Actress Saoirse Ronan's directing dreams have been given a big confidence boost after working with Greta Gerwig on Oscar-nominated movie Lady Bird.
The Irish star reveals it was always her career goal to step behind the camera one day, but she ended up falling into acting - and she has been kept busy ever since her big screen breakthrough in 2007's Atonement.
"That (directing) was something I was drawn to even before acting," she says. "I'd bully all my friends into being in little films I made. I'd get the camcorder - I loved bringing all of this together to make one thing."
However, Saoirse never thought she would able to turn her hopes into reality until she studied Gerwig at work on her first solo filmmaking debut - which has since earned her a Best Original Screenplay and a Best Director Oscar nomination.
"It wasn't until I saw Greta talk about the film and making it and putting it together, and how all of this came from her and she's done something brilliant that people truly love and it's a great piece of work," the 23-year-old tells news show Sunday Today with Willie Geist, which airs this weekend (25Feb18). "I thought, 'Oh yeah, I do want to do this now and maybe I could actually do it.'"
Saoirse has repeatedly gushed about Gerwig's talents in writing and directing Lady Bird, in which the Best Actress Oscar nominee portrays a teenager desperate to leave home, and she previously admitted Greta was made to be a filmmaker.
"I was a huge fan of hers anyway, even before I met her," she told breakfast show Good Morning America in December (17). "She's incredible, this is her first (solo) film and she was incredibly prepared and supportive, and I feel like she - which is quite unusual for a first-time director - she really knew what type of filmmaker she wanted to be.
"It was a very natural position for her to be in, and to watch someone come into their own and do something you kinda feel like they were born to do is amazing."
Lady Bird is also shortlisted for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Laurie Metcalf at the 2018 Academy Awards, which will take place on 4 March (18).
