Saoirse Ronan is set to star in the next film from “The Unforgivable” director Nora Fingscheidt, a drama based on a memoir called “The Outrun.”
“The Outrun” is based on Amy Liptrot’s 2016 award-winning memoir of the same name, and the film will be introduced to buyers at the upcoming European Film Market.
Ronan will star in the film as Rona, a woman fresh out of rehab who returns to the wild Orkney Islands after more than a decade away. As she reconnects with the dramatic landscape where she grew up, memories of her childhood merge with the more recent challenging events that have set her on the path to recovery.
Fingscheidt wrote the adaptation in collaboration with Liptrot.
“The Outrun” was optioned and has been developed by Sarah Brocklehurst’s Brock Media, which will produce the feature alongside Ronan, Jack Lowden and Dominic Norris under their recently founded banner Arcade Pictures. Mogambo’s Ignacio Salazar-Simpson and Ricardo Marco will also produce.
They are joined by co-producers Jonas Weydemann and Jakob D. Weydemann of Weydemann Bros. BBC Film and Screen Scotland supported the development of the project. Protagonist Pictures is executive producing and arranging the financing.
Protagonist Pictures is handling worldwide sales and will introduce to buyers at EFM. The company will co-rep North American sales with CAA Media Finance.
“It was Amy’s voice that first drew me to ‘The Outrun.’ Her unusual way of seeing things in a way that perhaps you only can when you’ve been to the darkest place you can go within yourself,” Ronan said in a statement. “I have been waiting to play a part like this – the messiness, hopefulness, dreaminess, authenticity and humor we want to achieve – I’ve been scared of it, but with Nora I feel ready.”
“Amy’s intriguing and poetic story shows how one can find their lives broken into pieces, and that recovery can happen in the most unexpected of ways and places,” Fingscheidt added. “There are wonderful gifts already in place to make this a powerful and immersive film. One is the setting, the vast and cinematic landscapes of the Orkney islands; the other is our main actress, Saoirse Ronan, who brings magic to the screen with her unique mix of charisma and emotional depth!”
“Nora, with her mesmerizing filmmaking style, and Saoirse, with her endless skill and bravery are the perfect team to bring Amy’s award-winning memoir to screen,” Janina Vilsmaier, head of sales at Protagonist Pictures, said in a statement. “’The Outrun’ will be an incredibly cinematic and powerful film, which will offer us a glimpse into the life of this amazing young woman, transporting us on an emotional and ultimately life affirming journey.”
Liptrot’s memoir won the 2016 Wainwright Prize and the 2017 PEN Ackerley Prize and was a Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller. The book was translated into 15 languages, selling over 110,000 copies in the U.K. alone and was added by publisher Canongate to its modern classics list, The Canons.
Rebecca Watson of VHA negotiated the film deal for the book on behalf of James Macdonald Lockhart of Antony Harwood Ltd.
Ronan, a four-time Oscar nominee, will next be seen in Searchlight Pictures’ murder-mystery film “See How They Run” alongside Sam Rockwell.
Fingscheidt is the director of “System Crasher,” which won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale in 2019, and is the director of 2021’s “The Unforgivable,” starring Sandra Bullock on Netflix.
Nora is represented by Casarotto Ramsay and Associates, Ilene Feldman Management and Agentur Homebase. Ronan is represented by CAA and MacFarlane Chard.