Saoirse Ronan debuted a quirky short fringe as she attended the premiere of her directorial debut short film Paper Plane at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday.
The 32-year-old actress wore a long-sleeve navy maxi dress with a thigh-high slit fastened with a silver zipper for the red carpet appearance at the 83rd edition of the festival.
Paper Plane stars Martha Malone, Clare Dunne and Tim Creed. The story follows a defiant young girl who stages a silent protest, refusing to return home until her disruptive father is gone, leaving her mother to decide whether to follow her or let her go.
Ronan said Paper Plane was a love letter to a younger version of herself and a younger version of her mother. She said she wanted to explore how a young mind tries to make sense of something beyond their control, how love is expressed in times of pain, and how self-preservation takes root after spending a life watching someone struggle to love themselves and others in a healthy way.
She added that the paper plane symbolised lost childhood and innocence, and a need for connection between two people who love each other deeply but cannot find common ground.
Bond villain ambitions
The Venice appearance came weeks after reports that Ronan is eyeing a role as a villain in the next James Bond film. Her husband, Slow Horses star Jack Lowden, 36, has been reported to be in the running to play 007 himself, prompting speculation that the spy and his nemesis could be played by a real-life married couple.
Ronan told Empire magazine last month that she wanted to go dark. She said she was dead serious about wanting to be a Bond villain, and that a young, female villain would be especially interesting for girls and women to see, someone who could take pent-up anger and direct it somewhere.
Amazon MGM Studios struck a deal with longtime franchise stewards Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson last year to take full control of Ian Fleming's spy franchise. The studio is said to be casting the next instalment now, with an announcement expected this autumn and filming possibly starting at the turn of the year.
Producer Amy Pascal said last month that the end of the year was a good bet for a decision, adding that the studio was being really, really methodical. She said Daniel Craig was a hard act to follow and that the next Bond had to be something really different that is stirring and exciting.
Other names reported to be in the running for Bond include Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi and Tom Holland.
Ronan and Lowden's relationship
Ronan and Lowden are both acclaimed actors who first met on the set of the 2018 historical drama Mary Queen of Scots, where they played husband and wife, Mary Stuart and Lord Darnley. They married in July 2024 and had their first child, whose name and gender have not been shared, last September.
Ronan has previously backed her husband for the Bond role. When she co-hosted a 2024 BBC Radio 2 show with Scottish DJ Edith Bowman, Bowman raised her long-held belief that Lowden would make a great Bond, saying she had been making the case for years.
Ronan joked that she was going to start counting how many times Bowman plugged him for Bond on the radio. When Bowman said she had been doing so for six years, Ronan replied that it hadn't happened yet, before adding that there was time.
A new frontrunner emerges
Another name entered the race for 007 last month. British actor Jack Barton, 31, has been introduced as a potential new leading man and named the current favourite for the role.
According to Page Six, screen tests were due to begin within days, with Barton's name reportedly among the shortlist. He has appeared in the Netflix teen drama Heartstopper and the BBC series SAS: Rogue Heroes, along with a number of minor roles.
Casting directors are said to be backing Barton for the part, while Amazon is thought to prefer a more well-established actor.
Debbie McWilliams, the casting director who picked previous Bonds Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig, said in June that a newcomer should be cast. She told The Independent she did not want to see any of the rumoured stars as Bond because audiences already know so much about them.
She said the audience should know as little as possible about the actor personally, since that is what spies are, adding that viewers should never see Bond at home and must believe he is capable of killing, or the audience is lost.
