Awkward moment Saoirse Ronan shuts down Paul Mescal for mocking her

Saoirse Ronan shut down Paul Mescal for laughing at her and talking over her in an awkward interaction minutes before she spoke out about gender-based violence. 

The Irish actress, 30, set social media alight after Friday's appearance on The Graham Norton Show when she made a joke about self-defence while sat alongside an otherwise all-male panel - which included actors Paul, Denzel Washington and Eddie Redmayne.

In the extraordinary scenes, Saoirse stunned the men into silence when she interjected them joking about how to defend themselves from an attacker by saying: 'that's what women have to think about all the time.' 

The viral clip has sparked a global debate, with commenters branding the moment awkward but necessary to highlight the issue of violence against women. 

Yet it was far from the only awkward moment of the night, as just minutes earlier Saorise butted heads with Paul, 28, when he mocked her appearance in an earlier film role. 

The men on the panel had been discussing undergoing physical transformations for roles, with host Graham, 61, soon turning the attention to Saoirse. 

He asked about the training regime for her titular role in 2011 action thriller Hanna, where she plays a young girl raised to be an assassin by her ex-CIA operative father (Eric Bana).

As a picture of Saoirse in the film flashed up on screen, the boys instantly burst into laughter, prompting the actress to warn: 'don't laugh.' 

Pointing at the picture, Paul continued to chuckle and remarked: 'just look at her!' as Saoirse continued: 'That is a cult classic, she's just shot a deer...'

Interrupting her, Paul laughed, 'of course', as Saoirse warned again, 'stop laughing Paul...' 

Trying to change the subject, Graham asked Paul: 'Have you seen Hanna? It's a really good film!' and the Normal People star confessed he hadn't. 

As Saoirse went to speak again, Paul jumped in by joking: 'I want to go as you for Halloween!' prompting a visibly irked Saoirse to point out: 'Ok, you've had your time talking.'

Making light of the tension, Denzel, 69, began shrinking into his seat and quipped: 'Somehow I knew to back up!' as Saoirse insisted: 'nah, nah, nah, we love each other.'

The tense moment happened just minutes before Saoirse stunned the men into silence with her comment on gender-based violence. 

During the chat, Eddie, 42, explained that amid his training for The Day of the Jackal, an upcoming Peacock miniseries, he received instruction on how to use a phone to retaliate in the event of an attack.

Read More

Saoirse Ronan's empowering comments on female relationships after viral Graham Norton Show moment

A guffawing Paul then joked: 'Who is actually going to think about that? If someone actually attacked me, I'm not going to go "phone."'

Giggling Graham mimicked holding a phone to fend off an assailant, saying, 'Can you hold on a second?' to which Eddie said, 'That's a very good point.'

Having been talked over in the chat, Saoirse finally found a moment to speak and declared: 'That's what girls have to think about all the time.'

The brutally honest comment prompted a moment of silence from the panel.

'Am I right, ladies?' she then asked the crowd, eliciting a huge round of applause from the studio audience.

While Saoirse and Paul had an awkward interaction on the show, there is no bad blood between the pair. 

In fact, the Irish actors are good friends after starring together in 2023 sci-fi film, Foe, where they played a married couple.

During the promo tour for the film, Saoirse explained how the role had brought them closer together, sharing: 'We knew each other sort of in passing before, just through friends.

'We’ve become very, very close since making the film. We’re genuine friends; we’re not Hollywood friends.'

Saoirse is currently promoting her war drama film Blitz, which is slated to be released in theaters November 1 before streaming on Apple TV+ November 22.

The movie also stars Elliott Heffernan, Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clémentine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller and Stephen Graham.

Blitz, written and directed by Steven McQueen, 'follow the stories of a group of Londoners during the events of the British capital bombing in World War II,' a logline for the film reads.

Saoirse portrays a woman named named Rita who is raising her son George, nine, (Heffernan) amid the tumultuous time.