Chatting with Atonement's Young Star

aoirse Ronan is only 14, but she’s already on her way to becoming Hollywood royalty. Her performance as the conniving young Briony in Atonement is absolutely mesmerizing. Not only is she up for a Golden Globe on Sunday for Supporting Actress in a Drama, she’s currently filming the Peter Jackson-directed The Lovely Bones opposite Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz.

So, what will she be doing Sunday night with Atonement director Joe Wright and her costars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy? I caught up with Ronan, who lives in Ireland with her parents, today at the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills for some hot chocolate and cookies.

How did you find out you were nominated?
I was in Pennsylvania doing Lovely Bones, and I knew the Golden Globes were being announced, but I was trying to put it out of my head. I was in my bedroom, because I was trying to get some shut-eye, and then the phone rang. I head Dad shout, “Yes!” So, I thought, "Oh God, that must be good news."

Now that the ceremony has been canceled, what will you be doing on Sunday night?
I think we’re having a party, just a little get-together. I think it’s just great to be here with Joe, Keira and James and all the guys from Atonement.

You still haven’t read the book Atonement?
A good few people have said to me, “Maybe just wait until you’re a little bit older.” I’m trying to be sensible.


But you read the script?
Yes. When we did the read through and everything, I learned, um, a few words.

Yeah, there are some, um, words in there. [Among them, the script uses a very crass term to refer to a part of the female anatomy.]
The thing is, I had never heard of that word before, and I had to find out what it meant.

You first saw the movie at the Venice Film Festival?
I had Joe sitting on one side of me and James on the other. I was kind of nervous about seeing myself...I held their hands for the first five minutes of the movie. I was literally squeezing their hands. But then I forgot, and they said, “Can you let go of our hands now?” [Laughs.]

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That’s not all Ronan and I talked about. I’ll have more tomorrow. Find out what she says about Knightley and McAvoy’s very adult and steamy love scene, what she took home from the Atonement set and why she can’t wait to get home to go back to...school!

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Uma Threat Level Downgraded

by Natalie Finn
Wed, 9 Jan 2008 04:16:43 PM PST

The state of New York has decided that volunteering to die in exchange for Uma Thurman's devotion is not a chargeable offense.
A Manhattan judge on Wednesday dismissed a felony charge of attempted coercion against Jack Jordan, a former psychiatric patient who was arrested in October for allegedly stalking the Kill Bill star

and making repeated attempts to contact her and her family.
Defense attorney George Vonvolakis argued that an email his 36-year-old client sent to Thurman, in which he threatened to kill himself if he saw her with another man, did not amount to coercion because the letter wasn't likely to have any effect on the actress.
Prosecutors maintained Jordan's message was a definite attempt to limit Thurman's freedom, but New York State Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro agreed with the defense.
"If you would like to kill yourself, it is not chargeable," Carro said. If convicted, the felony charge could have landed Jordan in prison for up to four years.
Jordan, who was enrolled as a master's candidate at Mills College in Oakland, California, at the time of his arrest, is still facing two misdemeanor counts of stalking and harassment. The University of Chicago graduate, class of 1994, has pleaded not guilty to both.
He rejected a plea deal last month that would have let him avoid jail altogether by copping to stalking and attempted coercion and entering a mental-health facility. Vonvolakis said at the time that Jordan would consider treatment if he could plead to misdemeanors instead of a felony, and he reiterated Wednesday that he hoped another deal could be reached.
"He has a bright future," the attorney told reporters outside the courthouse. "He wants to be a teacher. With a criminal record, he can't do that."
Carro scheduled a trial date of Feb. 5.
Vonvolakis said that, if the case goes to trial, Thurman will likely be called to testify. "My client has expressed a serious desire to go to trial," he said.
If Jordan cuts the deal his attorney has in mind, it would mark his second stay at a psychiatric hospital since taking a fancy to Thurman.
His family had him involuntarily committed after he attempted to get into the Oscar-nominated actress' trailer on the Manhattan set of a film in 2005. Jordan claims that he had driven cross-country to see her.
"We are meant to be together," he said in a statement to police following his arrest. "She is a wonderful person."
According to authorities, Jordan persisted in trying to contact the star after his release, sending her and her father numerous emails in 2006 and appearing outside her Greenwich Village home three to four times a week last August, in an attempt to either see her or deliver letters.
Jordan is currently free on $10,000 bail and reportedly living at his family's Massachusetts home. Per the terms of his release, he is prohibited from contacting Thurman or her family.

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