‘It’s classified’: The valuable lesson Rose Byrne has learnt on her shock Oscars journey

“Oh, my God, I’ve learnt my lesson,” Rose Byrne says of her decision to tell the world that her partner, Bobby Cannavale, was not at the Golden Globes to see her collect the best actress award because he was off buying a bearded dragon for their kids. “Never in my life will I again announce something like that.”

The revelation has prompted a tidal wave of speculation about the state of their relationship, her actor partner’s priorities, and the ease or difficulty of obtaining a pet reptile in New York in winter. And, she adds, it’s prompted plenty of unsolicited advice too – as well as a little self-reflection.

“Obviously, I was in a state of shock,” says Byrne, who woke up on Wednesday to the news that she had been nominated for a BAFTA for her turn in Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, just five days after she was nominated in the same category at the Academy Awards.

She hasn’t even begun to turn her attention to a speech yet – “one day at a time,” she says, “one day at a time” – but if and when she does, it definitely will not include any more domestic titbits.

“I learnt a good lesson,” she says, laughing. “Now it’s classified. I’m not going there any more.”

Though she’s been acting professionally since she was 15, the awards season hoopla is largely new terrain for Balmain-born, Australian Theatre for Young People-trained Byrne. In 2009 and 2010 she received back-to-back Emmy nominations for the TV series Damages, a dark legal drama in which she starred opposite Glenn Close, but since the surprise success of Bridesmaids in 2011 she has largely become known for her comedic work.

Bronstein’s movie is a low-budget and dark comedy about a mother struggling to care for a chronically ill child while her husband is away. Drawn from the writer-director’s own experiences, it is an intensely personal tale on which Byrne and Bronstein collaborated for months before a single frame was shot. Byrne is in every scene, the camera often just inches from her face.

“It was the creative opportunity of a lifetime to do this,” says Byrne. “You don’t know how things will turn out, how they’ll be received, if they’ll be seen. It’s like stars aligning, it’s so rare, you just can’t anticipate it, and I’ve just given up trying. I just knew that the experience is really all I have at the end of the day, and I loved doing it. It was obviously harrowing at times and taxing, but it was also a gift.”

Though it’s hardly been a box office smash, If I Had Legs has developed serious legs on the awards front since its debut at Sundance a year ago. In February, it earned Byrne the best actress award in Berlin, and the honours have just kept been rolling in: to date, 32 wins from 66 nominations, most of them for Byrne’s performance.

She’s not getting carried away about her Oscar chances, though.

“The whole thing is obviously very surreal, and it’s so arbitrary, too, such a random selection in many ways,” she says of being nominated. “I’m pinching myself the whole time to have gotten this far. This film doesn’t have a big budget for promotion, and to have come this far from Sundance to today, it’s such a win, it’s huge, in such a year of rich performances.”

To carry home the gold – and as one of the most liked performers in the business, there will be many who hope she does, and not just in Australia – she’ll have to overcome some powerhouse performances from some serious talent. Jessie Buckley’s superb turn as Agnes (Anne) Hathaway in Hamnet is the perceived frontrunner, but Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue), Emma Stone (Bugonia) and Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) are all in with a real shout too.

Byrne isn’t seeing this as a competition, though. It’s more a journey, and one that’s already taken her to unexpected places.

“It is like a tradition that I’m being exposed to, this unofficial time you get to spend with these people, and I love it,” she says of being on the campaign trail with her fellow nominees. “It’s very rare that you get to even work with other actresses, so it’s been lovely to have little chats here and there and get to know one another.”

Another unexpected bonus? “I’ve got to see my friend Joel Edgerton a lot, and my friend Ethan Hawke. And I’ve gotten to know these glorious women.”

And family friend Hawke – who has been nominated (for a fifth time) for his role in Blue Moon (in which Cannavale also stars) – has had some sage advice for Byrne on how to navigate the strange beast that is the awards journey.

“He said 80 per cent of people lose when you go to these things, but it’s about the experience of going and celebrating what everyone’s done,” Byrne says. “I think he put it perfectly.”

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is available to rent or buy online and is screening at Cinema Nova in Melbourne.

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