Which celebrity would Saoirse love to meet? How does she feel about the Hollywood club scene and the lame outfit her mom gave her that just left her “mortified”.

The last time we spoke with Saoirse, she had just turned 14 and, do we need to say that, at 15, there is a huge difference in her appearance. Duh. But, the actress looked great for our current interview with her blue/green eyes set off by black liner, her hair longer and wearing a cute long-sleeved Lucky Brand tee with a colorful LOVE logo, skinny jeans and high, black Derek Lam, lace-up heels.

Pretend you are listening to a lilting Irish accent as Saoirse answers both tough and fun questions. First, I tell her I loved the film City of Ember and wish it had done better in theaters but it did well on DVD. (Check out our interview with a younger Saoirse on that film).

Saoirse: It was kind of frustrating because we worked extremely hard on it and the director was very passionate about it. So many people come up to me with ‘I loved that movie’.

TeenHollywood: In The Lovely Bones, murdered Susie Salmon goes to an In-Between land before she makes it to heaven. What two things would you most wish to have with you in an In-Between land or heaven? And, what would your own In-Between be filled with?

Saoirse: If I can’t bring people, I would bring my dog Sassy because she would make things fun and I would bring an i-pod that never ran out of power so I could listen to music.

I’m not sure what it would look like but I think it makes sense that your In-Between is your own personal (world) and it’s your imagination. I think if it were to happen to me now, hopefully it doesn’t, it would be filled with things from my earlier childhood, some memories that I’ve had like we lived beside a river in Ireland and I learned to swim there so things like that, schools that I went to.

TeenHollywood: How are you very much like your character Susie and how very different?

Saoirse: Susie loves photography which I do too and she’s creative and loves life and has a positive outlook on life and she’s a normal teenager and I think that’s why people and girls will be able to relate to her. How are we different?

I think I’d be a little bit more mature than Susie but I think that’s really just because of the times that she lived in (the 1970′s) and also her fashion sense is different than mine.

TeenHollywood: How did you enjoy those floaty, fancy chiffon 1970′s dresses that you got to dance around in?

Saoirse: Oh, I know (they were beautiful)! I did like them. It was great because for months, and months and months, I was in my yellow bellbottoms and blue parka and then I was told we were going to do this ’70′s fashion thing and was extremely excited and was trying on clothes.

The costume designer worked extremely hard on making these outlandish, beautiful costumes for us. It took us a couple of days to get the scenes done and you only see it for a few seconds in the film which is a shame but it was great fun.

TeenHollywood: And did you keep any wardrobe from the movie?

Saoirse: I kept this wine, cord jacket and it has “Susie” on the back that is made of beads and has got flames around it. It was beautiful! And I also got to keep my charm bracelet (a significant prop from the book and film). I wore it to the London premiere and I think I’m going to wear it (for the L.A. premiere).

TeenHollywood: If your mom knitted you a kinda lame pom pom hat like Susie has to wear, would you…

1. Just tell her it’s not your style.

2. Wear it in front of friends because your mom made it.

3. Wear it until you are out of her sight and hide it?

Saoirse: (laughing). Number three, always! That’s what Susie did as well.

TeenHollywood: Has your mom ever picked out something for you that you really didn’t like? (now Saoirse’s mom is over in a corner laughing too).

Saoirse: Mom (or Ma’am as she pronounces it) got me this jumper and I actually think it’s kind of sweet now but, at the time…no! It was this cute Christmas jumper that had these reindeer on it and I just wasn’t into this jumper!

Ma’am and I have a very good sense of style but then, I just wasn’t into this thing and I wore it to school and was mortified!

TeenHollywood: I can imagine! Serious question. When you were younger did your parents ever give you the speech about not trusting strangers?

Saoirse: Yeah. I was never really allowed out on my own anyway, but yeah, I did have talks. My Ma’am talked to me over the years about how you should be careful and don’t talk to strangers.

I remember, she used to be a nanny and we were in New York and had the kid that she minded with us and this guy comes up and starts talking to us and (the child being minded) started talking back and I knew I wasn’t supposed to do that kind of thing and then Ma’am gave us another talk so it’s always been natural for me not to do that sort of thing.

TeenHollywood: Seems like Susie needed that lesson but her curiosity got the better of her.

Saoirse: Yeah. I think it was curiosity and her naiveté as well.

TeenHollywood: Had you read the novel before going to make this movie?

Saoirse: When I did get the role, I waited to read it until after I’d made the film because I was a little too young to read it. I’d heard it was a tough read, especially the first chapter (with rape and murder).

After reading it now, I realize that it is quite tough but I eventually did read it and it was beautiful. I thought that Pete (director Peter Jackson) and Fran (Walsh) and Phillippa (Boyens) did a great job in adapting it.

TeenHollywood: There is joy in this movie but also some very sad and emotional scenes. Was there a particular scene that was overwhelming emotionally for you?

Saoirse: There was always one scene that stood out and that got very emotional. I was drowned in the scene for quite a long time. It was the barley field scene near the end of the movie when Mr. Harvey’s victims come to take Susie to heaven.

I mean, that’s one of my favorite scenes in the film and definitely my favorite scene to shoot. It was so emotional and touching. I think we did it for about a day. I think that everyone on set felt the same way. We were all very touched and emotional. I’ll always remember shooting that.

