MOVIE NEWS – Jessie Buckley, star of Hamnet, has shot to the top of the Oscars race after the fall festival season.
After the first three major stops of the fall festival season — Venice, Telluride, and Toronto — the Oscar predictions have shifted dramatically, according to the awards site Gold Derby (GD). The biggest shake-up is in the Best Actress category: Jessie Buckley, who stars in the drama Hamnet, has surged into first place. Directed by Chloe Zhao, the film follows William Shakespeare’s wife as she and the rising playwright struggle to cope with the loss of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet.
Premiering to great acclaim at Telluride and Toronto — where it even won the Audience Award — the film has earned rave reviews from top critics. Tim Grierson (Screen Daily) calls Buckley’s performance “a revelation, portraying a wild spirit who embodies both the transcendent glory of motherhood and the crushing agony of loss.” Peter Debruge (Variety) adds that the actress “delivers nothing short of a heroic achievement.”
An interesting case is Cynthia Erivo, ranked third among GD’s Best Actress contenders. She stars as Elphaba in Wicked Part Two and is already generating Oscar buzz despite the film not yet being seen by critics — a sign of the enormous anticipation surrounding the musical sequel.
(Wicked: For Good – Hungarian release: November 20, 2025)
(Hamnet – Hungarian release: January 22, 2026)
Source: UIP Dunafilm
