Saoirse Ronan begins Brooklyn shoot

Shooting has begun in Ireland on Brooklyn, with a cast headed by Saoirse Ronan, most recently seen in The Grand Budapest Hotel. Ronan is joined by About Time star Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters.

The feature will shoot for three weeks in Enniscorthy, Wexford and Dublin, Ireland, before moving in mid-April to Montreal, Canada for a further four weeks.

John Crowley, director of Boy A and Closed Circuit, directs this adaptation of Colm Toibin’s bestseller from a script by Nick Hornby, the novelist who wrote the screenplay for An Education. Producers are Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey.

The script was developed by BBC Films, and the co-producers are Parallel Films in Ireland and Item 7 in Canada.

Set in the early 1950s, Brooklyn is the story of a young woman, Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) who moves from small town Ireland to Brooklyn, NY where, unlike home, she has the opportunity for work and for a future - and love, in the shape of Italian-American Tony (Emory Cohen).

When a family tragedy brings her back to Ireland, she finds herself absorbed into her old community, but now with eligible Jim (Domhnall Gleeson) courting her. As she repeatedly postpones her return to America, Eilis finds herself confronting a terrible dilemma - a choice between two men and two countries.

Production design is by François Séguin (The Borgias) and Yves Bélanger (Dallas Buyers Club) is director of photography. Costumes are by Odile Dicks-Mireaux (An Education) with make-up design by Morna Ferguson (The Guard).

BBC Films, Telefilm Canada, Ingenious, Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board, BFI and SODEC present a Wildgaze Films/Finola Dwyer Productions/Parallel Films/Item 7 co-production.

Hanway Films are handling international sales, and Lionsgate will release in the UK and Mongrel in Canada.