The 19-year-old actress stars as Agatha in The Grand Budapest Hotel, which focuses on a famous European hotel between the wars.
Director Wes Anderson wasn't strict about which accent Saoirse should use for the part and in the end they just settled for her own Irish twang.
"I didn’t know what [Wes] wanted me to do. It was really relaxed. I met him in London, and I sat down with him. He was like [in American accent], 'So, okay, um, maybe we should, um, go through the scenes?' We went through the scenes, and we started out by doing a German accent and that didn’t really work," she recalled to denofgeek.com.
"Then we did an English accent, and that sounded a bit weird, and then we did an American, and we thought no, she shouldn’t be American. Then he said [American accent], 'Why don’t you just do your own accent? Try your own accent?' And I did it, and it just felt right. I was thinking about it earlier, and in a way, for a smaller character in a film, there always needs to be something that brings it alive for you. For me, [it’s usually about the] accent. With an Irish accent in particular, there’s always a feistiness to who we are as people and a warmth, as well. I think Agatha has that to her. She’s got this inner-strength, but yet is very warm and loving, so I think it is the perfect accent for her."
Since taking the lead role of Susie Salmon in 2009's The Lovely Bones, Saoirse's career has gone from strength to strength.
She also appears in How to Catch a Monster, which marks Ryan Goslings writing and directing debut.
The young star relished the chance to work with the 33-year-old hunk and the things that he taught her.
“He’s great. He’s the best. He’s very, very honest and self-assured; very confident and comfortable with who he is," she previously assured Refinery 29.
"And because of that we all felt immediately relaxed with what we’re doing. Everything was improvised, really. We’d learn the dialogue the night before, and Ryan would make us ad-lib the whole thing. Every day was a surprise; you didn’t know what was going to happen, where your character was going to go, or what relationships were going to form. It took me a while to get used to because I’ve never done anything like that before, but it was great. He was very humble, but very confident that this kind of thing would work.”
