{"id":412378,"date":"2026-01-17T06:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T06:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/412378\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T06:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T06:13:07","slug":"it-had-to-be-jessie-buckley-star-maker-nina-gold-glimpses-oscar-chance-for-hamnet-casting-hamnet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/412378\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It had to be Jessie Buckley\u2019: star-maker Nina Gold glimpses Oscar chance for Hamnet casting | Hamnet"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you were to compile a list of the most powerful people in the movie business, you might start with the auteurs, the A-list actors or the execs who bankroll Oscar-winning projects.<\/p>\n

But among those better-known powerbrokers is another vital cog in the Hollywood machine: the people with the ability to make and grow stars.<\/p>\n

This year, for the first time, casting directors will be honoured by the Academy, and one of the frontrunners is Nina Gold \u2013 the woman who put together Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal in the critics\u2019 favourite, Hamnet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a gatekeeper to some of the biggest roles in film and TV, Gold has encountered her share of egos, but it was the unassuming nature of her latest co-stars that she said made them the perfect pairing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just really felt like it had to be Jessie Buckley from the very moment I started thinking about the character seriously,\u201d Gold said. \u201cShe has this quality of connectedness to the physical world that Agnes has, and she\u2019s devoid of bullshit in the same way Agnes is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mescal, she said, was \u201ccelebrated and fancy\u201d but modest enough to do a chemistry read. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t egotistical,\u201d she said. \u201cHe came to see if it was right \u2013 and it really was.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a decision that paid off: last weekend Hamnet won the Golden Globe for best motion picture drama, while Buckley took best female actor in a drama film. Both are now favourites for the Oscars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal in a scene from Hamnet. Photograph: Agata Grzybowska\/AP<\/p>\n

Gold, meanwhile, has been shortlisted<\/a> in the inaugural best casting category for Hamnet at the Academy Awards, alongside other films including Sinners, Frankenstein, Marty Supreme and One Battle After Another. The category has been included after decades of lobbying for casting directors to be formally recognised.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really thrilled, and slightly terrified,\u201d Gold said. \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful that casting directors are finally being recognised on the same playing field as our other creative colleagues in film-making. Because our tools are other human beings, it\u2019s harder to pinpoint what the creative work actually is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gold has cast for some of the biggest films and TV shows of the past three decades, including last year\u2019s big awards winner Conclave, as well as Game of Thrones, The Crown, Slow Horses, The Day of the Jackal and several Star Wars films. She cast for more than 10 projects in 2025 alone, and her accolades include multiple Emmys and a prestigious Bafta special award for her outstanding contribution to TV and film.<\/p>\n

There was no single formula to being a successful casting director, she said. \u201cThere\u2019s an analytical side \u2013 shared qualities between actor and character \u2013 but ultimately it\u2019s instinct. If you can get the actor and the character to intersect at exactly the right point, then it really is magic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gold grew up in Cardiff, the daughter of a schoolteacher and an academic, and studied at Cambridge. Her first casting job was recruiting extras for an AC\/DC video, before years working in music videos and commercials.<\/p>\n

When she cast a 1992 McDonald\u2019s advert directed by Mike Leigh, it changed everything. The pair became friends, and Leigh later hired her to work on Topsy-Turvy, her first major film. She has since cast seven of his films. \u201cShe has an uncanny ability to get it,\u201d Leigh once said<\/a>. \u201cTo differentiate at the most subtle and refined level between one actor and the next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gold has helped to launch the careers of Claire Foy, Eddie Redmayne and John Boyega, whom she cast in Attack the Block after spotting him in a small play at the Tricycle theatre. She cast Bella Ramsey and Maisie Williams in Game of Thrones when they were still part of local theatre groups. Williams won the part of Arya Stark after Gold saw about 200 hopefuls for the part.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do a lot of combing and scouting all over the place, and sometimes you find someone amazing,\u201d she said. \u201cWe cast Jessie Buckley in Taboo when she was quite fresh out of drama school, and later cast her again in Chernobyl. It\u2019s really great watching people who have real talent grow and grow in their acting and career. I feel very maternal.\u201d<\/p>\n

With persistent concerns about diversity in film and TV, Gold acknowledges the barriers. \u201cIf you\u2019re British, even if you think you\u2019re not thinking about class, it\u2019s still subliminally part of your thinking about character and people,\u201d she said. \u201cDrama schools aren\u2019t as diverse as they used to be because of cost, but there are still brilliant working-class actors out there.\u201d She recently cast a new BBC show, Waiting for the Out, featuring predominantly working-class performers.<\/p>\n

Waiting for the Out. Photograph: Kerry Spicer\/BBC\/Sister Pictures\/<\/p>\n

She said there had been \u201cphases\u201d when working-class actors dominated the industry. \u201cAt one point the most sought-after young actors of the moment were Gary Oldman and Tim Roth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The industry, she added, had become increasingly risk-averse. \u201cNames help get audiences and money, even if it\u2019s not always the best way creatively. It\u2019s demoralising to make something brilliant that no one sees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Has she ever had to fight with a director over casting? \u201cI couldn\u2019t possibly comment,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cBut film-making is a collaborative endeavour \u2013 ideally, we\u2019re speaking the same language.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you were to compile a list of the most powerful people in the movie business, you might…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-412378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}