Actresses Saoirse Ronan and Pollyanna McIntosh have joined the guest list for the Jameson Dublin Intl. Film Festival, which runs March 19-29.

Ronan will be attending the screening of neo-noir fantasy film “Lost River,” which is written and directed by actor Ryan Gosling.

MacIntosh will introduce horror film “Let Us Prey,” in which she stars alongside Liam Cunningham. Pic is director Brian O’Malley’s feature debut.

Also confirmed as attending is director Carol Morley, who will present her black comedy “The Falling.” Pic stars “Game of Thrones” thesp Maisie Williams.

Previously announced guests at the fest, which is headed by Grainne Humphreys, include Kenneth Branagh, who will screen “Cinderella”; Alan Rickman, who will showcase his period film “A Little Chaos”; and Russell Crowe, who presents his directorial debut “The Water Diviner.”

Other guests include Ryan O’Neal, Julie Andrews, Kim Cattrall, Danny Huston, Jan Harlan, Jack Reynor, Robbie Sheehan, Orla Brady and Vincent Perez.

The festival has added additional screenings of Yuriy Bykov’s “The Fool,” Gyorgy Palfi’s “Free Fall” and Ivano De Matteo’s “The Dinner.”

Source

Fox Searchlight has set an awards season release for “Brooklyn,” slotting the Saoirse Ronan drama for a Nov. 6 launch.

“Brooklyn,” the story of an immigrant’s journey to New York, was bought during Sundance for $9 million following its Jan. 25 premiere at the festival.

Ronan plays a native of Ireland who leaves for Brooklyn in 1952. The movie was directed by John Crowley and adapted by Nick Hornby from the novel written by Colm Toibin.

Producers are Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey. Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters also star.

Source

Weeks before the Oscars were handed out Sunday, studios were already taking meetings with awards consultants for next year’s best picture contenders. What movies might we be hearing about again (and again … and again) later this year? An early stab at a top 10, in alphabetical order:

“Brooklyn,” (Fox Searchlight, release TBA): Searchlight paid $9 million at Sundance for this exquisite immigrant love story — and that might end up being a bargain price. Set in 1950s New York, it follows a homesick Irish woman (Saoirse Ronan) struggling to adapt to her new life until she meets a sweet Italian plumber (Emory Cohen). It’s beautifully crafted, emotionally turbulent and sports a superb lead turn by the 20-year-old Ronan, making good on the promise she first showed in “Atonement.”

“Carol,” (The Weinstein Co., fall): The latest from Todd Haynes (“Far from Heaven”), a drama about a married woman (Cate Blanchett) embarking on a lesbian romance with a younger woman (Rooney Mara) in the early 1950s, will likely premiere at Cannes this May.

“Demolition,” (Fox Searchlight, fall): Director Jean-Marc Vallee (“Dallas Buyers Club,” “Wild”) knows how to win Oscar nominations for his actors, which might mean Jake Gyllenhaal will finally get his due for this drama about an investment banker widower whose world is changed when he meets a single mother (Naomi Watts).

“In the Heart of the Sea,” (Warner Bros., Dec. 11): Ron Howard’s historical thriller about the 1820 sinking of the whaleship Essex was moved to a prime awards release date after being initially slated for March. The studio has a strong history of turning quality commercial movies (“Argo,” “American Sniper”) into Oscar contenders.

“Joy,” (20th Century Fox, Christmas): David O. Russell. Jennifer Lawrence. They’ve been to the dance together twice before (“Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Hustle”), so why doubt this biographical dramedy about the Long Island single mom who invented the Miracle Mop?

“Money Monster,” (TriStar, TBA): George Clooney plays a self-serving TV stock huckster (paging Jim Cramer!) taken hostage by a gunman on air and forced to come clean. Jodie Foster directs; Julia Roberts costars. Expect Clooney to have plenty of fun promoting this one.

“The Revenant,” (20th Century Fox, Christmas): In between stocking his mantle with awards, “Birdman” director-producer-writer Alejandro G. Inarritu spent the past few months shooting this revenge-themed western about a frontiersman (Leonaro DiCaprio) mauled by a bear and left to die by his companions. Expect to see plenty of Inarritu again on the awards circuit.

“St. James Place,” (Touchstone, Oct. 16): Steven Spielberg’s Cold War historical thriller reunites him with Tom Hanks, who plays attorney James Donovan, the man asked to negotiate the release of Francis Gary Powers, the pilot of the U-2 spy plane shot down in Soviet airspace in 1960.

“Steve Jobs,” (Universal, Oct. 9): That biopic of the Apple co-founder that caused so much consternation between producer Scott Rudin and then-Sony studio head Amy Pascal will arrive in October via Universal and director Danny Boyle. Michael Fassbender stars. Burning question: Will Angelina Jolie be invited to the premiere?

“Suffragette,” (no distributor yet): This British production doesn’t have a U.S. distributor yet but it does feature Meryl Streep and Carey Mulligan playing women fighting for voting rights in England in the early 1900s. And it’s directed by a woman, Sarah Gavron. You did see the reaction to Patricia Arquette’s speech at the Oscars, right?

Source

According to Latino Review, Taron Edgerton (“Kingsman: The Secret Service“), Jamie Blackley (“If I Stay“), and Tye Sheridan (“Mud“) are all in the mix to play young Cyclops in the film. The studio is looking at a talented batch of young actors here, and Edgerton is already set to possibly launch into bigger and better things with ‘Kingsman’ getting hugely positive notices.

