We are delira and excira to hear that Carlow girl Saoirse Ronan is going to play the lead role in Brooklyn, replacing American actress Rooney Mara.

Brooklyn is an adaptation of Colm Tóibín's novel about a young woman from Ireland who emigrates to America in the 1950s. It has been written for the screen by none other than Nick Hornby, who did a fantastic job with An Education and will be directed by Intermission's John Crowley whose most recent flick Closed Circuit is out this Friday - you can read the review here.

Crowley told Bleeding Cool 'I think it’s a story that we’ve never seen on film, certainly not from Ireland, yet. I think it’s an amazing story about Europe and America in the 20th Century. It’s like an epic and a postage stamp at the same time. It’s exquisite.'

Even though we do like Rooney Mara (who actually chose to go by Rooney as a first name and that's cool) it's always nice when they choose a real Irish person to play an Irish character. Saoirse will next be seen in Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel.