San Francisco Chronicle

Ronan proud to be part of passionate ‘ Ammonite’

- By G. Allen Johnson

Saoirse Ronan is glad to be indoors on this bleak and cold day in the U. K. — similar to the weather on the English coast in her new film “Ammonite” — but as she appears on a video chat with The Chronicle, she lights up with a smile that radiates sunshine.

The 26yearold actor, a dual citizen of the United States and Ireland, voted in her first U. S. election, and her choice for president won.

“Congrats to America for doing the right thing,” Ronan said with a big grin.

Speaking on Sunday, Nov. 8, the day after Joe Biden, a man with Irish ancestry, had been announced as the presidente­lect, Ronan was glowing. Born in New York but raised in Ireland, she revealed she tediously planned how she would participat­e in this year’s election to ensure that her vote counted.

“I registered months and months and months ago, because I wanted to put the right name on the ballot,” said Ronan, who voted by mail. “I had to print everything out — I was like terrified that I was going to do something wrong. I didn’t want there to be any excuse for it to not be valid. … It was great to see the outcome.”

But the main subject of our conversati­on is “Ammonite,” of which Ronan is particular­ly proud. Incredibly, it’s Ronan’s 27th film ( she started as a child actor) and part of a remarkable run of strong femaledriv­en films for which she has been Oscarnomin­ated three times to become one of the top women in the movies.

The run began five years ago this month with the release of “Brooklyn” and includes the Sacramento­shot “Lady Bird,” “On Chesil Beach,” “Mary Queen of Scots” and “Little Women.”

“Ammonite,” directed by queer filmmaker Francis Lee (“God’s Own Country”), pairs Ronan with Kate Winslet and graphicall­y imagines a love affair between two reallife early 19th century women, groundbrea­king paleontolo­gist Mary Anning ( Winslet) and Charlotte Murchison

Ronan), the wife of a geologist.

It is a bleak, hardscrabb­le film shot in Lyme Regis on the coast of the English Channel, where Anning resided and found a treasure trove of fossils, including ammonites, that revolution­ized science. Lee spends as much time on the collecting and cleaning of fossils as on the love affair that stems from it, a big draw for Ronan.

“For me this is the most fascinatin­g part, to Mary’s character and to their relationsh­ip as well,” Ronan said. “They really start to come out of themselves through the work that they do with one another, the collaborat­ion they have with one another. ... What I loved about how the relationsh­ip progressed is it was a working relationsh­ip as much as a romantic relationsh­ip. It was a friendship and companions­hip.”

The film has graphic love scenes, in which both Ronan and Winslet appear nude. For Ronan, part of what made it work was her dream casting with Winslet, whom she has long looked up to and who, though a generation older, had a similar career trajectory.

Ronan recalled they had a “long introducti­on,” first meeting at a party a few years ago, and once did an actors’ roundtable and a photo shoot together. Finally collaborat­ing on a film was “brilliant from start to finish,” Ronan said, adding that “spending so much time together was a complete pleasure.”

“When this script came along, she was incredibly supportive of me,” Ronan said. “It all worked out very well. We knew we’d get along; we were on the same wavelength already. That always makes working together so easy, when you go into the project the same way and have the same sense of humor.”

Winslet, speaking on a video chat during an introducti­on of “Ammonite” at last month’s Mill Valley Film Festival, called working with Ronan on the film “one of most joyous experienc( es of my life.”

“What I admire the most about Francis as a filmmaker is particular­ly his portrayal of queer relationsh­ips, samesex couples and, in the case of ‘ Ammonite,’ a lesbian relationsh­ip that isn’t hidden,” Winslet said. “And what that meant for Saoirse and I as actors was that we could play these people falling in love and feeling so safe.

“I felt so proud of the intimate scenes between myself and Saoirse because I’m nearly 20 years older than Sersh, and I never felt so safe, never felt so in myself and strong and proud of my marks and scars. I’ve had three children, you know.”

Working with Lee — like “Lady Bird” and “Little Women” writerdire­ctor Greta Gerwig, a former actor — has only reinforced Ronan’s desire to turn to writing and directing herself.

“It’s something I’m craving to do sooner rather than later,” Ronan said. “The directing side is always something I’ve wanted to do even before I was acting ... But the writing — that’s the tricky thing, actually writing something. There’s a lot of discipline needed to do something like that, and it’s entirely up to you.

“But I think working with people like Greta Gerwig, and seeing how she’s incorporat­ed her experience­s as an actor into her style of directing and her understand­ing of actors as a director really makes you want to try it yourself.”

 ?? Neon ?? Saoirse Ronan ( left) and Kate Winslet star in “Ammonite.”
Neon Saoirse Ronan ( left) and Kate Winslet star in “Ammonite.”

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