Actress Jessie Buckley says Oscar-nominated Hamnet has been ‘life-changing’
By Casey Cooper-Fiske, PA Senior Entertainment Reporter
Actress Jessie Buckley has said making her film Hamnet, which has seen her nominated for an Oscar, has been a “life-changing experience”.
The 36-year-old from Co Kerry, who is nominated for best actress for the film, said she did not expect the nod, while speaking at an in conversation event at London’s BFI Southbank.
She said: “I don’t think you have any idea of an aftermath before you start, never, and if you do, you know that it’s going to be the opposite of what you think it’s going to be.
“So just better not think about it at all. No, I mean, I had an emotional reaction when I read the book first.
“I think we all (the cast) felt like making it was such a special experience, but it’s so vulnerable… that first moment when you share something that has really been such a personal, life-changing experience, it’s so vulnerable.
“It’s like giving birth, you’re like, ‘no, my baby’, and then, it’s OK, but I’m so thrilled and proud that a film like this and a story like this, and protagonists like this can have such an impact, that really it’s kind of taken its own course in a way that I didn’t know.”
She went on to say that she felt the film was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Buckley added: “I may never do anything like this ever again… sometimes just there’s this collision, and this story met me at a point in my life, and… I feel like there’s something about Hamnet, which in my work, was kind of leading me to tell this story at this moment in my life.”
Hamnet, directed by Chloe Zhao, tells the story of William Shakespeare’s (Paul Mescal) wife Agnes Hathaway, played by Buckley, and the couple’s reaction to the loss of their son. The film has broken the record for the most nominations for a female-directed film in Bafta history, with 11.
Asked how she was dealing with her success with the film, Buckley added: “I think I’m OK. People are asking me, I’m a new mum, I had a baby six months ago, so I’m also changing nappies at 3am, and I think it’s a gift.
“My work’s done, this bit is about sharing it with the world, and the other stuff is something that I guess, going into those rooms and places, I still am in awe that I’m around artists that have inspired me in ways that I couldn’t even tell you because I would make an absolute fool of myself.”
Buckley, who lives in Norfolk in England, was later asked by an audience member if she had already written an acceptance speech, and the actress revealed she had not before asking him if he had any tips.
The actress, who has also starred in Beast (2017), Women Talking (2022) and The Lost Daughter (2021), has secured a string of trophies including the Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice awards for her role as Agnes, for which she is nominated in the leading actress category at the Baftas.
Buckley is set to play The Bride, based on the Bride Of Frankenstein, in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s gothic crime film The Bride! when it is released later this year.
