Jessie Buckley 'destroyed' her voice for this harrowing 'Hamnet' scene Patrick Ryan, USA TODAYJanuary 23, 2026 at 8:00 PM 0 Spoiler alert! We're discussing a key scene from "Hamnet," which imagines the emotional events that led to the creation of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet." Stop reading now if you haven't seen it yet and don't want to know. Jessie Buckley has vaulted to the front of the Oscar race after winning both a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award.
- - Jessie Buckley 'destroyed' her voice for this harrowing 'Hamnet' scene
Patrick Ryan, USA TODAYJanuary 23, 2026 at 8:00 PM
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Spoiler alert! We're discussing a key scene from "Hamnet," which imagines the emotional events that led to the creation of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet." Stop reading now if you haven't seen it yet and don't want to know.
Jessie Buckley has vaulted to the front of the Oscar race after winning both a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award.
That's in part because of one especially heart-wrenching scene from "Hamnet" (in theaters now), which was nominated for eight Oscars including best picture, director (Chloé Zhao) and actress (Buckley).
Based on Maggie O'Farrell's 2020 novel, the historical fiction movie follows the free-spirited Agnes (Buckley), who is left to care for her three young children while her playwright husband, William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal), is away working. But their simple, rural life takes a tragic turn when twins Judith (Olivia Lynes) and Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe) contract the plague and become gravely ill.
In the film's most agonizing sequence, Agnes lets out a guttural scream of anguish as her convulsing, terrified son dies in her arms. Her shriek in that moment was unscripted, Buckley recalls.
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William (Paul Mescal, left) shares a joyful moment with wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley), daughter Susanna (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) and their twins in "Hamnet."
"I have no idea where that came from and I don't really want to know," says Buckley, who became a mother herself (she has a 6-month-old daughter) after filming "Hamnet." Thankfully, Zhao only asked to do three takes of the traumatic segment: "Some directors want you to do something like that a hundred times."
Ultimately, "it's bigger than me and bigger than the moment," Buckley adds. "It comes from just being as present in that scene with that boy and with my imagination as possible. And I think that's enough."
'Hamnet': Jessie Buckley, Chloé Zhao opened up like never before while making the awards movie
Jessie Buckley, left, and "Hamnet" director Chloé Zhao pose for a portrait in Los Angeles.
Zhao marvels at the way that Buckley managed to capture "the grief of all women" through her tears.
"I want to say more because Jessie is being very humble," Zhao says. "To get there sounds simple: 'Yes, just be there and be present.' But the amount of prep work Jessie had done, whether it was speaking to women who had that experience; speaking to midwives; reading a lot of books. She had been processing this."
Oscars are here! See which actors, directors and films are nominated for the 98th Academy Awards, to be handed out live March 15 and broadcast on ABC and Hulu.
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Oscars are here! See which actors, directors and films are nominated for the 98th Academy Awards, to be handed out live March 15 and broadcast on ABC and Hulu.
">Oscars are here! See which actors, directors and films are nominated for the 98th Academy Awards, to be handed out live March 15 and broadcast on ABC and Hulu.
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1 / 36Oscars 2026 – The top nominees in photos
Oscars are here! See which actors, directors and films are nominated for the 98th Academy Awards, to be handed out live March 15 and broadcast on ABC and Hulu.
In essence, Buckley "was asking, 'All the women who have lost their children, come through me. I'm ready,' " Zhao adds. "That is bravery. I wasn't like, 'I have an idea of what this scream might look like.' She was like, 'Destroy my body, break my vocal cords, my body is ready to hold your grief.'
"That's how something like that can come out."
How does 'Hamnet' end?
Agnes (Jessie Buckley) comes face to face with her son's memory during a production of "Hamlet."
In real life, "Hamlet" was staged for the first time four years after Hamnet's death. In the play, Hamlet is grappling with the death of his father, who was murdered by his uncle Claudius. The young prince is consumed by intense grief and wants revenge.
The book and film "Hamnet" end with Agnes attending a production of "Hamlet" at the now-famed Globe Theatre, where she gradually realizes that her husband is mourning their son through these characters. In the movie, Shakespeare himself plays the ghost of Hamlet's dad onstage, as the playwright is widely believed to have done by historians.
Watching "Hamlet" unfold ultimately helps Agnes feel connected to her late son and process her grief. Through the film, Zhao wanted to examine the power of memory.
O'Farrell's novel is "very visceral. It's images, images, images," Zhao says. "The way she writes about Agnes' relationship with nature and the unseen, I knew that's where I wanted to go. On the last page, it says, 'Remember me.' That's one of the things that I've been exploring through my work: remembering."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jessie Buckley breaks down brutal 'Hamnet' scene (spoilers)
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Published: January 23, 2026 at 04:45PM on Source: ANDY MAG
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