Saoirse Ronan Leads Satirical Thriller 'Bad Apples' as a Teacher Pushed to Extremes

Saoirse Ronan takes the lead in "Bad Apples," a satirical thriller from Swedish filmmaker Jonatan Etzler that is now playing in US theaters.

Ronan plays Maria, a primary school teacher at an upscale private school whose routine is upended by a disruptive pupil named Danny. After a violent incident, she is compelled to respond in an unconventional way, and the situation escalates when she accidentally locks the troublesome student inside her home.

The film also features Jacob Anderson and Eddie Waller.

Speaking about the production, Ronan described the shoot as a fun acting exercise, with the tone of each scene fine-tuned as filming progressed. She credited Etzler with being highly responsive on set, recalling how he would take a completed take and then ask her to push the same moment in a different direction, such as playing it with complete seriousness or stripping any hint of deception from her delivery.

Ronan said the film's blend of sensibilities felt organic to her. She noted that Etzler's Swedish background gives the project a Scandi noir flavour, while British humour runs through it, and that audiences have grown familiar with both styles. She added that her own instincts are shaped by British comedy, though she credited the strength of the script as the foundation for the performance.

The actor said she drew on her own reaction as a first-time reader of the script, particularly the surprise of its final turn, and wanted to play the story so that the last beat felt like it might not arrive. She compared acting in comedic moments to falling in love with the humour, describing the challenge as enjoying it without over-indulging and keeping the performance grounded in reality.

For Maria, Ronan said, desperation is the guiding theme, whether in the character's personal life or her professional one, and that this undercurrent ran through the entire performance.

Ronan also pushed back on the idea that child performers are difficult to work with. She said children are never the problem, pointing instead to parents, other actors or directors as potential sources of friction, and noted that in her experience only one young co-star had been challenging, largely because the child did not want to be there. Young actors who genuinely want to act, she said, give everything, and she counted the film's young cast as a fortunate asset.