We've got great news for the Saoirse Ronan stans out there (yep: that's us included). The Little Women, Lady Bird, and Ammonite star is set to lead the next film from German auteur Nora Fingscheidt, best known for her critically acclaimed debut feature, System Crasher. The film, The Outrun, is an adaptation of the memoir of the same name from Scottish writer Amy Liptrot, covering her post-rehab return home to the sheep farm where she grew up after two decades away.
Fingscheidt and Liptrot have co-written the adaptation. The book has been translated to more than a dozen languages, and was a Sunday Times bestseller in the United Kingdom, where it sold over 110,000 copies. Ronan will next be seen in See How They Run for Searchlight Pictures, in which she stars alongside Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri).
Ronan had this to say about the upcoming adaptation:
“It was Amy’s voice that first drew me to The Outrun. Her unusual way of seeing things in a way that perhaps you only can when you’ve been to the darkest place you can go within yourself. I have been waiting to play a part like this – the messiness, hopefulness, dreaminess, authenticity and humor we want to achieve – I’ve been scared of it, but with Nora I feel ready.”
And Fingscheidt:
"Amy's intriguing and poetic story shows how one can find their lives broken into pieces, and that recovery can happen in the most unexpected of ways and places. There are wonderful gifts already in place to make this a powerful and immersive film. One is the setting, the vast and cinematic landscapes of the Orkney islands; the other is our main actress, Saoirse Ronan, who brings magic to the screen with her unique mix of charisma and emotional depth!”
There's yet to be a release date announced for The Outlook, but keep an eye on Collider for updates. Whatever the case, with this and See How They Run upcoming for the 27-year-old actor, we're saying yee-haw for Ser-shaw!
Here's the official book blurb from publisher Canongate Books, which at least gives us a hint as to what we can expect from the Ronan-starrer:
"When Amy Liptrot returns to Orkney after more than a decade away, she is drawn back to the Outrun on the sheep farm where she grew up. Approaching the land that was once home, memories of her childhood merge with the recent events that have set her on this journey.Amy was shaped by the cycle of the seasons, birth and death on the farm, and her father's mental illness, which were as much a part of her childhood as the wild, carefree existence on Orkney. But as she grew up, she longed to leave this remote life. She moved to London and found herself in a hedonistic cycle. Unable to control her drinking, alcohol gradually took over. Now thirty, she finds herself washed up back home on Orkney, standing unstable at the cliff edge, trying to come to terms with what happened to her in London.Spending early mornings swimming in the bracingly cold sea, the days tracking Orkney's wildlife - puffins nesting on sea stacks, arctic terns swooping close enough to feel their wings - and nights searching the sky for the Merry Dancers, Amy slowly makes the journey towards recovery from addiction."