Saoirse Ronan almost played the eccentric Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter, which eventually passed to Evanna Lynch. Although Ronan carved her path in the industry, even earning four Oscar nominations for her roles in Atonement, Brooklyn, Lady Bird, and Little Women, losing the titular Harry Potter role stayed with her for a long time.
While appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the actress looked back at the roles she wished she’d done. “There’s things that you’ll pass on and then they come out and you think, ‘Oh, God, that was a misstep on my part,'” said Ronan. But one role she regretted losing the most was Luna Lovegood.
Despite trying multiple times, she didn’t say no to the role but didn’t get the part. “I lost, again. It’s a running theme for me,” she added. Ronan recalled how half of Ireland auditioned for the role who was required to be Irish. She had a feeling that she’d be rejected for the role for being “too young,” but after reading the scene, she recalled it as “the coolest thing ever.”
The character first appeared in the fifth installment of the franchise Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, released in 2007. Fate clearly had a better plan for Ronan, whose film Atonement — in which she played the younger sister of co-lead Keira Knightley — released the same year and earned her first Oscar nomination at the age of 13.
Since then, she has continued her streak of playing gripping characters and garnering love and acclaim for her work. Once again, the actress is generating Oscar buzz for her new drama The Outrun.
Speaking to Kimmel, the four-time Oscar-nominated actress jokingly addressed herself as “four times the loser.” She also mentioned her husband, Jack Lowden, who recently lost at this year’s Emmys. “We’re a house of losers,” she joked. The Little Women actress revealed that before every award ceremony where they’re nominated, they place bets on going to the bar if they lose, and that’s what they end up doing.
“Cause inevitably that’s what’s going to happen — and we’ll get our popcorn and we’ll have a great night and it won’t matter that we’ve both lost,” she added. “We have very low expectations for ourselves,” Ronan joked.
