Two of the best Irish actors working today, Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley, are set star in Chloe Zhao’s “Hamnet.” It’s being produced by Spielberg’s Amblin Pictures.
Replacing original director Sam Mendes, who now has to shoot four Beatles films, Zhao will adapt Maggie O’Farrell prize-winning Novel in what sounds like primo Oscar-bait. Word is that production on “Hamnet” is set to start this summer, as early as May.
Set against the backdrop of Shakespeare's most famous play, Hamlet, and during the Black Plague in 1580s England, “Hamnet” imagines the story of Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare, as she grapples with the loss of their only son.
Zhao already has her “Dracula” western in the works. It does look as though “Hamnet” will be first. Regardless, she’s coming off her clunker MCU film, “Eternals.” Zhao was originally showered with praise for her 2020 Oscar winning “Nomadland.”