'This is a real, real honour': Kerry's Jessie Buckley wins big at Golden Globe Awards

Killarney actress Jessie Buckley looks set to contend for the biggest honour in cinema after her jubilant victory at the awards ceremony in Los Angeles for her role in Hamnet, writes Esther McCarthy

Jessie Buckley with her Golden Globe award for best actress in a drama for 'Hamnet'. Picture: AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

Jessie Buckley has moved a step closer to making Irish Oscars history following her emotional best actress win at the Golden Globes on Sunday night.

The Killarney actress looks set to contend for the biggest honour in cinema after her jubilant victory at the awards ceremony in Los Angeles for her role in Hamnet. Hamnet also won the top prize of Best Motion Picture: Drama, boosting its Oscar hopes.

“This is a real, real honour. I love what I do, and I love being part of this industry. Thank you,” said Buckley, adding to fellow nominee Julia Roberts: “The incredible women I am honoured to stand beside in this category. I mean, Julia Roberts, you are like a hero to us all.” 

Saying that the award was “not a normal feeling or situation”, Buckley also thanked the Polish crew member who brought his cooking skills to the set of Hamnet. 

“I found him one day at the back of his truck, and he was chopping up potatoes and onions and meat, and he brought his ginormous cast iron pot over from Poland, and he was making soup, and this soup started turning up on set. It was delicious.” 

 

Buckley was presented with the Golden Globe for her portrayal of Agnes Shakespeare in Chloé Zhao’s film. The film, which opened to strong attendances in Irish cinemas this weekend, is told largely through her character’s perspective and tells how a huge personal loss helped inspire one of William Shakespeare’s greatest plays.

Buckley’s compatriot Paul Mescal plays the Bard in the film and was also nominated for his supporting role in a category that was won by Stellan Skarsgard (Sentimental Value) The film is adapted from the award-winning novel by Northern Irish author, Maggie O’Farrell.

Buckley’s landmark victory - buoyed by the film’s best drama win - places her in a strong position to become the first-ever Irish woman to win Best Actress at the Oscars. Brenda Fricker won Best Supporting Actress for My Left Foot in 1989, while Maureen O’Hara was presented with an honorary career Oscar in 2014. Both Saoirse Ronan and Ruth Negga have come close to a Best Actress accolade, nominated four times and once respectively.

The Golden Globes are widely thought of as a momentum-building win during awards season because of their proximity to the Oscars. The timing is invaluable - the round of voting for nominations by the Academy Awards’ 10,000-strong membership opens on Monday, January 12, and concludes on January 16. 

Jessie Buckley at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday. Picture: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP.

The Oscar nominations will then be announced on January 22 - meaning the Golden Globes win gives Buckley a crucial momentum push as the most prestigious accolades in cinema approach. The 98th Oscars will be held in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 15.

The only other Irish female winner of a Golden Globe for acting is Saoirse Ronan, victorious in 2018 for her lead performance in Lady Bird.

According to Hollywood trade publications, Buckley is widely regarded as a favourite as the Oscars approach.

Her closest contender looks likely to be Australian actress Rose Byrne, garnering strong reviews for her role in the thriller, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. With the acting nominations divided into two categories for the Golden Globes, Buckley won for Drama, and Byrne for Musical/Comedy.

There was plenty of other Irish interest at this year’s Golden Globes. Maggie O’Farrell and Hamnet director Chloé Zhao - who adapted the screenplay together from O’Farrell’s novel - were shortlisted for best screenplay, though Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another was the winner.

Irish production company Element Pictures’ series of collaborations with filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos also continues to flourish, with Bugonia nominated for three awards. Another Best Picture nominee, Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon was set in the US but filmed in Ireland and produced by Irish company Wild Atlantic Pictures. In the TV categories, All Her Fault, which is adapted from Irish crime writer Andrea Mara’s novel, was also shortlisted.

Aged 16, Owen Cooper became the youngest actor to win male actor in a supporting role in television for the groundbreaking Adolescence.