Saoirse Ronan sings in her latest film, the wartime drama Blitz, which receives its world premiere at the opening gala of the BFI London Film Festival tonight.
Written and directed by Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, Hunger), Blitz follows Rita (Ronan) and her nine-year-old son George (Elliott Heffernan) as they search for each other in World War II London.
Oscar-tipped for her performance in Blitz, Ronan has also received acclaim for her singing in the film.
Speaking to Variety ahead of the film's world premiere at London's Royal Festival Hall, director McQueen was asked if he knew Ronan could sing when she was first cast in Blitz.
"It was a worry!" he replied.
"There's no ifs, buts, or maybes, Saoirse is one of the greatest actors of her generation," McQueen continued.
"But not knowing that she could sing… when we heard her it was like, 'Oh, thank God for that'. Because not only could she sing, but she could sing like a bird."
"That song Winter Coat was initiated by me, because my father, when he died, left me his winter coat and I'd always wanted to make a song about the idea of this textual nature and physical nature of remembering someone. And she just delivered it," McQueen explained.
"It was written by myself and Nicholas Britell. We had the same combination from 12 Years a Slave, with Britell doing the songs and Hans Zimmer writing the score.
"Saoirse recorded the song in Abbey Road, in Studio Three, the same studio The Beatles recorded Rubber Soul and Revolver in, and she was just unbelievable.
"It was so emotional - there were hugs and lots of tears, just beautiful. I'm so happy that she could do that."
Blitz opens in selected cinemas on Friday 1 November and arrives on Apple TV+ on Friday 22 November.
The BFI London Film Festival runs until Sunday 20 October.
Ronan can currently be seen in cinemas in the recovery drama The Outrun.
We need your consent to load this comcast-player contentWe use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Click here for more movie news.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
