This article will contain spoilers for the film Hamnet(2025).
The Palm Springs International Film Festival showcased “Hamnet,” Directed by Oscar Award-winning Chloé Zhao, as part of Kering’s program “Women in Motion.” Zhao also attended an in conversation where the audience had the opportunity to listen to her discuss how the journey of this film came to be.
Zhao started off by discussing the first time she saw the film which was at the premiere at Telluride “I could feel the waves of motion from the audience and I’ve seen the film probably like 200 times by then and then I had a whole new experience of the film and the moment when Agnes reached out to touch Hamlet is when you break the veil between what is on screen and what is off the screen, and you the audience is apart of that globe theater as the people on the stage, and that moment connection is why we do what we do because the moment that connection is established, the illusion of separation dissolves between us and that’s what we as storytellers aim for. So when I can feel that in the audience, I feel really good.”
She also shared some insights on the choice of having Agnes reach her hand out at the end of the play and the creative choice behind this decision. “Maggie (writer of the original novel Hamnet) and I spent a-lot of time, we added about 25 pages of it and we cut it down for the film but we really combed through hamlet and looked for the lines and the scenes that could be a mirror to the experience of Agnes and Will and the children and play around that, and after we wrote those moments, we went back into the earlier part of the film with the sword fight and so we came up with the scene of Agnes asking hamlet what do you want to be.”
When Zhao was first pitched to direct Hamnet, she debunks the rumor that she rejected it but confirms that she wasn’t sure at first. Claiming that Agnes taught her that intuition is a gift. ” It’s a part of us, intuition is in our bodies and our subconscious, and so I tried to listen to my intuition.”
Zhao first met Paul Mescal at Telluride, claiming she had no clue who he was since his film Aftersun had yet to be released, but just looking at him, she knew he would be an amazing young Shakespeare, and he recommended her to read the book Hamnet. While reading that story, she claims that all she saw was Jessie Buckley as Agnes, saying that when she saw Jessie in the lost daughter in Venice, and that film had drawn her to her work, and that her expressions and acting range made her perfect for the part.
When asked about the day on set where William leaves after Hamnet has passed and the filming process behind that day, she claims that both Paul and Jessie were in their animal selves, and that is where you want your actors to be, as anything can happen, and how they are only reacting to each other.
On the discovery of Jacobi Jupe, Zhao states that she first put him through the ET Test, which is where she tells him that she is gonna take away what is most important to him, and he switches through emotions and reactions, and that really revealed his range to Zhao, even claiming after each scenario he would ask What’s next?.
When asked about the power of art and the making of the final shot, Zhao said “Originally there was no hands reaching out, and there was no little Hamnet on the stage in the end, but four days before the production wrapped, we shot the ending as scripted, which is that hamlet died on the stage, but to be fair to me and Maggie, it did describe in words the feeling of collective oneness but not really in action. But on the way to work on the fourth day Jessie sent me Max Richtor’s “This Bitter Earth”… and I started to cry listening to it in the car, I felt this tightness in my heart but also an opening and then I started reaching out to the window, I was trying to touch the rain outside and I was also going through a loss at the time but this gesture, I realized I was trying to reach for something bigger that I could be apart of so I would have the strength to let go.” This gesture made her realize that Hamlet needed to be one with the world around him so that he could finally say the rest in silence.
The film is currently a frontrunner at the awards season, and after its release, it has become a critical success and is a fan favorite at the Academy Awards, being nominated in seven different categories. Zhao has released four major films before this, including the Academy Award winner for Best Picture, “Nomadland,” and this film is also nominated in the same category and is expected to be a frontrunner for the award.
Jessie Buckley plays the lead role of Agnes Shakespeare, and her performance is magnificent. She is captivating, and her performance feels so beautifully raw as we see her grieve and grow as a mother. Being nominated for best actress at every award show, she has taken over the category, winning the Golden Globe, the Actor Award, BAFTA, and the Critics’ Choice; all that is left is the Academy Award.
Her main scene partner is Paul Mescal, who plays William Shakespeare, and he is just as stellar as Jessie. Both performances do a phenomenal job at portraying grief and showing how many cope with the loss of a child, but Paul is just devastating in this film.
Hamnet is played by Jacobi Jupe, and his performance at just 12 is absolutely phenomenal. The scene where he switches places with his sister so Death takes him instead of her had the audience all teary-eyed. This kid is a bundle of talent, and this film really highlights his emotions and the complex layers he brings to this character.
Hamnet is coming back to theaters for the Oscar-nominated releases and can be streamed on Peacock Premium Plus.
