Saoirse Ronan, a 2007 Oscar nominee for "Atonement," radiates self-possession as she warmly greets visitors in a suite at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles. Then the 15-year-old plops on the couch, feet up, to chat about "The Lovely Bones," her new film with "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson.
"The part of the movie that always makes me cry and feel happy at the same time is actually the narration: 'My name's Salmon, like the fish. First name, Susie. I was 14 when I was murdered,' " she says, solemnly intoning her character's words. "We did the one at the start of the film with more of a downbeat reading. Whereas the one at the end is more optimistic; she's changed. Because it was me who had to feel that, that always gets me very emotional."
Alice Sebold's book can be pretty rough stuff. It's a '70s suburban nightmare, beginning with that pronouncement by its eternally teenage narrator, depicting her brutal killing and tracing the near-disintegration of her family in its aftermath. Jackson's film (which also stars Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon and, as the killer hiding in plain sight, a chilling Stanley Tucci) smooths many of those jagged edges, focusing on the murder-mystery aspect of the story while tracking Susie's post-Earth journey.
"The first thing that excited me about this movie was the director," the Irish actress says in her native brogue. "Pete has made some incredible films. So to get the chance to work with him, and to play the lead in his next film, was very, very appealing.
"And when I read the script, it was so touching, so beautiful. What I loved is that it wasn't about Susie's murder but everything that came after: How she dealt with it and how her family dealt with it, and watching over her murderer. There are so many different layers to the story."
Susie, a teenager described in the novel as not possessing exceptional intelligence or talents, but whose consciousness continues to grow after her death, proved difficult to cast.
"What was interesting with the auditions in the States was how modern a lot of the actresses were, how influenced by the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon," says Jackson. "They feel like 2009. Playing a teenager in 1973, you just don't believe it for a second.
"Then Saoirse's tape shows up. ... It was a moment where, and this is no exaggeration, you know that you've found Susie. There was no 'acting,' nothing 'professional' about her in the sense that she's a child actor who's done it a million times. She was just the real thing."
The real girl with the Tiffany Blue eyes and the Gaelic name meaning "freedom" projects intelligence and maturity beyond her years. But she's also refreshingly teen-girlish, as when asked what's on her mind outside of work.
"I think about my dog a lot as well. It's whenever I see a dog, actually. Some woman had a Chihuahua yesterday; I don't know why she brought it to the interview. And I really, really missed my dog," she says, ruing the film's omission of the book's afterlife reunion of Susie and her dog.
Ronan
DVD Ripper is otherwise philosophical about any of the novel's nuggets left out by Jackson and his writing partners, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.
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