Brooklyn for Breakfast: Saoirse Ronan chats about the movie based on the book #book2movies #podcast #SlackerSunday

For this week’s Slacker Sunday post, I’ve swiped a podcast featuring a couple of highlights from the 53rd New York Film Festival. What’s nice about a podcast is if you’re feeling really slackery, you can just stay in bed, head to pillow, eyes closed, and soak it up. If you want to feel a bit more productive you’ll want to listen while you prepare a nice hearty Irish breakfast, 1950’s style when no one worried about fat content, carb counting or consuming too much sodium. Bacon, fried eggs, toast with lots of butter, some fried tomatoes and black pudding. Black pudding? My dad used to eat black pudding but I was never brave enough to try it. What is black pudding? According to the BBC, “black pudding is a blend of onions, pork fat, oatmeal, flavourings - and blood (usually from a pig). As long as animals have been slaughtered to provide food, blood sausages like black pudding have been in existence.” I think I’ll be substituting some sliced bananas and strawberries, thank you very much. Whatever’s on your menu, you’ll have time to both prepare and eat your brekkie while you listen, the podcast takes about an hour and a half from start to finish. Up front is the conversation with the team behind the film which stars Saoirse Ronan as an Irish girl who emigrates to Brooklyn. 

From the podcasters “Brooklyn stars Saoirse Ronan as an Irish immigrant in the 1950s torn between her new life in New York and her roots in Ireland. The film was adapted from Colm Tóibín’s novel by Nick Hornby, whose powerful script is elevated by director John Crowley’s vivid re-creation of mid-century America and Ireland. After the press screening of the film, festival selection committee member Marian Masone joined Crowley, Ronan, Hornby, Tóibín, and producer Finola Dwyer on stage for a Q&A. During the discussion, they talked about why they take issue with the word “sentimental,” how they approached the film’s meticulous set and costume design, and the process of adapting Tóibín’s novel. 

Then, because it’s part of the package, there’s a presentation from screenwriter/journalist Mike Jones about the ups and downs of being a screenwriter.

For more from the New York Film Festival visit NYFF

Are you planning on seeing Brooklyn? I wish the book had come with a pronunciation primer; I’ve been saying her name all wrong.