Saoirse Ronan has spent years bringing other people’s stories to the screen. Now she wants to direct one of her own. After making the short film Paper Plane, which premiered at Venice, the actor told the BFI she has ideas for a feature and would like to make one. She has not announced a title or a production date. The ambition itself is the news.
Ronan wrote Paper Plane as well as directing it. She described the short as a love letter to her mother and to a younger version of herself, with its roots in things she experienced as a child. Directing is not a recent whim prompted by success as an actor. “I’ve wanted to direct for a really, really long time,” she told the BFI.
A feature is on her mind, but not on a calendar
When asked whether she might make a feature, Ronan said, “I would like to do a feature.” She wants Paper Plane to have its own life first and then decide what comes next. That is a clear creative goal, not a secret announcement that a new movie is already in production.
Her new interview arrived as Bad Apples opened in cinemas. Ronan plays Maria, a primary-school teacher who becomes overwhelmed by a disruptive pupil and makes a terrible choice. The film gives her a difficult character to defend, which makes the work she did before shooting especially revealing.
What did she learn in a real classroom?
The team filmed at a school near Bath and sat in on lessons. Ronan said returning to a classroom made her nervous. Watching teachers win a room’s attention, keep it and deliver a lesson in a short time gave her a much clearer sense of the job. She also spoke with friends who teach and listened to The Secret Life of Teachers, a podcast with anonymous conversations about school life.
None of that turned Maria into an innocent victim. Asked about the character’s actions, Ronan said, “I don’t condone her actions.” She could still understand how pressure, disappointment and shame brought Maria to a breaking point. The film lets the audience feel for a person without asking them to approve of what she does.
Ronan is also filming Sam Mendes’s four-film Beatles project as Linda McCartney, according to the BFI interview. Between that large production, a dark comedy with children and her own intimate short, she is moving between very different kinds of work. Her wish to direct a feature makes sense in that company: she has spent a long time looking at stories from inside them, and now wants a hand in shaping one from the start.
For now, there is no feature to add to a release calendar. There is Paper Plane, an actor who says she has wanted to direct since before she started acting, and a straightforward answer about what she hopes to do next.
For the film’s cast and story, see our Bad Apples movie page.
