Saoirse Ronan criticized Paul Mescal for laughing at and talking about her in an awkward interaction minutes before she spoke out about gender-based violence.
The Irish actress, 30, set social media on fire after her appearance on The Graham Norton Show on Friday when she made a joke about self-defense while sitting down. alongside an all-male panel, which included actors Paul, Denzel Washington and Eddie Redmayne.
In the extraordinary scenes, Saoirse stunned the men into silence when she jokingly interjected about how to defend herself against an attacker, saying: “that’s what women have to think about all the time.”
The viral clip has sparked a global debate, with commentators calling the moment uncomfortable but necessary to highlight the issue of violence against women.
However, it was far from the only awkward moment of the night, as just minutes earlier Saorise clashed with Paul, 28, when he mocked her appearance in a previous film role.
Saoirse Ronan shut down Paul Mescal for talking about her in an awkward interaction on The Graham Norton Show minutes before she spoke out about gender violence (LR Paul, Denzel Washington, Saoirse and Eddie Redmayne’)
The men on the panel had been discussing physical transformations for the roles, and host Graham, 61, soon asked Saoirse about her role in 2011’s Hanna (pictured in the film).
The men on the panel had been discussing physical transformations for the roles, and presenter Graham, 61, soon turned the attention to Saoirse.
She asked about the training regimen for her lead role in the 2011 action thriller Hanna, where she plays a young woman raised to be an assassin by her former CIA agent father (Eric Bana).
When an image of Saoirse in the film appeared on the screen, the boys instantly burst into laughter, prompting the actress to warn: “don’t laugh.”
Pointing to the picture, Paul continued to laugh and commented, “Look at it!” as Saoirse continued: “It’s a cult classic, he just shot a deer…”
Interrupting her, Paul laughed, ‘of course’, as Saoirse warned again, ‘stop laughing Paul…’
Trying to change the subject, Graham asked Paul: ‘Have you seen Hanna? It’s a really good movie!’ and the Normal People star confessed no.
When Saoirse was about to speak again, Paul intervened jokingly: ‘I want to be you for Halloween!’ prompting a visibly upset Saoirse to point out, “Ok, you’ve had your time to talk.”
To make light of the tension, Denzel, 69, began to shrink in his seat and joked: “Somehow I knew to back off!” as Saoirse insisted: ‘nah, nah, nah, we love each other.’
When an image of Saoirse in the film appeared on the screen, the boys instantly burst into laughter, prompting the actress to warn: “don’t laugh.”
When Saoirse was about to speak again, Paul intervened jokingly: ‘I want to be you for Halloween!’ prompting a visibly upset Saoirse to point out, “Ok, you’ve had your time to talk.”
The tense moment occurred just minutes before Saoirse silenced the men with her comment about gender violence.
During the talk, Eddie, 42, explained that during his training for The Day of the Jackal, an upcoming Peacock miniseries, he received instructions on how to use a phone to retaliate in the event of an attack.
Paul, laughing, joked: “Who’s really going to think about that?” If someone really attacked me, I’m not going to “phone it in.”
A giggling Graham mimed holding a phone to defend himself against an attacker and said, “Can you wait a second?” to which Eddie said, “That’s a very good point.”
After speaking in the chat, Saoirse finally found a moment to speak and declared, “That’s what girls have to think about all the time.”
The brutally honest comment prompted a moment of silence from the panel.
‘Am I right, ladies?’ He then asked the crowd, drawing huge applause from the studio audience.
While Saoirse and Paul had an awkward interaction on the show, there is no bad blood between the couple.
In fact, the Irish actors are good friends after starring together in the 2023 sci-fi film, Foe, where they played a married couple.
During the film’s promotional tour, Saoirse explained how the role had brought them closer, sharing: “Before, we knew each other more or less in passing, just through friends.
‘We have become very, very close since we made the film. We are genuine friends; We are not friends of Hollywood.
The tense moment occurred just minutes before Saoirse stunned the men into silence with her comment about gender violence.
While Saoirse and Paul had an awkward interaction on the show, there is no bad blood between the couple. In fact, the Irish actors are good friends after starring together in the 2023 sci-fi film, Foe.
Saoirse is currently promoting her war drama film Blitz, which will be released in theaters on November 1 before streaming on Apple TV+ on November 22.
The film also stars Elliott Heffernan, Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clémentine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller and Stephen Graham.
Blitz, written and directed by Steven McQueen, “follows the stories of a group of Londoners during the events of the bombing of the British capital in World War II,” reads the film’s tagline.
Saoirse plays a woman named Rita who is raising her nine-year-old son George (Heffernan) in the midst of tumultuous times.