Jessie Buckley Says Filming Hamnet Felt "Pretty Sexy” After Critics Choice Awards 2026 Win

“The book was so extraordinary,” she explained. “When I read the book it kind of ripped through me like a hurricane. If the core material is doing that just with your first interaction with it, I think it feels pretty sexy. That’s kind of a sexy feeling to me.”

But Jessie—who also starred alongside Joe Alwyn and Jacobi Jupe in the historical drama—admitted that she owes Chloé for communicating that sexy feeling onto the big screen.

“I’ve had that many times with films where you have that feeling and you wear your heart on your sleeve and you go into the village of it and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t,” she continued, “but Chloé Zhao led this film in such a unique—she led it like an artist.”

Despite the nature of the story—Hamnet details how Shakespeare channeled the grief he felt toward the loss of his son into one of his most famous plays Hamlet—Jessie also assured that working on the film was not as heavy as one might think.

“It was fun every day,” she recalled. “There were hard bits of it that came from a huge amount of love, but Chloé keeps a very light set and at the end of every week do these dance takes where we’d blast Rihanna and crew, cast, 400 extras in period Elizabethan costume would rave out to Rihanna.”

Of course, Jessie also made sure to tell the whole world what a delight it was to have the Normal People alum as a costar.

“I bloody love you, man,” Jessie shared during her acceptance speech. “I know loads of other women do in this room too but tough s--t! I could drink you like water working with you every single day. You are a giant of the heart.”

For more stars who took home trophies at the Critics Choice Awards 2026, keep reading…

WINNER: Miles Caton – Sinners (Warner Bros.) Cary Christopher - Weapons (Warner Bros.)

WINNER: One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.) Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

Michael B. Jordan – Sinners (Warner Bros.) Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

Benicio del Toro – One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.) Sean Penn – One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

WINNER: Amy Madigan – Weapons (Warner Bros.) Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners (Warner Bros.)

Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

WINNER: Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

Ryan Coogler – Sinners (Warner Bros.) Douglas Aibel, Nina Gold – Jay Kelly (Netflix)

Cassandra Kulukundis – One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

WINNER: Francine Maisler – Sinners (Warner Bros.)

Tiffany Little Canfield, Bernard Telsey – Wicked: For Good (Universal Pictures)

Colleen Atwood, Christine Cantella – Kiss of the Spider Woman (Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions)

Ruth E. Carter – Sinners (Warner Bros.)

WINNER: Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, Cliona Furey – Frankenstein (Netflix)

Siân Richards, Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine, Shunika Terry – Sinners (Warner Bros.)

Kazu Hiro, Felix Fox, Mia Neal – The Smashing Machine (A24)

Leo Satkovich, Melizah Wheat, Jason Collins – Weapons (Warner Bros.)

Frances Hannon, Mark Coulier, Laura Blount – Wicked: For Good (Universal Pictures)

WINNER: Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, Daniel Barrett – Avatar: Fire and Ash (20th Century Studios)

Ryan Tudhope, Nikeah Forde, Robert Harrington, Nicolas Chevallier, Eric Leven, Edward Price, Keith Dawson – F1 (Apple Original Films)

Dennis Berardi, Ayo Burgess, Ivan Busquets, José Granell – Frankenstein (Netflix)

Alex Wuttke, Ian Lowe, Jeff Sutherland, Kirstin Hall – Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (Paramount Pictures)

Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter, Donnie Dean – Sinners (Warner Bros.)

Stephane Ceretti, Enrico Damm, Stéphane Nazé, Guy Williams – Superman (Warner Bros.)

“Drive” – Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Blake Slatkin – F1 (Apple Original Films)

WINNER: “Golden” – Ejae, Mark Sonnenblick, Ido, 24, Teddy – KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix)

“I Lied to You” – Raphael Saadiq, Ludwig Göransson – Sinners (Warner Bros.)

“Train Dreams” – Nick Cave, Bryce Dessner – Train Dreams (Netflix)

Sterling K. Brown – Paradise (Hulu) Skye P. Marshall – Matlock (CBS)

David Alan Grier – St. Denis Medical (NBC) Paul W. Downs – Hacks (HBO Max)

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