Exclusive:Hamnet felt like a 'sure thing' says Scottish actor who performed alongside Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal
Hamnet will be released on Friday
A Scottish actor who won a part in Hamnet alongside Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley has said the film felt like a "sure thing" for box office and critical success.
Glasgow-born John Mackay, who plays a priest in the film, which is to be released on Friday, said it had “captured the collective imagination" and said he believed it was set for Oscar success.
Mackay is currently touring as Mr Kipps with the play The Woman in Black, which will be performed at Glasgow's Theatre Royal later this month.
Buckley has been widely tipped to win an Oscar for her performance as Agnes Shakespeare, while the film has also been nominated in three shortlisted categories: best casting, best cinematography and best original score. It has also received six Golden Globe nominations, including best picture, best director, best screenplay, best actress , best supporting actor and best original score. The winners of the Golden Globes will be announced on Sunday.
Hamnet, directed by Chloé Zhao, is based on the book by Edinburgh-based author Maggie O’Farrell.
He said: “Hamnet looks like it's going to be a major Oscar contender. Sometimes films feel like they're a sure thing. They're just loaded with everything, and everything's right, but it just depends on the temperament of audiences and the times: whether they're received or not, whether they capture the collective imagination. And it's the time with Hamnet, it has all of this.”
He said he had had little contact with Buckley and Mescal during filming, with his role taking place in a single flashback scene filmed at an Elizabethan house in Hertfordshire at the death of Agnes Shakespeare’s mother when Agnes was nine years old.
However, he said he had not hesitated when he was sent the script for the part.
“I could see who was in it and from that, it's going to have a certain profile,” he said. “And also the director as well, who made a big name for herself with Nomadland . So it was certainly an interesting project. And the book is so loved.”
Mackay has performed in award-winning films including Judy, where Renee Zellwegger won an Oscar for her role as Judy Garland and where Buckley also appeared as producer Rosalyn Wilder. He also played a police inspector in Blitz, starring Saoirse Ronan and starred in the 60th anniversary show of Doctor Who in the role of famed Scottish inventor of TV, John Logie Baird.
He praised Buckley’s performance in Judy.
“I thought Jessie was fantastic in that,” he said. “She's a lovely person, and she's always good. In everything I've seen her do, she's always so interesting.”
The Woman in Black will be only Mackay’s second time performing in Scotland, 22 years after he performed in Dark House by David Harrower at the Traverse Theatre during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2003.
He said: “One of the things I love about working in theatre is sometimes depending on where you are, it can be an excuse for a bit of a reunion. I played a couple of times in New York, and it ended up being an excuse for a family, a big family reunion, as I have a lot of family in America. And so it has turned out to be for Glasgow.
“I've got a whole gaggle of high school friends coming to see it and a lot of family are coming along.”
The Woman in Black is on at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, from January 20 to 24.
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