BARD CHOICES

Despite some poorly timed comments about cats, Jessie Buckley remains favourite to win Best Actress at tomorrow's Oscars for her performance as Shakespeare's grief-stricken wife in Hamnet. But as FRAN WINSTON reveals, anything can happen on the night...and usually does.

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IT'S BEEN dubbed the most unpredictable Oscars race in years with winners in the categories for Best Film, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor/Actress almost impossible to call.

In fact, when the 98th Academy Awards kick off tomorrow, the only name that seems a dead cert for a gold statuette is Jessie Buckley for Best Actress in Hamnet.

The Irish star has enjoyed a clean sweep so far this awards season for her role as William Shakespeare's grieving wife Agnes in the Chloe Zhao helmed tearjerker. But this wouldn't be Hollywood without some drama. Because despite being the award favourite for her performance of a lifetime, Buckley is weathering a sudden backlash some Hollywood watchers fear could derail her chances of glory tomorrow night.

In the days before Oscar nomination voting closed, a podcast video from November of Buckley, 36, and her Hamnet co-star Paul Mescal, 30, surfaced in which both stars revelled in their disdain for the internet's favourite animal - cats.

"I don't like cats, cats are mean," said Buckley, before revealing she had ousted her future husband's felines from his life. "One of the cats was like a pedigree model b****, and she staged a coup against me," she continued. "I'd come home, and there'd just be poo on my pillow. And I was like, 'It's me or the cats'. But I won!" As cat lovers showed their claws, Buckley was forced into an extraordinary retraction during a nervy appearance on an American chat show.