Young Storm has Alexandra Shipp (“Aaliyah: The Princess Of R&B“) and Zendaya Coleman looking to fill Halle Berry‘s wig. Meanwhile, young Jean Grey has slightly more established names like “Game Of Thrones” star Sophie Turner and Saoirse Ronan in the mix. Nothing wrong with either of those picks as far as we’re concerned, and while it looks like the cast is sort of rebooting again, with the core “X-Men: First Class” team returning (Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, etc.), these new faces will add some fresh blood to the proceedings.

Source

Irish actress Saoirse Ronan and comedian Brendan Grace will chat to Ryan Tubridy on this Friday’s Late Late Show.

Also this week The Late Late Show will launch its Toy Show Jumper Competition. A spokesperson for the show explained to RTÉ Ten that they are looking for a member of the public to knit a Christmas jumper for Ryan to wear on the Toy Show.

They said: “As with every year Ryan will wear a festive jumper on The Late Late Toy Show. Usually he buys one but this year he needs the public’s help.

“Their mission should they chose to accept – it is to knit Ryan a Toy Show Jumper! If the jumper committee approves it he’ll wear it on the Toy Show.”

Source

The acclaimed actress (20) has finished filming on the movie based on the novel of the same name by award-winning Irish author Colm Toibin.

Co-starring Domhnall Gleeson, it tells the story of a young woman named Eilis who moves from a rural town in Ireland to the bright lights of Brooklyn as she tries to follow her dreams.

Once in the US, Eilis is initially homesick, but soon settles down in the city and falls in love with an Italian plumber called Tony, who is played by Emory Cohen.

And having seen the first version of the movie, which saw Nick Hornby writing the screenplay, Toibin was left singing the praises of the Carlow native.

“It’s very, very emotional. It’s the first time I suppose she’s doing a part as a lead actress as an adult on her own and she’s absolutely extraordinary,” he said.

“I thought, maybe this is for people who remember emigration but all the young people who came from the publishers and agency in London, they were all in tears of the choice she had to make.

“Was she going to stay in Ireland or was she going to go back to Brooklyn and the guy, the American actor Emory Cohen plays it as pure charm. He’ll do anything to win her.”

He also said there was wonderful chemistry between her and the ‘Stars Wars’ actor, who’s quickly becoming the toast of Hollywood and plays Saoirse’s love interest in the film.

“Domhnall Gleeson in Ireland plays it the other way around (to Cohen).

“He is just so sincere, so honest, so decent that he would mean pure stability and he sort of needs her and she can see that every word he says is true. So they’re playing the opposite ways against each other and she has to decide which way to go,” Toibin told Newstalk’s Pat Kenny.

The cast also includes Jim Broadbent as the village priest and Julie Waters as Ronan’s mum with the production shot in locations including Enniscorthy in Wexford and Dublin.

Set in 1950’s Ireland, the shoot then moved on to Montreal in Canada with the movie scheduled for release in early 2015 with Toibin saying the only thing left to do is add the music score to the film.

Author Toibin will shortly publish his eight novel, which is entitled Nora Webster.

Source

The 2014 Cannes Film Festival announced the official schedule earlier this week. “Lost River” is selected like we previously reported. The movie was previously titled “How To Catch A Monster“. The movie will have it’s first screening on May 20th and will have another screening the next day. Let’s hope Saoirse is able to attend the premiere!

Official Plot: Set against the surreal dreamscape of a vanishing city, BILLY, a single mother of two, is swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld while BONES, her eighteen-year-old son, discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town. Both Billy and Bones must dive deep into the mystery, if their family is to survive.
-Source

Saoirse Ronan and Cynthia Nixon have been set to star in Stockholm, Pennsylvania, a psychological thriller scripted and to be directed by Nikole Beckwith. Pic marks her feature helmer debut and production begins next week in Los Angeles. The film is an adaptation of the play, and the script made the 2012 Black List and won the 2012 Nicholl Fellowship and came through the Sundance Screenwriting Lab. Greg Ammon is producing through his banner Fido Features in association with Olympus Pictures’ Leslie Urdang and Dan Halsted.

Ronan stars as developmentally stunted Leia, a young woman raised by a kidnapper who now struggles to acclimate to her actual parents after 20 years of separation. Nixon plays the girl’s grief-stricken mother, who goes to extreme lengths to recapture her daughter’s love. Jason Isaacs plays her captor, and David Warshofsky plays her father. Fido Features is a production/finance company that recently wrapped Shiva & May, the Diane Bell-helmed thriller that stars Jessica Biel and Zosia Mamet. Beckwith comes from the Public Theater’s Emerging Writer’s Group, and is repped by ICM Partners. Ronan, who will next be seen in the Susanne Bier-directed Mary Queen Of Scots and the Wes Anderson-directed The Grand Budapest Hotel, also stars in the Ryan Gosling-directed How To Catch A Monster. She’s repped by CAA and UK’s Macfarlane Chard. Nixon recently wrapped A Quiet Passion and Life Itself and James White, and stars in Amazon’s Alpha House and in the second season of NBC’s Hannibal. She is repped by UTA and Emily Gerson Saines at Brookside Artist Management. Isaac, who wrapped the WWII drama Fury and the NBC mini Rosemary’s Baby is repped by Gersh, ITG and Silver Lining, and Warshofsky is repped by Talentworks, Cornerstone and Patty Woo Management.

Thursday, February 6
Competition – The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson
14.30 Photo Call
14.45 Press Conference
18.00 Red Carpet

Wes Anderson (Director, Screenwriter), Ralph Fiennes (Actor), Tony Revolori (Actor), Willem Dafoe (Actor), Bill Murray (Actor), Jeff Goldblum (Actor), Tilda Swinton (Actress), Edward Norton (Actor), Saoirse Ronan (Actress), Jeremy Dawson (Co-Producer)
Moderation: Anatol Weber

Gala
19.30 Opening of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival