Saoirse Ronan: How the actress went viral

Celebrity chat shows are a pretty boring spectacle these days, said Finn McRedmond in the Irish Times. But occasionally something enlivens these made-up occasions by breaking through the “forced anecdotes and PR gambits.” It happened recently on Graham Norton's BBC show.

Eddie Redmayne was a guest and caused much amusement among his fellow actors on the sofa when he described how he was trained in self-defense and demonstrated how to use a mobile phone in preparation for his latest role in a new adaptation of The Day of the Jackal used as a weapon. “Who will actually think about this?” asked Paul Mescal. “If someone attacked me,” he joked, I wouldn’t think to reach for my phone. But the men's laughter gave way to an awkward silence when actress Saoirse Ronan chimed in and said: “This is what girls have to think about all the time – am I right, ladies?”