TeenHollywood: You were acting alone in many of the scenes when Susie is in her In-Between world. Can you talk about working by yourself and also against green screen with many things not really there?

Saoirse: Well, we did go on location as well in New Zealand which was beautiful, but when we used green screen there were different things that they figured out would help me. Of course, everything that I needed, or most of it, was in the script already.

But, we’d also play music every day during the shots; music that would reflect the mood of the scene. So that would help me so much. Peter would talk to me during takes as well and describe what was going on around me and so I was able to react to that. It was nice because I never really felt like I was on my own. I felt like I had a guardian angel there. Especially the music really helped me.

TeenHollywood: The actual murder scene, although it isn’t graphic in the film, is still pretty tense and tough. Did you have any conversations with Stanley Tucci who plays the killer before shooting those scenes?

Saoirse: We didn’t talk about it that much beforehand. I don’t think that Stanley really wanted to. It was quite a few months into shooting before we actually did the scene. Both Stanley and I were both anxious to get this scene out of the way.

Luckily, Stanley and I are very comfortable with each other and we get on well and I think that was essential in order to get that intensity on the screen, that we were comfortable with each other and that we could bounce off of each other and sort of freak each other out in a way, especially him (freaking me out).

TeenHollywood: I’m sure it was uncomfortable.

Saoirse: I know that I wouldn’t have been able to stay in that place for the whole time because when cameras started to roll, it was extremely intense and Stanley is such a great guy but to see how he changes is frightening. But I enjoyed it. I enjoyed doing the scene.

TeenHollywood: Okay let’s lighten up. Teen girls wanna know. Reece Ritchie is pretty cute.

Saoirse: Yeah, he is cute.

TeenHollywood: He’s an older man (21 then?) and he and Susie share a kiss. How was that kiss with him? Embarrassing with all the people on set or fun?

Saoirse: At first it was slightly weird, not even because I was kissing him but I was kissing a dude that was like eight years older than me when I was thirteen.

That doesn’t matter when you are in your 20′s but when you are thirteen and he was twenty-whatever… it was a little weird at first but then it was fine and after the tenth time, you just get used to it.

TeenHollywood: Susie is just struck speechless when Ray is around. What person in the public eye would really just make you speechless around them?

Saoirse: I think if I met Lady Gaga, I’d be pretty (stoked) or Stevie Nicks (of classic rock group Fleetwood Mac).

TeenHollywood: Dakota Fanning, who is also 15, was saying that she really enjoys going to pubic high school and having female friends to pal around with who aren’t in the business at all. Do you have trouble finding friends who aren’t just hanging with you because you are famous?

Saoirse: Pretty much all of my friends at home don’t know anything about the business, aren’t connected to the business and I love that. I feel the same way as Dakota does, they are separate lives, separate worlds and there’s no point in trying to mix them together. It doesn’t work.

I live in the country in Ireland and my friends couldn’t care less. It’s fantastic. But, I had about three schools to choose from and two were out of the question so I’m home-schooled at the moment.

TeenHollywood: I’ve talked to Dakota Fanning and Anna-Sophia Robb (who recently turned 16), various times and they both have said that they would love to co-star in a film with actresses their age…

Saoirse: (excited) I know! Did Dakota say that? Put that on the website, that I want to do a movie with girls my age. It’s ridiculous that we don’t.

It’s nice to know that they feel the same. I really want to do something with other teenaged girls and I think it’s ridiculous the way (the press) compares us all by who is prettier or who is a better actress or if we hate each other when we haven’t even met.

TeenHollywood: You have avoided the young Hollywood club scene but there is also a club scene in Europe. Hitting that scene has wrecked a few promising careers. Is this something you will continue to avoid as you get older?

Saoirse: I’m not really interested in that kind of thing. I wouldn’t mind going to parties and stuff but I think, when it happens more than once (ending up in the tabloid press), they’re asking for it. I’m certainly not asking for that kind of attention at all. So, no. Plus, people don’t respect you as an actor anymore and that’s one of the most important things to me.

TeenHollywood: Atonement, City of Ember and The Lovely Bones aren’t exactly laugh fests so now do you want to try a comedy or maybe a teen romantic comedy?

Saoirse: It’s not out of the question but usually those aren’t great but, if it was a good script, then yeah. That’s, in the end, what matters; a good script, a good director and a great character.

But, I am on the lookout for comedy or something a little bit more lighthearted. There are a few things that might be happening next year so that would be good.

TeenHollywood: Is there an historical character or another character in a book that you really want to play some day? (Saoirse’s mom says ‘Anne Frank’);

Saoirse: No. I don’t want to play Anne Frank! I just said I was reading the book! I don’t think I’d fit the role of Anne Frank to be honest.

Saoirse’s mom: You could play Stevie Nicks!

Saoirse: Yeah. That would be cool.

TeenHollywood: And would you like to write and direct some day?

Saoirse: Oh yes!

Note: Saoirse has completed a role alongside Colin Farrell in The Way Back, a true story about a group of soldiers who engineered a grueling escape from a Siberian labor camp in 1942. Saoirse plays a Russian on the run. She is also supposed to film The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle about a female sailor in the 1800′s based upon the novel by Avi.

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