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 Maggie O’Farrell, who penned the 2020 novel of the same name and wrote the screenplay with Zhao. She addressed how media like film, theater, and books interact:
“That’s a big question! I think they’re all very different beasts, aren’t they? I think a cinema audience, a theater audience, or a reader of a book will interact with that narrative in a very different way. Of course, you can’t overlook the idea of the theater and cinema being a collective experience. When you read a book, it’s you and the page, so it’s a very intimate pairing between author and reader. But in a theater or a film in a cinema, all of you are together and you’re affected by what other people are seeing and feeling and thinking. The first time I saw Hamnet the film with a whole audience was at the London Film Festival. I’d seen it on my laptop and I’d seen the daily rushes and various edits in tiny little editing suites in London, but I hadn’t seen it with two thousand people. That was extraordinary. I hadn’t really realized what it was like, even though I know the film really well, obviously, and I found it fascinating which bits people laughed at and which bits people cried at. It’s very, very different. They’re all very different.”
Watch the video above to hear about her own lifelong relationship with Shakespeare and hopes for another one of her books to get the cinematic treatment.
Hamnet is currently playing in theaters.
