirse Ronan is perhaps one of the most intriguing and one of the most obviously gifted young actors to have emerged in the past five years.

Born in New York, Saoirse Ronan moved back to Carlow in Ireland with her parents when she was just three. Her Father, Paul is also an actor (who took his young daughter with him on the set of The Devil’s Own when she was a year old), but it doesn’t seem that either he or Ronan’s mother Monica have been stage parents, pushing their daughter in front of a camera, indeed Saoirse has said of acting “It’s not work, it is more of a passion. It is so much fun and it is really makes you feel great at the end of the day. You feel like you are really after doing something good and you are after accomplishing something. Acting is one of these things that I can’t really describe – it’s just like, why do you love your mum and dad? You know, you just do. ”

Ronan got her first jobs in Irish TV series The Clinic and Proof, but made a big step up when, in 2005, she was cast in Amy Heckerling’s romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman, playing Michelle Pfeiffer’s 11 year old daughter. Unfortunately a fine performance (and the first in a series of note perfect accents) didn’t help rescue the film from two years sitting on the shelf, before it snuck out direct to DVD in 2007.

Read the full article here.

Good news, according to the official press release of the Toronto International Film Festival Saoirse Ronan is expected to attend the festival. Her upcoming movie “Violet & Daisy” was recently added to the line-up of the festival. Her co-stars Alexis Bledel and James Gandolfini, screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher are also expected to attend.

“Violet & Daisy” is part of the special presentation line-up and has 3 screenings. The first screening is September 15, 6 pm at Visa Screening Room and we expect that Saoirse will attend that screening. The movie will have 3 screenings in total.

Thursday September 15
Visa Screening Room (Elgin)
6:00pm

Friday September 16
Ryerson
9:00pm

Sunday September 18
Scotiabank Theatre 1
9:00am

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Caleb Landry Jones (X-Men: First Class) has landed the male lead role in Neil Jordan’s vampire drama Byzantium. The film stars Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton as a daughter and mother who are vampires who arrive in a small British town. According to Variety, they reveal their secret to the town and the daughter begins a relationship with teenager dying of leukemia (Jones) which in turns forces him to struggle with his mortality, causing Saorsie Ronan’s character to struggle with her own immortality. When we first reported on the film back in May, the cast also included Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, and Jeremy Irvine (War Horse), but there’s no mention of them in Vulture’s story. Hopefully Fiennes and Carter are still on board (I haven’t seen Irvine in anything so I can’t really judge either way).

Jones was one of the weaker cast members in First Class, but in all fairness his character was broadly drawn and he didn’t get much screen time. He’ll next be seen alongside Mark Wahlberg in the crime-thriller Contraband.

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A new stunning photoshoot outtake has been added to the gallery. Thanks to Holger and Dead the heads up.

Another exciting entry to the Special Presentations section is Precious screenwriter, Geoffrey Fletcher’s directorial debut Violet & Daisy which stars Saoirse Ronan and Alexis Bledel as a pair of teenage assassins who believe they’ve landed a straightforward assignment but soon find themselves thrown off their game when their latest target isn’t who they expected. The film co-stars James Gandolfini, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Danny Trejo.

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Violet & Daisy, the whimsical story of a teenager’s surreal and violent journey through New York City, follows Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan as Daisy. With her volatile partner-in-crime Violet, played by Alexis Bledel, the two young assassins face a series of opponents, including one unusually mysterious man (James Gandolfini), in a life-altering encounter. The film, written and directed by Oscar-winning screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious), also stars Oscar nominee Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Danny Trejo.

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Last November, Saoirse Ronan was announced to be taking on the title role in Emma Thompson-penned period romantic drama “Effie”, but as is often the case in long-gestating projects, Ronan, along with co-star Orlando Bloom, has moved on. Deadline reports Dakota Fanning is now in negotiations for the part vacated by Ronan, and British up and comer Tom Sturridge will replace Bloom as her love interest.

Thompson, director Richard Laxton and actor Greg Wise remain on board. The film tells the story of Effie Gray, who marries a much older man, John Ruskin, only to fall in love with and run away with his more age-appropriate protege, the painter John Everett Millais. Sturridge will be Millais and Wise, Ruskin. Julie Walters, Derek Jacobi and Edward Fox have also joined the new cast. The film will begin production soon with the hope of having its world premiere at the 2012 Venice Film Festival.

Fanning recently took a short hiatus from work to finish high school, but has been back on the job with a vengeance. She recently completed work on gritty drama “The Motel Life”, jewelry heist thriller “Mississippi Wild” and is currently filming angsty teen drama “Now is Good” opposite “War Horse” star Jeremy Irvine. Sturridge is part of the impressive ensemble cast of Walter Salles’ adaptation of “On the Road” and will next star opposite Jeremy Irons in pre-WWI family drama “The Tree House”.

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Tons of behind the scenes pics and stills for Hanna have been added to the gallery. Enjoy!

“Join the fight for children’s rights.”

A NEW ISPCC campaign features Jedward as you’ve never seen them before.

The posters portray the duo with cuts and bruises to their faces, and the slogan “imagine if every child know that nothing can ever happen that can’t be fixed by someone who cares”.

Other well known faces like Westlife manager Louis Walsh and actress Saoirse Ronan are also taking part in the series of posters.

An ISPCC spokesperson has told TheJournal.ie that the campaign will be officially launched on Monday. It’s not yet clear if it will extend beyond the posters.

Jedward, aling with Saoirse Ronan, Westlife, Louis Walsh, Brian O’Driscoll and many other well-known names are ISPCC ambassadors.

The ISPCC’s recent ‘I Can’t Wait Until I Grow Up’ campaign featured a video which some felt went too far. A Journal.ie poll revealed that the majority of people felt that the video, which depicted violence against a small boy to be “graphic but real”.

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3 movie clips for “Arrietty” were recently released, Saoirse is voicing the main character Arrietty in the movie. The movie is currently in cinemas in the UK (since July 29). You can watch the clips below/inside.

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