Saoirse Ronan Reflects On Hollywood Rivalries And Dream Collab With Dakota Fanning
Saoirse Ronan, 30, is reflecting on her Hollywood journey, touching on everything from old rivalries to the complex roles she’s embracing today. In an interview with ELLE for the magazine’s Women in Hollywood issue, Saoirse opened up about the pressure she faced as a young actress, often finding herself compared to other rising stars — especially Dakota Fanning.
“For a while, it was me and Dakota Fanning,” she shared, noting how she was often put up against the actress in the industry. But for Saoirse, who became an Oscar nominee at just 13 for her role in Atonement, the comparisons didn’t feel right. “She’s one of the reasons why I got into actinng in the first place, because when I was really young, she was working from such an early age, and I used to watch her stuff,” continued the Irish actress,” Saoirse said, describing how, as a young girl, she’d watch Dakota’s performances in movies like Uptown Girls and War of the Worlds and feel inspired.
Now, the two actresses have evolved into unique talents, and Saoirse hopes that they could even work together someday. “To feel like, oh, there’s space for all of us now, where there’s still healthy competition, I think it’s great,” she explained.
Saoirse, known for her roles in Little Women and Lady Bird, is once again sparking Oscar buzz with two new films, Blitz and The Outrun. In Blitz, directed by Steve McQueen, she plays a single mother in World War II London who has to send her young son, George, to the countryside to keep him safe as bombings escalate. The Outrun, which she produced alongside her husband Jack Lowden, tells a different kind of story. In it, Saoirse plays a recovering alcoholic who returns to her childhood home in Scotland after a chaotic life in London. She embraced the opportunity to play someone who, as she put it, “isn’t likable.”
“Because I got to shape it creatively, I just gave less of a f— about things being palatable. I really responded to Lena Dunham’s characters in Girls, who are arseholes sometimes, but we’ve all got the capability for that,” she stated, adding, “I just started watching Hacks, “and I’m like, ‘These girls are selfish. They’re self-involved. They’ve got massive egos, but they always have redeeming qualities.’”
Her journey has come full circle, evolving from being a young actress compared to others to a confident creator pushing for complex, realistic characters. As she navigates this new phase, it’s clear that Saoirse values honesty over perfection and is ready to bring her layered, sometimes messy, but always captivating characters to the screen.
