Saoirse Ronan says she was rejected for role of legendary Harry Potter character
Topics: Harry Potter, Hollywood, Celebrity, Jimmy Fallon
Ellie Kemp
Featured Image Credit: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/WireImage / Warner Bros.
Topics: Harry Potter, Hollywood, Celebrity, Jimmy Fallon
Sadly, rejection is part of our everyday lives. As painful as it can be, it sure does help shape us.
Even celebrities - including the likes of Meryl Streep - get turned down from major roles.
The latest star to speak put about the set-back that's 'stayed with her' over the years in The Outrun actress Saoirse Ronan.
The 30-year-old recently told Jimmy Fallon how missing out on playing Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter franchise impacted her.
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Evanna Lynch was instead cast as the much-loved witch, making her debut in 2007’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
The franchise, as we know, exploded to cult status and was still among the highest-grossing franchises even last year.
Lynch reprised the role in 2009's Half-Blood Prince, Deathly Hallows – Part 1 in 2010, and 2011's Deathly Hallows – Part 2.
Ronan told Fallon: “There’s things that you’ll pass on and then they come out, and you think, ‘Oh God, that was a misstep on my part,' but I think the one that stayed with me over the years — I didn’t say no to it, I just didn’t get the part. I lost, again. It’s a running theme for me.”
She continued: “I had gone up for Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter years ago, because it was like the Irish character, so they got everyone Irish in — like half of Ireland to come and audition — and I knew I wasn’t going to get it because I was too young, but I got to read out a scene that was going to be in Harry Potter and it was the coolest thing ever.”
Yet missing out on the Harry Potter franchise hasn't stopped Ronan from making a name for herself.
The Golden Globe winner made her feature film debut the same year Order of the Phoenix came out.
Ronan starred as a teenager in the war drama Atonement alongside James McAvoy and Keira Knightley. She was 12 years old when she landed the role, which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Her other major credits have included murdered teen Susie in The Lovely Bones, a teenage assassin in Hanna, and the supporting role of a baker in The Grand Budapest Hotel.
More recently, she's played Jo March in Greta Gerwig's Little Women and won a Golden Globe as for her lead role in 2017's Lady Bird, alongside Timothee Chalamet.