Watch scenes from the performances nominated for the Oscar for best actress, as well as interviews with the nominees below.The 98th Academy Awards will be presented Sunday, March 15. Jessie Buckley, "Hamnet"Adapted from Maggie O'Farrell's novel, "Hamnet" is a fictionalized tale about the death of William Shakespeare's son, Hamnet.
It imagines that the tragedy inspired him to write his timeless work, "Hamlet." Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley plays Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare (portrayed by fellow Irish actor Paul Mescal), and it is her emotional performance that both grounds the story and elevates it to a universal tale of pain, grief and acceptance.Buckley (who was previously nominated for an Academy Award for "The Lost Daughter") first gained attention on the British talent show, "I'd Do Anything," singing in front of Andrew Lloyd Webber.
He praised her, saying, "Jessie has the sacred flame of star quality."Theater roles followed, including Shakespeare performances.She also starred in the films "Wild Rose," "I'm Thinking of Ending Things," and "Women Talking," and the TV series "Fargo." Buckley told "Sunday Morning" that performing the Bard changed everything for her: "I think before, I felt like music was the only way to contain what was kind of wanting to come out, and then Shakespeare's words and his worlds were so titanic that it just made me realize how powerful words could be," she said.For "Hamnet," she said that when she started shooting the more difficult scenes, like the death of her child, she told her husband she needed to go away for two weeks.
So, Buckley went to Hampstead Heath, a vast green space in London, where she'd go swimming each morning."I just need to be in nature and start my day and wake up that way, and then go to the set and see what came out," she said.
What came out was a performance radiating fire and tenderness. She says director Chloé Zhao (an Oscar-winner for "Nomadland") reminded her cinema is not just escapism."O...