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Hamnet (2025)
Hamnet is a 2025 historical drama film directed by Chloé Zhao, who co-wrote the screenplay with Maggie O'Farrell, based on the 2020 novel by O'Farrell. The film dramatises the family life of William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes Hathaway as they cope with the death of their 11-year-old son Hamnet. It stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal as Agnes and William, alongside Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn, and Jacobi Jupe in…
Directed by Chloé Zhao · Shot by Łukasz Żal · Cut by Chloé Zhao, Affonso Gonçalves · Music by Max Richter · Ratio 1.66:1 · 125 min
How it was made
- Composer Max Richter wrote roughly 30 minutes of original score before filming began so it could be played on set to establish tone for cast and crew, ahead of the final cues being composed in post-production.
- Actor Jessie Buckley played Richter's 2004 track 'On the Nature of Daylight' for Zhao during filming, prompting her to reframe the film's ending around the piece; it was looped on set throughout the three days spent shooting the final sequence.
- Production designer Fiona Crombie built a replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on the Elstree Studios backlot rather than filming at the real reconstructed Globe, which she and Zhao felt looked too ornate for the film.
Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by Chloé Zhao
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