Director of ‘mesmerising’ Saoirse Ronan drama spills on ‘improvised’ film set on the Orkney Islands

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Director Nora Fingscheidt has revealed some of the biggest challenges that came with filming the stellar new drama film The Outrun in some of the most remote parts of the UK.Starring Saoirse Ronan, the hard-hitting narrative follows a young woman who returns to her home on Orkney Islands in Scotland following a stint in rehab.Loosely based on Amy Liptrot’s stark memoir detailing her experiences with addiction, Ronan’s protagonist Rona struggles to find her footing back home whilst also dealing with her wildly different yet equally demanding parents.The Orkney Islands rarely play host to film crews, so Fingscheidt and her team had to constantly adapt whilst still attempting to do justice to Liptrot’s story.“It is challenging to film there, to be honest, because there isn’t really any sort of resources for filming bigger movies,” she told Screen Time. “There’s lots of very skilled local fixers and nature photographers, but of course we had to improvise in order to set up a movie set production.“On the other hand, that is also the great benefit because people were so curious and they were supporting us and we got all kinds of support in front of the camera and behind the camera.“But it was a little bit like an adventure the more remote we went, because filming on the mainland is still relatively easy, but then filming on a tiny remote island Papa Westray is really challenging because you can’t get a truck on the island and you can only get a hostel with 12 beds so we had to stay with locals in their private houses.

That really became a fantastic, almost like a team-bonding, creative experience.“I think, also, the content of the movie changed and was influenced by the locals.”Fingscheidt went on to reveal “many” of the