{"id":94625,"date":"2025-08-26T19:16:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T19:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/94625\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T19:16:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T19:16:08","slug":"paul-mescals-shakespeare-faces-grief-art-and-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/94625\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Mescal\u2019s Shakespeare Faces Grief, Art, And Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a while since we\u2019ve had a Chlo\u00e9 Zhao film, let alone one of her calm, meditative gems such as the Oscar-winning Nomadland<\/a> or the quiet and contemplative The Rider<\/a>. Now, after a stint in the world of Marvel<\/a> with Eternals<\/a>, she\u2019s back with something that feels more in line with her earlier features \u2014 though this time, she\u2019s adapting a hit novel. The first trailer for her new film, Hamnet, has dropped, and for those who\u2019ve read the book, you\u2019ll know this one is going to be an emotional gut-punch. Watch the trailer here:<\/p>\n

Adapted from Maggie O\u2019Farrell\u2019s acclaimed 2020 novel, the film centres on William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes (aka Anne Hathaway), as they face the unimaginable loss of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. What follows is less a straightforward biopic of the writer and more a meditation on love, loss, and how tragedy can shape art \u2014 namely, the writing of Shakespeare\u2019s play (you guessed it)\u2026 Hamlet.<\/p>\n

The trailer doubles down on the romance at the story\u2019s core, spotlighting its husband-and-wife duo: the internet\u2019s boyfriend and recently-announced Beatles star Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare, and The Lost Daughter<\/a> and Wild Rose<\/a>\u2019s Jessie Buckley as Agnes. And honestly, why wouldn\u2019t the filmmakers lean into \u201cthe untold love story\u201d at the heart of it, especially with two leads that have been in such demand? Rounding out the cast are young Jacobi Jupe as Hamnet, along with Joe Alwyn, Emily Watson, Jack Shalloo, and David Wilmot. Zhao co-wrote the screenplay with O\u2019Farrell herself, and the project comes backed by an impressive lineup of producers \u2014 including Zhao, Steven Spielberg, and Sam Mendes.<\/p>\n

The film has not yet received a UK release date but will debut in the United States with a limited release on 27 November, before expanding nationwide on 12 December. If the trailer is any indication, Zhao looks to have honoured O\u2019Farrell\u2019s novel while also adding her own signature style, and what a joy it is to have a Chlo\u00e9 Zhao film coming to our screens \u2014 though we have a feeling we\u2019ll need a tissue or two for this one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a while since we\u2019ve had a Chlo\u00e9 Zhao film, let alone one of her calm, meditative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-94625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}