How Filming ‘Hamnet’ Pushed Jessie Buckley to Drop Every Guard She Had

Jessie Buckley has opened up about how filming Chloé Zhao’s historical drama Hamnet turned into one of the most personally transformative experiences of her career — one that pushed her to be more emotionally open than she had ever allowed herself to be before.

The 36-year-old Irish actress, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Agnes Hathaway — wife of a young William Shakespeare — alongside co-star Paul Mescal, has described the production as far more than a professional milestone. Speaking across multiple interviews, including a detailed conversation with Deadline, Buckley revealed that stepping into Agnes changed something fundamental in her, with the role unlocking a tenderness she hadn’t realized she needed to find.

According to CinemaBlend, Buckley and Mescal both described filming the project as a genuinely transformative experience, one that encouraged deeper vulnerability and a willingness to set aside personal defenses during production. Buckley noted that working on the film pushed her to shed what she described as any kind of protective mask — an emotional wall she had carried into her work for much of her career.

Zhao’s approach on set played a central role in creating that environment. Buckley credited the director for building what she called a creative village on set, where all imagination was considered essential and where the primary expectation was simply for the cast to be as present as possible.

That chemistry extended deeply to her working relationship with Mescal. Buckley described Mescal as someone instrumental to her as an artist, calling their experience together transformative and expressing hope that they would collaborate many more times in the future.

The emotional weight of the role also found its way off set. Buckley shared that what Agnes revealed to her was a tenderness she hadn’t known she needed to learn and inhabit — and that tenderness has since stayed with her and changed her. She added that the experience had raised her personal bar for the kinds of stories she wants to tell going forward.

Music also played a deeply personal role during filming. Buckley shared composer Max Richter’s 2004 track “On the Nature of Daylight” with Zhao during production, which ultimately inspired the director to reshape the film’s original ending entirely.

The connection between Buckley and Hamnet began long before cameras rolled. She first met Zhao at the Telluride Film Festival while promoting another project, and the two immediately fell into a conversation about motherhood and death before Buckley even knew the role was being discussed. After learning about the project, she read the source novel — Maggie O’Farrell’s bestselling book of the same name — in a single night.

Hamnet was nominated for eight Academy Awards, with Buckley taking home the only win for the film. The performance had already earned her a Golden Globe, BAFTA, Critics Choice Award, and an Actor Award prior to the Oscars, completing one of the most dominant awards sweeps of the season.