The last thing we heard about the big screen adaptation of Colm Toibin‘s “Brooklyn” was well over a year ago. At that time Rooney Mara was going to play the lead in the Nick Hornby-penned flick, with a shoot planned for spring 2013. Clearly, that didn’t happen. But the project is still alive with a new lead and a new director.
With the Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall starring thriller “Closed Circuit” now opening in the U.K., director John Crowley chatted with Bleeding Cool and revealed that not only is he helmig “Brooklyn,” it has a fresh face to star. “I’m gonna make a film called Brooklyn which is an adaptation of a novel by Colm Tóibín which Nick Hornby has adapted. We’re going to do it next year,” he said. “That’s a story about emigration from Ireland to America in the fifties. A young woman, who’s going to be played by Saoirse Ronan, about her story in America.“
Indeed, the story follows Ellis Lacey, a young Irish woman in the 1950s who is unable to find work at home and is persuaded by Father Flood to emigrate to New York. Her initial stint in the Big Apple is dry, as her life revolves around work in a department store, night school for bookkeeping and her confinement by the strict rules of the boarding house in which she lives. She soon falls in love with an Italian plumber, but a letter from back home changes her life all over again.
Hard to complain about the casting switch up here. Ronan and Mara are both fine actresses for the part, though obviously Ronan can more easily slide into the role. As for Crowley, he definitely stumbled with “Closed Circuit,” but this material gives him a great chance to rebound. Hopefully more news about this one arrives soon.