Irish actress Saoirse Ronan has praised Ian McEwan's book On Chesil Beach at The London Film Festival. The 23-year-old double Oscar nominee will be appearing in the film adaptation of his book in January.
The book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2007 and tells the story of Florence and Edward, a couple who spend their honeymoon in a small hotel on the Dorset seashore, at Chesil Beach, in 1962.
The actress explained how she was too young to read his book Atonement when she was 12 and acted in the film adaptation : "It's absolutely lovely because when we made Atonement I hadn't even read the book because I was too young."
She said: "So this time to be so familiar with his work and his voice and how he writes and to see that translate into a screenplay and getting the chance to work with him on that a little bit in rehearsals was wonderful."
Speaking about the writer, she said: "Ian is somebody I have stayed in touch with since I was a child and he's always been incredibly supportive and warm and was when we did Atonement and still is now."
"It was quite nice to have someone familiar around too. In a way it was new territory for me, it's a very intimate topic and one that hasn't really been told in such a delicate way before and I think that is something with a lot of his work, that he approaches really skilfully."
🎤 "I haven't done a received pronunciation English accent since Atonement!" - Saoirse Ronan on her part in On Chesil Beach #LFF pic.twitter.com/1dICSDvn19
— BFI (@BFI) October 8, 2017
The actress also said that she hoped that it would inspire young people to talk honestly about sex as she plays the role of a honeymooner who is struggling to communicate with her husband.
"I hope this film gets people talking about sex and not have it be a taboo thing or something they should be ashamed of, so they can let it be something that can be shared between two people and be an honest thing.
"I think that is really healthy and I do feel people are starting to get to that stage."
On Chesil Beach will be released in Irish cinemas in mid January 2018.
