‘Saoirse’s going to get an Oscar nod every other year from now on’
SAOIRSE Ronan has been hailed as Ireland’s Meryl Streep by actress Deirdre O’Kane after securing a nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role at this year’s Ifta Film and Drama awards.
The Carlow woman (23) is nominated alongside Sarah Bolger (26) for ‘Halal Daddy’ and Ann Skelly (20) for ‘Kissing Candice’.
“I expect her to get an Oscar nomination every other year from now on, she’s that good,” said O’Kane.
The ‘Moone Boy’ actress told how she would be open to actors attending the Iftas wearing black in response to sexual harassment allegations in the entertainment industry, as happened at this year’s Golden Globes.
“I loved how they marked it at the Globes,” she said. “I’d be up for it, I wear black 24/7 so it would suit me down to the ground.” While most of the categories in both film and drama have five nominees, the Best Actress in a Leading Role category had just three. Ifta CEO Aine Moriarty said this was down to there being a smaller number of films released last year with women in leading roles. “Ifta reflects the work that has been achieved in the previous 12 months,” she said.
“It just showcases that there was a lack of lead actress-driven narratives.
“The scripts were just not written for lead actresses as they may have been written for lead actors.” ‘Cardboard Gangsters’, ‘Handsome Devil’, ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’, ‘Maudie’, ‘Michael Inside’ and ‘Song of Granite’ are all nominated for Best Feature Film.
‘Acceptable Risk’, ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Line of Duty’, ‘Paula’, ‘Striking Out’ and ‘Vikings’ have all been nominated for Best Drama.
The Iftas will be held in Dublin’s Mansion House on February 15 with O’Kane as host.
They will be broadcast on RTÉ One again this year.