Saoirse’s second career? Teenage assassin

IRISH actress Saoirse Ronan has revealed she is set to star as a teenage assassin once again in her next Hollywood role.

The 17-year-old Carlow star has just wrapped up filming the role of a hit girl opposite Sopranos star James Gandolfini in dark comedy, Violet and Daisy.

Saoirse is currently riding high on the success of Hanna, which tells the story of a teenage assassin who has been trained to kill since childhood. In an interview with Ryan Tubridy yesterday, she joked about fears of getting typecast. She said: “Violet and Daisy is about two teenage assassins. I am going to be typecast from now on. They’re hit-girls and are best friends. It’s set in New York city and it’s a black comedy so it’s completely different straight away from Hanna.”

Saoirse was in town to launch the Coca-Cola Cinemagic International Film and Television Festival for Young People and later attended the screening of Diary of a Whimpy Kid II.

She also confirmed she had to turn down a role in The Hobbit because of her hectic schedule. “I said it officially that I’m not doing it, because for a while there were rumours. I would be tied up for a long period of time and there are other projects I have to do.”

She spent months in the gym and learned martial arts for her role in Hanna to master the complex fight routines. Saoirse, who stars alongside Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana in the movie, said her months of preparation made a noticeable difference to her body.

“After a few weeks I began to feel different and began to hold myself in a different way and walk in a different way,” she said.

The down-to-earth Irish actress, who shot to fame with her performance in Atonement in 2007, said she loves returning home.

“I live in the country and usually I’m in cities for work and for press.

“It is a contrast and sometimes that is really apparent when you are surrounded by fields and animals all of a sudden and not Cate Blanchetts anymore. It’s great though. The way I feel now is it’s just my life. I don’t really differentiate between the two because it’s all normal.”

She also declared her love of designer outfits. “I have a stylist who will bring dresses in. It’s usually racks and racks of clothes and you will get to pick out what you want to wear. Of course, they will advise you, but it has to be down to you.”

Saoirse was born in New York, and considers it her second home.

“Obviously, Ireland is my home but every time I go back to New York I do feel at home there.”