Jessie Buckley is having a dramatic few days. Backstage at the Oscars, the first Irish woman ever to win Best Actress is clutching her weighty award in both hands and thinking about a milestone of another kind entirely. “My daughter got her first tooth this week,” says the 36-year-old, on what is by coincidence her first Mother’s Day as a parent. “It feels like some kind of crazy alchemy that all of these things are colliding on a day like today.”
Buckley got pregnant a week after she finished filming Hamnet, Chloé Zhao’s heartwrenching drama about William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes grappling with the death of their young son. She saw the finished film for the first time eight months later, so it’s hardly surprising she’s finding tonight highly emotional. Frankly, she’s not the only one.
Here at the 98th Academy Awards, the mood is about as poignant and moving as anyone in the often cynical press room can remember. It helps that the joy and excitement are spread around, with no overwhelming winner sweeping the night. The headlines will nevertheless be dominated by One Battle After Another, which wins Paul Thomas Anderson his first Oscars (three of them!) after a 27-year wait since his first nomination: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and the coveted Best Picture.
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