Saoirse Ronan on playing both 'ugly and nasty' and a 'beacon of hope' in two different movies this year

The star of "The Outrun" and 'Blitz' looks back on her big year, on "The Awardist" podcast, which also features Joan Chen on how her "whole life prepared me" for "Dìdi."

Saoirse Ronan made a huge sacrifice in producing her first feature, in which she also stars, The Outrun.

She was so busy working on getting the film made that she wasn't able to film a cameo in Greta Gerwig's Barbie. Fortunately, "They scrapped it, which I was pleased with," says the Irish actress on The Awardist podcast, laughing. "I don't know if I would've been able to watch Barbie if she'd gotten someone else — that would've hurt."

While Ronan is eager to work with her Little Women and Lady Bird director again — "I will do anything. Even if she just wants me to roast her a chicken every day while she directs, I'll do that," Ronan says — her decision to stay the course on The Outrun is one that's paid off. Earning the four-time Oscar nominee some of the best reviews of her career as Rona, a recovering alcoholic who struggles to find happiness without the aid of substances, she also says it's been one of the most rewarding personally.

"I don't think I've ever given a performance like the one that I give in The Outrun," she says. "The fact that I was playing someone who is under the influence for certain sections of the film means that nothing is off the table in terms of performance. You can make it as big or as little as you want. You can make it funny. You can make it tragic. You can make her ugly and nasty and mean — and then also the girl that you just want to protect more than anything else in the world. There was so much that I could play with Rona and also felt like there was a huge responsibility in playing her because of how many people's stories and lives she represents."

Right after making that film, she went to work on Steve McQueen's World War II-set Blitz. There, she plays Rita, a mom who sends her son away with other children to the countryside to protect them from the German blitzkrieg in 1940-41.

"To go from a performance that's kind of a bit of everything and quite messy and edgy and then really quiet and secure, to someone who needs to be this pillar of strength for a younger person, to be the shining light, to be his one beacon of hope, was such a cool contrast."

It didn't hurt that playing Rita meant getting to dress up a bit more.

"As silly as it sounds, to be able to be glamorous physically — to wear makeup, to have a beautiful wig, to wear these incredible costumes that Jacqueline Durran designed, and really tap into that gorgeous glamor that existed during that time — that's what I love about my job, that one person can embody so many different spirits," she says.

Related: Saoirse Ronan applauded for sassy reaction to self-defense joke: 'That's what girls have to think about'

On the podcast, below, Ronan also addresses going viral for her comment on The Graham Norton Show about women always having to be prepared to physically defend themselves, why she's ready to dip her toe into directing, her Oscar nominations that mean the most to her, and more.

Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best in TV, movies, and more.

Elsewhere on the episode, Dìdi star Joan Chen explains why this particular onscreen mom, Chungsing — who's raising her teenage children and caring for her live-in mother-in-law while her husband works from Taiwan, thousands of miles away from them in Northern California — was so different from the ones she's used to.

"It was actually refreshing to me that this mother is not a stereotypical tiger mom and not one of those strict Chinese matriarchs, like [in] Joy Luck Club or Crazy Rich Asians, but a much [more] authentic, gentler version of being a mother," Chen says. "The scene where she talked about her own dreams, to her son, hat's when I knew that I had to play this part. Even though [it is] a supporting role, [it is] a complete role, and all along I really was thinking of my own children, their tumultuous adolescence, and all the regrets or the mistakes I've made. I feel Chungsing felt the same way when her children are unhappy — she felt it was her fault that something, being an isolated immigrant mother, something she wasn't doing right by the children that I relate to very deeply."

Her portrayal of those painful and poignant aspects of Chungsing has propelled Chen to some of the best reviews of her career, which isn't lost on the 63-year-old Shanghai-native.

"I've been an actress since I was 14, so that's almost half a century ago, but finally, I think I've grown into Chungsing, this character — my whole life prepared me for it," she says. "My life experience culminated into that moment to help me to play her more authentically, more deeply felt and more lived in."

Hear more of Chen's interview on The Awardist, below.