‘Hamnet’: Paul Mescal And Jessie Buckley Eyed For Chloé Zhao’s Shakespeare Drama

After winning Best Picture for Nomadland and venturing to the MCU for Eternals, Chloé Zhao has landed on what’ll likely be her next project. An adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s historical fiction novel Hamnet is in the works, and Deadline reports that two rising star Irish actors are being eyed to play the leads.

Aftersun breakout Paul Mescal and Women Talking’s Jessie Buckley are in talks to star in Hamnet. Mescal would play literary giant William Shakespeare, with Buckley as his wife Agnes Hathaway. Steven Spielberg‘s Amblin Partners and Sam Mendes‘ Neal Street Productions are aboard as producers.

Zhao is working on the script alongside O’Farrell. The film’s title comes from William and Agnes’ son, Hamnet, who died at the age of 11. O’Farrell’s story centers on Agnes as she copes with his death.

Mescal is plenty busy with Ridley Scott’s upcoming Gladiator sequel and Richard Linklater’s Merrily We Roll Along. Buckley has a role in Apple film Fingernails, among numerous others.

 

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.