Jessie Buckley is heading home, and there’s a reason the excitement beaming from her is palpable.
“I get to snuggle for 12 hours with my daughter on a plane,” she says, with the relief of someone who’s been away from her own bed for too long. The Oscar-nominated actress has been crisscrossing the globe promoting “Hamnet,” Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s bestselling novel, in which she delivers a performance that many believe could finally bring her an Academy Award.
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In the film, Buckley portrays Agnes Shakespeare — the largely unknown wife of William Shakespeare — navigating the devastating loss of their young son. It’s a role that required the actress to access profound grief; less than a week after production wrapped, she found out she was pregnant. The blessing of her daughter in her life would not have changed the way she took on the role, she insists.
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“What I discovered with her [Agnes] was a ferocious tenderness, which actually cracks the kind of edges of that hard exterior in the people that she loves,” Buckley tells the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast. That tenderness, she adds, isn’t simply softness, rather the intersection of strength, empathy and vulnerability.
The towering performance has generated major Oscar buzz since the film’s premiere at Telluride, where audiences were visibly shaken — and deeply moved — by Buckley’s portrayal of a mother’s anguish. Yet she resists any notion that “Hamnet” is merely “grief porn.”
“There’s been catharsis,” she says. “Agnes’ last frame of her smiling is the release. It’s the relief. Something gets moved, something gets shifted in this film.”
For Buckley, whose career began on a reality singing competition in Ireland before she transitioned to the stage and screen, “Hamnet” represents an artistic and emotional evolution. Her Oscar-nominated turn in “The Lost Daughter” (2022) arrived during a period of creative burnout. She was starring in “Cabaret” on stage in London while juggling consecutive film roles in “Men” and the best picture-nominated “Women Talking.” This time around, she feels more grounded and deliberate, channeling lessons from both motherhood and the quiet resilience of her character.
“I look at who Agnes is as a woman, and I look at who Chloé is as a woman, and as a female director, and I feel so proud to know that there’s a woman like Agnes going out into the world,” Buckley expresses. That pride — and the spirit of collaboration behind it — defines “Hamnet,” a film that explores love, loss and the sustaining power of imagination.
It may also mark the most profound performance of Buckley’s career to date, with a possible Oscar statuette to come.
On this episode of the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, we break down Buckley’s role in “Hamnet,” the themes it explores, and what she’s looking for in film and TV roles. Also on this episode: “The Smashing Machine” star Emily Blunt. Listen below!
This interview has been edited and condensed.
What surprised you most about Agnes once you were actually living in her skin in “Hamnet?”
I think even in Shakespeare, we don’t know anything about these people. Nobody has a clue. I always approach characters as if they’re strangers I want to have the best love affair with, and get to know them. What surprised me most about her — or what was revealed in me through her — was tenderness. I think I’d been looking for it. She’s someone who lives with her own convictions of who she is. She’s not compromising to an appealing idea of herself; she’s in her body and in nature, and works with medicine. People often see strength in women as something hard, but what I found was a ferocious tenderness that breaks through the edges of that exterior.
Her relationship with Will [Shakespeare] also surprised me. It was so progressive and confident. She recognized that the landscape inside him was bigger than their small town. To know you can hold something and also let it go in the same breath — and that your love can sustain that — was something I discovered about her.
You filmed this before becoming a mother. Do you understand Agnes differently now, or is it the same understanding?
I can’t imagine what that loss must feel like. All I could do was try to imagine it to my best ability. I’m not a linear prepper or performer — I’m a bit of a magpie. I pull colors, writing, music, voice notes, things that help me feel my way through it. Reading Nick Cave’s “The Red Hand Files” and Joan Didion helped. Agnes is so connected to nature and something ancient — her mother, her mother’s mother, and her daughter — that I tried to channel grief larger than myself. I can’t say I know better now that I’m a mother, only that I love more and my heart is cracked open more. To live in tenderness is scary because it requires strength, deep vulnerability and empathy.
What would be your message for people who feel hesitant to watch the film because they don’t want to see a child die?
I’ve heard that, even at Telluride. People said, “I can’t go, I won’t be able to do the rest of the festival.” And I get it. But Chloé is reminding us of what storytelling can be. In ancient times, stories were vessels to help us transcend feelings we couldn’t hold ourselves. We’ve lived in escapism for so long. We want quick distractions, but this film asks us to sit with something deeper. For those who’ve seen it, there’s been catharsis. Agnes’ last smile is the release. It’s not grief porn; it’s a film about deep love. And if you really love something, you risk losing it. Don’t be scared. It’ll be fine.
Can you take me back to the morning you were nominated for an Oscar? What do you remember about the morning?
I was on my way to therapy. Honestly, I was so burnt out. I’d done “Men,” “Women Talking,” and then “Cabaret.” I was physically and mentally exhausted and couldn’t quite take it in. Awards are powerful objects that gather a lot around them. I was probably a little shy of it, maybe because I was so tired. I’m conscious now of wanting to be present — wherever we are today, that’ll be enough.
This could be an Oscar-winning moment for you. What would you tell that 15-year-old girl who just got a TV about that possibility?
I’m not quite there in my head yet. That 15-year-old girl would look at what we created in “Hamnet” and think, “Yeah, that’s what you wanted to do.” I didn’t think it was possible for me. Acting felt so far away. It was a time in Ireland that was still very repressed. I look at Agnes and at Chloé and feel proud that a woman like Agnes is going out into the world under Chloé’s guidance. I hope other 15-year-old girls see something of themselves in her — that they find that life force and know it’s not too much. That’s what matters.
Your Focus Features counterpart Jesse Plemons is great in “Bugonia.” You worked with him on “I’m Thinking of Ending Things.” How excited are you for his success this year?
We were kids when we made “I’m Thinking of Ending Things.” That film was so important to me. It was the first time where language, thought and creativity were all colliding. Jesse is extraordinary — he’s singular. You see him pop up for five minutes in Alex Garland’s “Civil War” and he’s captivating. In “Bugonia,” he’s just wild and fascinating. Nobody else could create what he does.
How about working with your “Hamnet” leading man, Paul Mescal?
I’ve been so lucky with the men I’ve worked with. Paul is one of the most caring, strong people to work beside. You feel like he has your back completely — no games. He respects women deeply. We both love Cassavetes, and we joked on set about being Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes or Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. I know we’ll work together again.
Any thoughts on Tilly Norwood, the AI “actress?”
I just don’t think it’s going to work. It might be fun for a second, but people will get hungry for humanity. You can’t beat it.
What director do you want to work with most right now?
Leos Carax and Paolo Sorrentino. That would be amazing.
Finish the sentence: Agnes taught me to…
…be tender.
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.