In Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, Agnes Shakespeare (Jessie Buckley) raises her children in Stratford while her husband William (Paul Mescal) begins his illustrious career in London as a playwright. A fierce connection to family is seared by harrowing tragedy that leaves them unmistakably affected, even if they don’t know how to process it.
Awards Buzz spoke with cinematographer Lukasz Zal about the chance to be part of this film and what he learned over the course of shooting it:
“I learned to trust my intuition a lot, to feel sometimes more with my body than with my head. Listen to my intuition, listen to my instinct. Also, I learned that if you have great people around you, you can really jump in something where you are not certain, you don’t know everything, and you are not afraid because you will find a way and you will always find a solution. I also learned that it’s great to make film in an atmosphere of inclusion and listen to people and trust, because I think only this way can you create something beautiful and genuine. Because it’s not only me, not only me as a DP. It’s my whole team. They are my people, my friends, and we are together. And I think ideas, they come through us. As one person, you cannot do everything. You cannot do anything alone. We are people and we need to do things together and we need to build something together, and that’s how it works. And we need each other. It’s so important that we work with love and with trust.”
Watch the video above to hear about the experience of working with Zhao and also how he’s used black-and-white cinematography in the past, particularly in collaborations with director Paweł Pawlikowski.
Hamnet is currently playing in theaters.
