FILM · 2015 · IRELAND
Brooklyn
35 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (35)
- #001
The film's Brooklyn, New York, was shot in Montreal, Québec, for budget reasons, since the production could not turn 2015 Brooklyn back into the Brooklyn of the 1950s. Only two days of production were spent in Brooklyn: one to shoot the brownstone exteriors and another to film at Coney Island.
- #002
Irish author Colm Tóibín's idea for the novel came from a childhood memory of overhearing a woman talk about her young daughter moving from Enniscorthy to Brooklyn. In 2000 he wrote a short story about that memory. Years later, after living in the United States and teaching literature there, he expanded it into a novel, saying he was inspired by Jane Austen's "method of examining a single psychology using an introspective, sensitive heroine, some comic characters and a little romance."
- #003
Rooney Mara was initially cast in the lead role. Saoirse Ronan, who would replace her, had been the frontrunner for the part since the film first began development, but she was too young to play Eilis. Production stalled for years, Mara stepped back, and by the time the project was ready to move forward, Ronan had aged appropriately for the character and won the role.
- #004
Saoirse Ronan discovered she had been nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in this film while getting a manicure in Dublin, Ireland. In her excitement, she bought champagne for everyone in the salon.
- #005
The Irish coastal scenes were shot at Curracloe Strand. This location was also used for the D-Day scene in Saving Private Ryan (1998).
- #006
Saoirse Ronan was born in The Bronx, New York, but was raised in Ireland by Irish parents. She considers this one of her most personal films and plays an Irish character on screen for the first time. (In The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) she spoke with an Irish accent but played a citizen of a fictional European country.) In an interview with David Poland, she voiced her concerns about taking the role: "I felt I couldn't mess this up because all of Ireland would be watching. I felt a great responsibility to the country to capture the story." She said, however, that the warm reception at the Sundance Film Festival made her realize the film's universal essence.
- #007
Ronan's character's Irish dialect differs from the one she actually speaks. In this film she uses a Wexford accent because her character is from Enniscorthy, while in her private life she speaks with a Dublin accent.
- #008
The eight different dinner scenes set in the boarding house were completed in only two days.
- #009
Saoirse Ronan was nominated for 51 awards for her performance.
- #010
Emory Cohen said that, despite the setting, he was the only American on set.
- #011
Saoirse Ronan wanted to keep the green swimsuit out of this film. Director John Crowley joked that the costume got caught in a bidding war between the Brooklyn and Ireland councils, and that the latter wanted to use it as a new national flag.
- #012
Dame Julie Walters claims her character reminds her of her real-life aunt. Director John Crowley offered Walters the role because, among other things, he knew she was of Irish descent: "I knew Julie had an Irish mother and I suspected she would know that woman inside out, and of course she did. She knew who she was, right down to how her hair should look and how she should dress. Her accent is flawless and of course she's a hysterically funny actress, but here she does it authentically. Beautifully played."
- #013
On the boat, Georgina reassures Eilis Lacey about living in America: sometimes it is nice to talk to people who do not know your aunt. Toward the end of the film, Eilis narrowly avoids making a bad mistake, even if unintentionally, because the awful Mrs. Kelly knows the aunt of an Irish girl who saw Eilis marrying Tony Fiorello at City Hall.
- #014
The relationship between Eilis Lacey and Jim Farrell remains entirely platonic in this film. In the book, however, Eilis and Jim do have some kind of relationship. This leads Eilis to question her marriage and to leave her husband's letters unopened because she is not sure she wants to return to him. She finally decides to go back only once news of Mrs. Kelly's behavior reaches New York City.
- #015
Saoirse Ronan's real-life Irish parents were also married in Brooklyn, New York, in a quiet City Hall ceremony, just like Ronan's character in this film.
- #016
Eilis's yellow dress is costume designer Odile Dicks-Mireaux's favorite in this film. It was bought from a vintage shop in Montreal, Québec.
- #017
The book includes a dream scene in which Eilis struggles with homesickness. It was initially planned to be in the screenplay but was ultimately cut. In the book, Eilis dreams of drifting above the cliffs, and you can see her hometown in the distance. Director John Crowley thought it was beautiful and wanted the scene in the film, but screenwriter Nick Hornby said the idea would be a cliché.
- #018
Among Irish film productions, this film achieved the best local box-office opening in nineteen years. In Ireland it had the widest cinema release ever for an Irish film, and its opening gross was the highest since Michael Collins (1996) was released in November 1996.
- #019
This film received a standing ovation when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
- #020
Producer Finola Dwyer acquired the rights to the book when she met author Colm Tóibín at a rare book fair on behalf of Princeton University. The two hit it off immediately, and Dwyer asked him whether he would consider optioning the book right away. Although several other parties were also pursuing the rights, Tóibín gave Dwyer his approval.
- #021
Composer Michael Brook decided to use the violin as an instrumental motif for the character Eilis. The violin was performed by Brook's wife, Julie Rogers.
- #022
A spin-off centred on Mrs. Kehoe's boarding house was commissioned by the BBC and announced in February 2016; Dame Julie Walters was expected to reprise her role. Production was planned to begin that same year, but as of August 2018 there had been no further development.
- #023
Saoirse Ronan's favourite day on set was filming the scenes at Coney Island. It was also the only time her mother visited her during the production.
- #024
The scenes at Curracloe Beach were shot during the summer months. However, filming took place on a clear and freezing day outside the summer season. Eileen O'Higgins and Saoirse Ronan were protected from the cold by their heavy dresses, while Domhnall Gleeson struggled to walk across the location because of the low temperature.
- #025
The pneumatic tube system in the large department store where Eilis works is labelled "Adanac," a Canadian company still in operation in Québec. Parts of the film were shot in Montreal.
- #026
Fox Searchlight Pictures bought the distribution rights to the film at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in a record deal worth 9 million dollars.
- #027
Dame Julie Walters was a big fan of the book before she was offered a role in the film, having read it at its first publication in 2009, which inspired her to visit Brooklyn for the first time.
- #028
When the film begins, Eilis Lacey is about to leave for America because her sister persuaded Father Flood to find her a job there. In the book, however, Father Flood convinces Eilis that America is a wonderful place where she will have no trouble finding work, so her decision to leave Ireland is explained somewhat better.
- #029
Editor Jake Roberts was recommended to the producers by Lone Scherfig, who had also directed the similarly themed An Education (2009), likewise based on a Nick Hornby screenplay. By his own admission, when he first heard the title he thought the film was a "hipster rom-com."
- #030
Filming took eight weeks, while editing took fifteen weeks.
- #031
In a deleted scene, after the night Eilis spends with Tony Fiorello, Mrs. Kehoe announces that she has added an extra lock to the basement, with a nod that is not quite light enough to show she knows what happened.
- #032
The film was shot partly in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland. In the town, every location used, such as the shops and bars, has pictures from the production in its shop windows.
- #033
During filming in Enniscorthy, three hundred local residents served as extras. Seventy people took part in the dance hall scenes.
- #034
The author of the book appears as a passenger in front of Eilis as she goes through customs after arriving in New York.
- #035
The film's first public screening in Europe was held at a red carpet event in Enniscorthy, Ireland, where much of the production took place. Saoirse Ronan was unable to attend, but Colm Tóibín flew to the town from the United States and walked the red carpet alongside actors Eve Macklin and Gary Lydon. Two screenings were held due to overwhelming demand, and the tickets sold out within forty-five minutes.
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