Daily Mail

Champagne at noon for a rising star who’s the talk of the town

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JESSIE BUCKLEY made her first movie last year and now she’s on the most wanted list — as in, a hot property.

No surprise, because in director Michael Pearce’s gripping film Beast (opening here on april 27) Jessie gives one of the best cinema performanc­es i’ve seen in a long time.

She plays Moll, a troubled young woman saddled with an unfeeling and controllin­g mother ( Geraldine James), a pushy sibling (Shannon tarbet), and a job she loathes, as a Jersey tour guide.

She blossoms when she meets a mysterious bad boy: the superb Johnny Flynn.

Pearce’s story is told against the backdrop of a hunt for a serial killer on the island.

i saw the movie at last October’s BFi London Film Festival, and every scene and performanc­e has stayed with me. ‘We really were a little family on set,’ Buckley told me.

She said she had to allow the world of Beast to ‘ get into my head over a period of time, little by little. i used lots of music, and me and Michael (Pearce) met a lot to talk about who Moll was.’

Buckley has barely had a break since she shot it.

a BBC series of the Woman in White, in which she appears, begins on april 22.

and i’m hearing great things about her in tom Harper’s film Country Music.

She’s signed up for the HBOSky five-part drama Chernobyl, opposite Jared Harris, Emily Watson and Stellan Skarsgard.

and on Monday i watched her filming with Renee Zellweger in Judy — with Zellweger portraying Judy Garland in the last year of her life.

the film is moving, but also funny. Buckley plays Rosalyn Wilder, who in real life worked for theatre impresario Bernard Delfont ( Michael Gambon), and whose job it was to make sure stars turned up for their headline shows at the talk Of the town.

Buckley said Wilder took her to the Hippodrome in Leicester Square, where the old cabaret venue was located back in the day.

‘We had a cup of tea, and then Rosalyn taught me how to drink champagne at an early hour. i think it was about 12 noon.’

the film, directed by Rupert Goold, will continue shooting around London for the next few weeks.

i was completely hooked, observing Zellweger capture the zest — and the melancholy — of Garland.

Producer David Livingston­e came up with the idea for the picture after seeing Peter Quilter’s play End Of the Rainbow, though the excellent screenplay (by Barry Levinson and tom Edge) bears little resemblanc­e to the stage piece that starred award- winning tracie Bennett.

 ??  ?? In demand: Jessie Buckley has had a hectic 12 months
In demand: Jessie Buckley has had a hectic 12 months

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