Saoirse Ronan will 'always strive' to be as good a director as Greta Gerwig

Saoirse Ronan will "always strive" to be as good a director as Greta Gerwig and John Crowley.

During an interview with IndieWire, the Irish actress revealed which collaborators inspired her most when she directed her first film, the 15-minute short Paper Plane.

Ronan explained that she wanted to be like her Lady Bird director Gerwig and Brooklyn filmmaker Crowley in how she treated her actors.

"The way they are as directors with their actors, I haven't marched with anyone greater than those two," she praised. "They bring out something that I haven't experienced with anyone else, really, and I'll always strive to be a tenth to what they are as a director."

Ronan, who also worked with Gerwig on 2019's Little Women, shared the advice the filmmaker gave her about supporting actors as a director.

"One thing that Greta said is that you need to think of yourself as the most supportive audience member for your actors," she said. "She always makes you feel so loved and interesting and wanted, and so I wanted the actors to feel that way."

The Oscar-nominated star also drew inspiration from her Atonement and Hanna director Joe Wright for how she wanted her set to run.

"I think back in the day, the way Joe Wright ran his set was fantastic," she gushed. "The way he was on the ground with his crew, the clarity that he had at the top of the day, the structure he had when it came to planning, I've always responded really well to that."

In addition, Ronan played music live on set, much like Wright and her The Lovely Bones director Peter Jackson, because she felt it was a "helpful way" to "get everyone on the same rhythm".

Paper Plane, starring Martha Malone, Clare Dunne and Tim Creed, tells the story of a young girl who launches a silent protest and makes her demand via a paper plane message.

The film won Best Narrative Short at the Austin Film Festival in Texas earlier this month, making it eligible for Oscar consideration.