When Steve McQueen was casting “Blitz,” his World War II drama about the bombings over London, actress Saoirse Ronan expressed interest.
But there was a hitch. The role of a mother in search of her young son who has gone missing required some singing. So he hopped on a Zoom with Ronan, and they had a deep conversation about their mothers. “It was beautiful,” McQueen tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast.
But then it came time for that make-or-break question about whether she could carry a tune. Ronan said she could, and even started working with a singing coach.
“I never forget the phone call I got back from the singing coach after a few sessions,” McQueen says, remembering how he braced for that report. The coach returned with good news: “‘Not only can she sing like a bird, it will only get better,’” McQueen recalls hearing back. He immediately offered Ronan the role.
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“She’s the real deal. She’s more than the real deal, she has a certain sensibility. She makes the ordinary look extraordinary,” McQueen says during Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast. Listen below!
In the World War II drama, now streaming on AppleTV+, Ronan sings a few songs, but the important number was “Winter Coat.” Her character, Rita, works at a bomb-making factory, and winds up singing the wartime tune in front of her co-workers.
The song was inspired by McQueen’s father. “I got left his winter coat and I remember when he died, I put it on because you want to be close to him, to smell things,” McQueen says. “I wanted to be engulfed by him because he wasn’t present.”
The idea of the warm embrace of a coat felt like a hug and would be a great song for Rita, McQueen decided. “A lot of those songs at that time were about how tomorrow will be a better day,” he says.
For Rita’s son, George, McQueen worked with casting director Nina Gold to cast a wide net. That’s when actor Elliott Heffernan caught his eye. “There’s a stillness in him with his big eyes,” McQueen says. “It was almost like watching a Buster Keaton or [Rudolph] Valentino. There was a real magnetism to his face. He looked a bit pissed off.”
In the film, George seems to be in peril as he makes his way through London, avoiding bombs and danger. His efforts to get home leave the audience in constant dread, which was intentional on McQueen’s part and in Hans Zimmer’s score. “It’s like a Brother’s Grimm fairy tale, and very dark, but at the same time very adult,” McQueen says.
Despite the film going to streaming, McQueen says he was excited to see the film get a theatrical run, and loves that as a way of showcasing art, “cinema is the best medium in the world. You got music, images, moving images, actors, you got everything… Like Orson Welles said, ‘Its the best train set in the world.’ We just got to get people to see other films, other than just Marvel, which is all great. But we need to give people something they don’t know they wanted and get them excited.”
McQueen adds, “The audiences deserve this, and filmmakers, we have to sort of bring our game up to get people’s attention.”
Also on this episode of the Awards Circuit podcast, British pop superstar Robbie Williams discusses his biopic, “Better Man,” and the decision to be portrayed by a CGI monkey. Also, the Roundtable dissects this year’s Oscars shortlists.
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.