Blu-ray and DVD of The Way Back is now out!

Thanks to M for the heads up.

Thanks to M for passing on a interview of Saoirse with BBC. Click here to watch the interview.

Thanks to Caro for pointing out,

“[Director Joe Wright and I have] talked about it a little bit because journalists keep bringing it up,” she said with a laugh. “You’re like the tenth one or something, at least!”

“But it’s great that people have that kind of reaction to it,” she quickly added, affirming that, yes, she would love to pursue a “Hanna” sequel.

“Yeah, I’d love to,” she said. “Obviously it depends on how the movie does and things like that, but it’d be something I’d be up for.”

With the solid box-office numbers in place, maybe it’s just a matter of finding the right story at this point. Luckily, Ronan has some ideas.

“We were trying to come up with a sequel story the other day,” she said. “Maybe she would go to New York City or something like that, or become a celebrity. Maybe she’ll go to space!”

Err, space? Maybe not. But Ronan is open for suggestions — in fact, she’d like to hear from you! — and, even better, is wide open to the idea of more “Hanna.”

“It’d be good to do,” she said. “If the story was as well developed as the first one and it wasn’t just for the sake of doing a sequel, it’d be great fun.”

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Saoirse Ronan
Forget “Atonement.” Forget “The Lovely Bones.” Fantastic as those performances are, “Hanna” brings Ronan her big breakout role. Describing her as mini-Jason Bourne does not do justice to the incredible feats of physical, mental and emotional strength this young killer accomplishes over the course of this film. Ronan’s already had quite the diverse career, and her step into the action genre is a bold and exciting one.

The Supporting Cast
Eric Bana turns in a reliably compelling performance as Hanna’s mentor and father, though it’s Cate Blanchett as the wicked Marissa Wiegler who steals the show. The spread of thoroughly evil characters in Blanchett’s resume are few and far between, and her turn as the relentlessly ruthless Wiegler is a deeply-cut notch in her accomplished belt of performances. Beyond Bana and Blanchett, major props go out to the other supporting players from Tom Hollander as the whistling sadist Isaacs to the true-to-today’s-youth-culture performance from Jessica Barden.

The Action
Make no mistake—though “Hanna” plays with many genres and storytelling motifs, it is fully populated by frenetic violence, intriguing espionage and impossible feats of power. It’s an eye-popping visual ride that director Joe Wright handles with surprising expertise, especially given his reputation a period piece filmmaker. Just as “Hanna” marks a bold new career move for Ronan, Wright proves here that he’s a force to be reckoned with in the action arena.

The Chemical Brothers
Have you heard that soundtrack? It’s brilliant, isn’t it? Now imagine that very same score humming and thumping beneath and above the surface of numerous sequences where the hell-bent Hanna efficiently and decisively tears her way through African and European landscapes. Need I say more?

The Complexity
“Hanna” is not a simple film. From genre-bending to visual trickery, this is a movie that blends many different elements of cinema into one wholly unique package. As Ronan herself explains: “I came out of the film and I kind of thought, what have I just seen? It was amazing. My heart was pumping. The music was so heavy the whole way through. And I still had all the characters in my head. But what the hell had I just seen?” Indeed, “Hanna” is not forgettable. It’s the kind of movie that sticks with you for the rest of the night, long into the weekend and then some. I won’t speak for you, but that’s more than enough reason to earn my ticket money.

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I’ve added the captures from Saoirse’s interview on Young Hollywood and you can watch the interview here. Thanks to Caro for the link.

“It was rigorous, but it was great,” Ronan told MTV News of her training process. “I trained for about two months before we started shooting, and I learnt new skills like knife fighting, stick fighting, how to shoot a gun, martial arts. There was a style designed by Jeff Amada, who’s the stunt coordinator, and it was created specifically for the character of Hanna. It was based on the strength and energy and body type and things like that. We worked on that every single day, and I felt like I was starting to walk differently. I’d hold myself differently. I felt stronger, just after a few weeks. It was amazing. It was a great way to focus.”

“I didn’t think I couldn’t do it, but I wanted to do my best,” Ronan said of tackling such an action-heavy role. “I’m a bit of a perfectionist, I guess, so I pushed myself quite a bit. I had a personal trainer to push me quite a bit as well. It was probably the most preparation I’ve ever done for a film, definitely the most physical preparation.”

“I think he held back a little bit, because he was fighting a little girl,” she said. “But I had a little voice in my ear — maybe it was Joe Wright, I don’t know — and he said, ‘Just go for it! Just do it!’ So I went for it. You just gotta do it.”

And don’t expect her to feel guilty about it, either. “It was good fun, kicking the Hulk’s ass!” she laughed.

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“I’m so boring,” she laughed when I asked her for an update on her “Hobbit” status. “Nothing’s confirmed, but I know that [Jackson and his team have] been working on the script really hard and I think they’re going to introduce a few more characters, so we’ll have to wait and see.”

Saoirse, who previously collaborated with Jackson on “The Lovely Bones,” said that she would love to go back down to New Zealand to work on the fantasy films. “I love New Zealand. It’s amazing — it’s so far away from Ireland, which is where I live, but it’s like a home away from home,” she explained. “I’d love to go back down there. And like you said, everybody is so excited about ‘The Hobbit.’ Everybody can’t wait to see it. There are so many great people involved, especially the cast, so give me a job, please!”

Something tells me that after people start seeing “Hanna” this weekend, Saoirse won’t have to do much begging for jobs. Still, if she does make her way to Middle Earth, she already has her eye on which mythical creature she’d like to play: “You know, I think the elves are quite elegant. I’ve always fancied being with them.”

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Rumors have pegged Saoirse for a supporting role in Wright’s developing adaptation of Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina,” with the director himself admitting that he’d like her to join the film. But as of now, Ronan says she’s not a part of the project.

“Well, nothing… not really,” she answered when asked if there was truth to her involvement in “Anna Karenina” (a title that I can’t correctly pronounce, it seems). Disappointing news for many, as Ronan and Wright make a heck of a team, and the classic novel would provide the young actress with a great environment to test those chops even further.

Still, she’s not closing the door on the possibility entirely: “There’s a lot of things going on right now and nothing has really been confirmed. So we’ll see.”

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