Saoirse Ronan tipped for FIFTH Oscar nod for Kate Winslet film Ammonite

She has given critically-acclaimed performances in several of Hollywood’s biggest films of the last decade.

And Saoirse Ronan is already being tipped for a fifth Oscar nomination for her role in the upcoming historical drama Ammonite.

The actress, 25, will star opposite Kate Winslet as the wife of a wealthy tourist who has a lesbian love affair with a fossil hunter.

On Tuesday, Variety magazine predicted that The Lovely Bones actress could be a front-runner at the Academy Awards in 2021.

‘Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan in a period piece are what Oscar dreams are made of,’ read the opinion piece.

The movie tells the story of Mary Anning (Winslet), an infamous fossil hunter with the days of her most famed discoveries behind her.

Following the arrival of a wealthy visitor, she develops an intense relationship with a young woman, played by Saoirse Ronan, who she is tasked with looking after.

However, the Hollywood publication added the film has been hit by controversy after some members of Anning’s family have publicly protested because they insist her sexuality was never confirmed.

The piece continued: ‘Some members of Anning’s family have publicly protested because they insist her sexuality was never confirmed.

‘Director Francis Lee shot back, saying it’s not hard to imagine she was gay because there’s “no evidence whatsoever” that she was ever in a heterosexual relationship.’ 

Saoirse was one of the youngest ever Oscar nominees, when aged 13, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in Atonement at the 2008 awards.

Eight years later she was nominated in the Best Actress category for Brooklyn and was back in the same category two years later in 2017 for her leading role as Christine McPherson in Lady Bird.

She received her fourth nod at this year’s awards for her celebrated performance in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, but lost out to Renée Zellweger’s portrayal of Judy Garland.

Her impressive haul of nominations for the most coveted prize in film makes her the second youngest actor or actress to receive four nominations, with the record being held by Jennifer Lawrence.

Jennifer was 25 when she picked her fourth nomination for Joy in 2016, just a few months younger than Saoirse.

She has also won a Best Actress Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook, and received nods for 2011’s Winter’s Bone and 2014’s American Hustle.

Saoirse Ronan recently took a hiatus from acting last year after more than a decade of movie roles.

But before her acting break, she had wrapped production on the French Dispatch which will see her starring opposite actor Timothée Chalamet for the third time in as many years.

The film was helmed by Wes Anderson who directed Ronan in The Grand Budapest Hotel.

The film, which is set in the 1950s, centres around a group of journalists at an American newspaper bureau in Paris.

Benicio del Toro, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton and Frances McDormand are among the star-studded cast for the movie which was shot in Angouleme in south west France.