The blossoming, devastation and wonder of The Bride is upon us! Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, the upcoming Gothic romance film stars Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale in the lead roles of Ida and Frank respectively. Amid the ongoing Oscar campaign for her role in Hamnet opposite Paul Mescal, the actress is also promoting her role in The Bride, which has reunited her with the director. The two previously worked together in the 2021 psychological drama The Lost Daughter, which also made them Academy Award favorites.
Now, ahead of the worldwide premiere of his film, Jessie Buckley exclusively shared with us why he decided to join the military again. Describing her as one of the most important women in her life, the 36-year-old shared what it was like to be her Ida, “She has woken me up in a way that I didn’t think would be possible in a lifetime. She is a complete artist at her core. She is fearless, even if she has fear she walks towards it.”
Being a female director has never stopped Maggie Gyllenhaal from dreaming big, and rightfully so, as the actress said, “She wants the whole story to come to life. As a woman, to meet a director who not only wants that, but is willing to do that in everything she writes and the characters she writes, working with someone like Maggie has been the biggest education and the biggest freedom and privilege I’ve had.”
Jessie Buckley on what it was like working with Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Bride
The mother of one shared why she’s proud of the filmmaker for bringing the story of 1818 to life, “Making nothing is a joke. And he did it with such unwavering truth for himself, and for all of us as actors when he came on set – with such unwavering questions that you have no choice but to answer them as honestly as possible. I don’t know what my life would be like without Maggie.”
The Chernobyl star wants to continue collaborating with the 48-year-old director and the reason is because it’s a long-standing connection, “You want to get to that part of yourself that’s right underneath the strength inside of you – and also to the people you work with – that you and they are trying to suppress. And you want to give that thing that hasn’t been given a voice, so that it can be part of the growth. Sometimes, that’s really uncomfortable – in fact, it happens all the time. But my experience working with her on The Lost Daughter was that it was like drinking water, ‘I really need to know that it’s in front of me and I have to metabolize it.’
Sharing how his vision unfolded in The Bride, he said, “It was a big sandpit. We were being asked to create a really epic scenario, and so there was a lot of possibility and a lot of choice. We had to actively choose how we wanted to create as artists, and not just be passive, but be brave, and live in complete anonymity most of the time, but then have complete faith and a laser beam of where the truth was and go after it."
Bride
Based on the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein, originally adapted from Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein, The Bride tells the story of a loneliness-stricken Frank who approaches Dr. Euphronius (Annette Bening) and demands that she create a companion to ease his worries. The two revive a dead woman, and thus The Bride is born, what follows is a lifetime of chaos and unexpected romance.
Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal and Penélope Cruz are also part of the film, scheduled for worldwide release on March 6, 2026.
Also read: Exclusive: Christian Bale couldn’t forget Maggie Gyllenhaal’s fiery, eccentric The Bride script ‘really sticks with me’