Saoirse Ronan’s New Film, The Outrun, Releases This Month
Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan returns to cinemas later this month with her new film The Outrun, based on the book of the same name. Ronan, who also produces, plays an addict who has recently left rehab and heads back to her home town in the Orkney Islands. But the road to recovery is a difficult one, and she’ll find it hard to deal with her demons both past and present. Here’s all to know:
What is The Outrun about?
The Outrun is adapted from a 2016 memoir by author Amy Liptrot, detailing her experiences with addiction and her attempts to recover back home. Ronan plays Rona, the character based on Amy in the film, who’s been living in London for the past few years, drinking, taking drugs and more. Hurt and drained after so many years of these habits, she takes herself to rehab and gets help. Once she leaves, she decides to head back up to the Orkney Islands in Scotland where she grew up, in order to heal and set herself on the road to recovery. There are flashbacks during the film between the chaotic London life she left behind and the serene retreat she now finds herself in.
In Orkney, Rona tries to forget about the highs and lows of substance and alcohol and get in touch with nature and herself. The book features plenty of descriptions of the different elements of the natural world that she discovers, and the wildlife roaming around her. Her parents also have had troubled lives, with her father (Stephen Dillane) now living on a farm in Orkney, and her mother (Saskia Reeves) having left him and found religion. There’s a lot of idyllic peace up on these islands, but Rona isn’t sure if she’ll be able to stay on a positive journey to recovery without falling back into bad habits, especially as she remembers different painful pieces of her past as she tries to put her life back together.
Who else stars, and what else do we know?
The Outrun also features Paapa Essiedu (Murder on the Orient Express) as one of Rona’s ex-boyfriends who she sees in flashbacks, alongside Lauren Lyle (Virgil), Izuka Hoyle (Boiling Point) and Nabil Elouahabi (Top Boy). It’s directed by Nora Fingscheidt (The Unforgiveable) and is set to arrive in cinemas in the UK on 27th September.
