‘You Should’ve Been Jessie Buckley’: Starmaker Nina Gould Hints at Oscar Chance for Hamnet Cast | Hamnet

If you were to compile a list of the most powerful people in the film industry, you might start with the writers, superstar actors, or executives who finance Oscar-winning projects.

But among these most famous brokers is another vital cog in the Hollywood machine: people with the ability to create and nurture stars.

This year, for the first time, the Academy will honor casting directors, and among the front-runners is Nina Gould — the woman who brought Jesse Buckley and Paul Mescal together in the critically-favorite Hamnet.

As the gatekeeper of some of the biggest roles in film and television, Gould has faced her share of vanities, but it’s the down-to-earth nature of her newest co-stars that she said made them the perfect duo.

“I really felt like it had to be Jessie Buckley from the moment I started seriously considering the character,” Gould said. “She has the kind of connection to the material world that Agnes has, and she is free of bullshit in the same way that Agnes is.”

She said Mescal was “famous and brilliant” but humble enough to read chemistry. “He wasn’t cocky,” she said. “He came to see if it was right, and it was.”

The decision has been a success: Last weekend, Hamnett won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, Drama, while Buckley won Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama. Both are now Oscar nominees.

Meanwhile, Gould was shortlisted for the Best Selection category for Hamnet at the Academy Awards, alongside other films including Sinners, Frankenstein, Marty Supreme and One Battle After Another. This category was included after decades of lobbying for casting directors to be officially recognized.

“I’m really thrilled, and a little terrified,” Gould said. “It’s great that casting directors are finally being recognized on the same playing field as our other creative colleagues in filmmaking. Since our tools are other human beings, it’s difficult to define what creative work actually is.”

Gould has acted in some of the biggest films and TV shows of the past three decades, including last year’s major award-winner Conclave, as well as Game of Thrones, The Crown, Slow Horses, The Day of the Jackal and several Star Wars films. She has cast over 10 projects in 2025 alone, and her accolades include multiple Emmys and a prestigious Bafta Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television and Film.

She said there is no single formula for being a successful casting director. “There’s an analytical side – shared qualities between the actor and the character – but in the end it’s instinct. If you can get the actor and character to intersect at exactly the right point, that’s really the magic.”

Gould grew up in Cardiff, the daughter of a teacher and academic, and studied at Cambridge. Her first casting job was recruiting extras for an AC/DC video, before years of working in music videos and commercials.

When she cast a 1992 McDonald’s commercial directed by Mike Leigh, it changed everything. The pair became friends, and Lee later hired her to work on her first major film, Topsy-Turvy. She has since cast seven of his films. “She has an uncanny ability to get it,” she once told me. “To distinguish at the most subtle and subtle level one actor from another.”

Gould helped 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 Theater. She cast Bella Ramsay and Maisie Williams in Game of Thrones when they were still part of local theater groups. Williams won the role of Arya Stark after Gould saw about 200 candidates for the role.

“You do a lot of combing and exploring all over the place, and sometimes you find someone amazing,” she said. “We cast Jessie Buckley in Taboo when she was fresh out of drama school, and then we cast her back in Chernobyl. It’s really wonderful to watch people with real talent grow and grow in their acting and their craft. I feel motherly.”

With ongoing concerns about diversity in film and television, Gould acknowledges the barriers. “If you’re British, even if you don’t think you think about class, it’s still a subconscious part of your thinking about character and people,” she said. “Drama schools are not as diverse as they used to be because of the cost, but there are still brilliant working-class actors.” She recently presented a new BBC show called Waiting to Get Out featuring mostly working-class artists.

She said there were “phases” when working class representatives dominated the industry. “At one time, the two most popular young actors of the moment were Gary Oldman and Tim Roth.”

She added that the industry has become increasingly risk averse. “Names help attract audiences and money, even if it’s not always the best way to create. It’s frustrating when you create something great that no one sees.”

Have you ever had to fight with a director over casting? “I can’t comment,” she said with a laugh. “But filmmaking is a collaborative endeavor, and ideally, we speak the same language.”