Oscar Volley: Is "Best Actress" Tied Up with a Bow for Jessie Buckley? The Oscar Volleys continue, with Lynn Lee and Nick Taylor analyzing the surprisingly stable race for Best Actress. Buckley’s performance in Hamnet has positioned her as the frontrunner, but the discussion explores whether her win is inevitable. LYNN: At the risk of stating the obvious, Nick, Best Actress has been the most predictable category of the four acting races by far. Is there a world in which Jessie Buckley doesn’t take this? And are we basically fine with that? NICK: I mean, where else is there to start? Buckley is the surest winner of the acting categories, and among a handful of artists—like PTA and Ludwig Göransson—who know they’re winning the Oscar. Buckley has delivered ambitious, awards-worthy turns since her debut in Beast in 2017. Her role as Agnes in Hamnet is an ideal use of her screen persona, blending practical intelligence with precise-yet-walloping emotions. Her characters are irreducibly themselves, their odd edges and peculiar beliefs condemning them to black sheep status even when things are looking their way. She’s incredible, and while the grieving mother is an easy type for awards groups to notice, it shouldn’t diminish the power of her work in Hamnet. LYNN: Those are two separate questions, right? To answer the second one first, I am more than okay with a Buckley win. Her performance in Hamnet is exemplary, highlighting without overplaying the touch of wildness that so entrances Will before it curdles into raw despair over losing their child. She’s most moving in the final scene, where that spark starts to flicker back to life as she finally sees what her husband has done to sublimate and memorialize his grief.#jessie_buckley #lynn_lee #nick_taylor #hamnet #if_i_had_legs_i_d_kick_you
