Saoirse Ronan says US gun violence means she doesn’t “feel safe” going to the cinema

"It’s horrifying"

Saoirse Ronan has said she doesn’t feel safe going to watch films at cinemas in the US because of gun violence.

The four-time Oscar nominee told Variety for their Awards Circuit Podcast that she finds it “horrifying” that she’s scared to go to the cinema because of gun violence. In the US, there have been several shootings at cinemas including at screenings of The Dark Knight Rises in 2012 and Trainwreck in 2015.

Ronan explained: “There are people I’m close to who don’t feel safe and can’t go to New York anymore because they’re just randomly getting attacked in the street for TikTok content.

“I don’t feel safe going to the cinema because I’m not sure if someone’s going to pull a gun out. It’s horrifying.”

Earlier this week, Ronan spoke about how she “wasn’t expecting” such a strong reaction to a comment about gender violence that she made on The Graham Norton Show that subsequently went viral.

On the television chat show, Ronan was joined by Gladiator II stars Denzel Washington and Paul Mescal, along with Eddie Redmayne, who was promoting his upcoming miniseries The Day Of The Jackal.

Redmayne stars in it as The Jackal, a shadowy assassin-for-hire who’s also being chased by British intelligence. The actor discussed the intensive training required for the role – he noted that he learned about using a phone as a self-defence weapon in case of danger.

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Mescal picked up on it – but joked about the silliness of using a phone in such a situation, to which Norton joined in. Ronan, however, reminded the audience of a harsher reality: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time,” she said. “Am I right ladies?” she asked the audience, who applauded and cheered her loudly.

The clip instantly went viral, with social media users taking Mescal to task for making light of the topic. In a subsequent interview with Virgin Radio UK, Ronan reflected on her Graham Norton appearance.

She began by pushing back on the reactions towards Mescal, whom she calls a “dear friend”. “Please watch the whole interview or watch at least that part of the conversation, because it really wasn’t about… the boys weren’t sort of like debunking anything that I was saying.”

She continued: “I do think there’s something really telling about the society that we’re in right now and about how open women want to be with the men in their lives,” she noted before adding that the reactions to the clip have been “wild” – something she said she “wasn’t expecting”.

“So many men and women that I know from all over the world have gotten in touch with me about this one comment,” she continued. “But at the same time, it felt very similar to like when I am at dinner with a bunch of my friends and I will always make the point that, well, this is actually an experience that we go through every single day, 100 per cent.”

She added that she’s had such conversations with Mescal in private, and that “he completely gets that and completely understands that.”

Meanwhile, last month, Ronan said in an interview that she would love to play a villain in a James Bond film with husband Jack Lowden as the titular character.