Chloé Zhao reveals that she initially rejected to direct her now award winning film Hamnet 

Chloé Zhao's Hamnet has received critical acclaim from every screening the film has made it to so far. Despite the raging success it has gotten, the director was unsure of working on the film, which attempts a retelling of a devastating fictional story of Shakespeare's loss of his son. Although Zhao initially refused to work on Hamnet, it was not because she was disinterested in the story. It was because she was unsure of finding anyone who could play Shakespeare.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, the director opened up about her hesitation to work on the film as she said,

“I said no. I said, ‘I just can’t think of anyone that can play Shakespeare, that level of an archetypal force.’ "

She then revealed how Mescal indirectly managed to bring her on board the film, as she added.

"Then I got to Telluride, and I got a call from my team, and they said, ‘There’s an actor named Paul Mescal who’d like to meet with you.’ I Googled him. I saw his face. I was like, ‘Oh … interesting.’ I thought, ‘This is somebody who can channel something for me. ’William Shakespeare’s work, it’s very violent, it’s very dark, it’s very masculine, for better or worse, so I wanted somebody who is not afraid to go to a place that, in today’s climate, might seem toxic or dark. I needed somebody who’s willing to go there.”

Even before working on Hamnet, Paul Mescal has a strong resume of playing emotionally challenging characters. He played Connell Waldron in Hulu's Normal People, followed by his Oscar-nominated role as Callum Scott in Aftersun and Harry in All of Us Strangers. He is next all set to appear in History of Sound alongside Josh O' Connor and in the Beatles biopic as Paul McCartney.

More details about Hamnet

Hamnet is based on Maggie O'Farrell's acclaimed 2020 novel that reimagines the private life of William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, as they deal with the death of their 11-year-old son Hamnet.

Jessie Buckley plays Agnes, a performance who has received critical acclaim across every film festival. Mescal plays Shakespeare, joined by Joe Alwyn as Bartholomew Hathaway, Jacobi Jupe as Hamnet, Olivia Lynes as Judith Shakespeare, and Bodhi Rae Breathnach as Susanna Shakespeare.

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The film was shot across Wales in the summer of 2024, after initial plans of being shot in London were ditched. Hamnet premiered at Telluride in August 2025 and opened to generally positive reviews. It won the Toronto International Film Festival's People's Choice Award, which is being seen as many as a foreshadowing of Oscar buzz.

Focus Features is all set to launch the film in North America in November 2025, with Universal Pictures rolling it out globally in early 2026.

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