Steve McQueen on Casting Saoirse Ronan in ‘Blitz’ and Why Cinema ‘Is the Best Medium in the World’

Steve McQueen on Casting Saoirse Ronan in ‘Blitz’ and Why Cinema ‘Is the Best Medium in the World’

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…

FilmJoy — The Duality of WWII in Cinema

Two directorial masters of their craft set their sights on fundamentally different films, Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line, that ultimately end up saying roughly the same thing.