Actress Jessie Buckley talks about suffering panic attacks on set

Named by Forbes Magazine in its annual "Thirty Under 30" list of "disrupters" and "trailblazers", it's fair to hedge a bet that Jessie Buckley's career trajectory will reach stratospheric heights in 2019.

The Kerry -born actress' latest role sees her star in Tom Harper's musical fable Wild Rose. Buckley shines as the protagonist Rose Lynn - a wild, brash, drink-swilling, fight-starting singer with a big voice and a big dream to match.

Scheduled for release later this month, it shows Buckley in on of her most versatile roles yet and exemplifies her talents when it comes to both acting and singing.

As the cover star of our annual Best of Ireland issue (which is on the shelves now), Jessie sat down for a frank and honest interview with our Film Editor Roe McDermott. Among the many topics covered was the fact that Jessie often experienced panic attacks on set, as well as the cycle of worry that can accompany these attacks.

“They’re funny things – they kind of creep up on you," she says. "It’s tiredness, it’s emotion, it’s risk, it’s being away from loved ones. You’ve very vulnerable, and there’s always an unknown. And acting, you’re drawn to the unknown because it’s a challenge – but you’re also scared of falling off the edge of the cliff, and you don’t know what’s on the other side. So I get them, but I also get out of them.”

Luckily for Buckley, Wild Rose reunited her War and Peace director Tom Harper, who she now considers a close friend, and who she credits with being an emotional rock during her moments of anxiety.

“When we were shooting the film, it was a scary thing because I really loved it and loved her, and I was getting ferocious panic attacks in the middle of the shoot,” she says. “But the joy of working with someone like Tom and having a trust and friendship like that means that whenever I’d have a struggle or a panic, he would hold it but also say ‘This is very human, and let’s explore it. Where is this actually coming from, is it coming from you or the character, can we channel it? It’s an emotion, and it’s real, so let’s let it be seen.’ And when you’re in the hands of a director, those moments can be incredibly vulnerable and you can be under time pressure to get a shot. There can be a sense of ‘Cop on, we don’t have time for this, get on with it’ – but Tom is never like that. He’s a friend first, then a director, but also manages to combine both to help me as a person and an actress.”

To read more about Jessie's latest role, as well as her looking back at her career, buy the new 2019 Best of Ireland here: https://shop.hotpress.com