COVERED BY: BRENDA MEYER

On how to pronounce her name:
Well, there's a few different ways to pronounce it, actually. Seer-sha is how Irish people would pronounce it normally, but I would pronounce it Ser-sha, like inertia. It's got a beautiful meaning, it's Irish for freedom and liberty. And my last name means seal. And my middle name, Una, means unity. So I'm a free unified seal. (laughs)

On the physical and fight training for the role:
I trained for a couple of months before we started shooting. I did a little bit over in L.A. for a couple of weeks just to get started so the head stunt coordinator, whose name is Jeff Imada and is brilliant, would know what my energy is like, my strengths, what I was capable of, things like that, and then a member of his team and I went back to Ireland and we would train in the gym for about two hours a day, which I did have to get used to. We trained in martial arts and stick fighting and weapons training, things like that, so I learned quite a few skills. More skills than I'd ever learned on a film. I don't necessarily remember them all, though.

Are there differences with you relationship with director Joe Wright now versus the first time you'd worked together on Atonement:
You know, not really, which is fantastic. We had a great relationship on Atonement. I mean, I was younger, I was about twelve when I did that, but I don't think there was a difference this time because Joe never really treated me like I was a kid. And then when we did Hanna together, that relationship just developed even further and I guess we've gotten closer. It really felt like a collaboration with this film. It felt like we were both going in this new direction and it kind of felt like a journey and we were taking a risk by doing this, and the fact that we were taking the risk together was exciting.

On Joe's growth as a director:
He took more risks on this film. I know I've said that already, but when it came to cinematography and even the music, he took more risks. Just being involved in this film, he introduced new layers to the story and brought a fairy tale element to it as well, which we never really see with action films. So he's made this into a sort of a mutant film.

On the bleached eyebrows:
It was Joe's idea to basically bleach me out and almost disguise me as an animal in a forest. So I think it's quite interesting that I don't really leap out when you see me in the forest, I blend in. We were going for the physicality similar to a white wolf, really. I think it came off quite well.

What is it about these intense roles that appeals to you at such a young age:
These are the ones that have really interested me. It's sort of a bit impulsive when I read a script and decide that I would like to play this character. I mean, of course, the director has to want you to be involved as well and whatever else, but I like characters that interest me, that I'm thinking about for ages and ages after I've finished a script, and usually ones that are different from me in some way or maybe something that I'm not or wish I was or a piece of me that I haven't brought out yet and I wanted to explore a little bit.

Did Joe bring the script to you? How did you get involved?

He wasn't involved when I got involved. They didn't have a director when they sent me the script. I really liked it and I really responded to it, and I went to meet John Lyons from Focus [Features] and he was saying that he didn't have a director yet, and the first person that popped into my head was Joe. I wasn't actually confirmed to play the part yet - we were kinda talking about it, y'know, we were in the no man's land, so I just couldn't go, 'oh I can't wait to do this movie, it's going to be wonderful', because they hadn't actually offered it to me yet (laughs), so we were talking about it and he said, 'well, we don't have a director,' and I said, 'well, why don't you send it to Joe Wright, I'm sure he'd be interested in it,' and he said, 'yeah, we were thinking of that,' and I said, 'well, just tell him that I'm doing it.' (laughs) I had never been so cheeky before, and then after I thought, well, I'm not going to get the part now because I said that. But Joe rang me a few days later and told me to get my butt in the gym and get training.

On filming in Finland:
It was cold. It was cold, it was cold, it was cold. One day, it was minus thirty degrees. It was very, very cold, and everyone had their jackets on and their boots and their hats and their gloves, and Eric and I, for the whole week or two that we were there, we were wrapped in a bit of deer fur, and we had cloth around our hands, but they were fingerless, so we could feel the cold. And we had to fight in this. I mean, I don't know what it was like for him, but for me, it was cold and my muscles wouldn't work properly or anything. We fought on a frozen lake on the third day.

But, I mean, it's beautiful there, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. It's like a winter wonderland, it's so enchanting, just beautiful. It really is.

On if she really had her arm in a dead reindeer:
Oh yeah, that was me. They put intestines and guts and things into it and put fake blood over it, and they had this machine that would let out steam so it looked like the deer was dying. It was very interesting to see, but my hands were in goo the whole time, and it was cold on my fingers. And then we went straight into a fight.

How would she hold up in a real fight:
I think with my friend Christopher, who I've grown up with my whole life, I think I could perform quite well. But in an actual, a real fight, I don't think so, no. I think maybe eight months ago, I would've been alright. But I haven't done it in awhile. I think once I got back into it and I trained, maybe I could perform in a proper fight, but not at the moment.

On working with Jessica Barden (who plays Sophie) and making their onscreen friendship seem real:
Jess and I got on really well - I mean, she's a very easy person to get on with. She's absolutely mad, and talks like that all the time, she never shuts up, but I really liked her. I mean, she's not quite as bad as Sophie, but she's quite similar, so it was an absolute joy just to observe the way this girl is. There's no pretense or anything, she's just real. We bonded over [Lady] Gaga, and I mean, if I'm working with an actor that likes Gaga, we will bond straight away. As it should be.

What do you think happens to Hanna at the end of all this? (SPOILERS FOR THE END OF THE FILM!!!)
That's a question I keep asking myself actually. It's tough. I don't know. I really, really don't know. The most realistic thing is that she went back to the forest. She probably killed everyone that came into the forest, anyway, so no one would know she's there, but I'm not sure. I mean, a few journalists have said, oh, what about a sequel, but I don't know what they'd do with a sequel.

I'm not sure she'd go back to the family, because we're not sure what happens to them. We're not really sure what happens to anyone.

On if Hanna is similar to her role in Violet & Daisy, her new film, also about teenage assassins:
I didn't actually fight in Violet & Daisy. Everyone thinks it's going to be quite similar to Hanna, but it's not at all, which is good. I learned how to use a gun, and that's probably the only thing I took from Hanna. I also felt like on Hanna, I felt more comfortable, and had a bit more confidence to suggest things more, and share ideas, where I haven't really done that to that point. And I certainly carried that on to Violet & Daisy as well, and I'm glad I did, because you get more out of it, I think, it's more satisfactory.

MPAA Accredited
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