Saoirse Ronan “grieved” not being able to star in The Hobbit and wants to make more blockbusters

Saoirse Ronan recalls turning down a role in The Hobbit – and says she’s still keen to do more blockbusters, despite her track record for period dramas and independent films. 

“I was supposed to be an Elf,” Ronan tells Total Film in our new issue out on Thursday, August 15, which features Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on the cover. “But then they rewrote the role, anyway. She was supposed to be a bit younger. It was a choice between Hanna or The Hobbit. And I chose Hanna… At the time, the idea of being able to go to New Zealand for a year-and-a-half was a dream come true. But there were projects coming in that, as an actor, were so interesting, and that I felt like I couldn’t really pass up. But for a long time, I was grieving the fact that I didn’t get to do it.”

She wants to “more” blockbusters and genre movies, though. “That’s why I don’t think you can put someone in one category,” she continues. “And even with me choosing very well-respected, drama-fuelled, thought-provoking pieces for the most part – I love doing that. But I’m also like, ‘I’ve done a lot of that. I think I want to do a big movie now.’ And hopefully I’ll get to do that.”

This includes action, which she got a taste of with the aforementioned Hanna, released in 2011 and co-starring Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett. “I would love to do more action, and I’ve actually spoken to my agent a lot about that recently, that I want to do something that has more physicality to it,” she says. “The training that I did on Hanna when I was 15 has stayed with me. I’ve started properly working out again in the last year or so. The discipline that I got from Hanna is still there. I’m pretty hardcore when I’m training. So I would love to put that into practice again.”

Next up for Ronan is The Outrun, based on writer Amy Liptrot’s memoir of the same name, about a young woman’s return to her Scottish home after a stint in rehab for alcoholism. Ronan is also producing the movie.

Pre-order the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice issue of Total Film

The Outrun is released on September 27. And you can read more about it and a whole lot else besides in the new issue of Total Film when it hits shelves and digital newsstands on Thursday, August 15.

Check out the covers below:

(Image credit: Martin Schoeller/Total Film/Cover Art Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures)

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