Chloe Zhao to direct an adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s ‘Hamnet’
After being showered with awards during the 2021 Oscar season, Chloe Zhao is set to direct an adaptation of the Maggie O’Farrell novel Hamnet. This is Zhao’s fifth feature film after working with the Marvel Cinematic Universe to create the film Eternals.
The story of Hamnet follows a fictional account of William Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, and centres around the struggles that she goes through after losing their son, Hamnet. This would be the same incident that would inspire Shakespeare to write the play Hamlet as well.
The film will be distributed through Amblin Partners, Hela Pictures, Neal Street Productions and Book of Shadows. Alongside Zhao, the film will be produced by Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris and Sam Mendes, who had previously worked on the World War One epic 1917.
While Zhao is announced to direct, she is also developing her own films after the massive success of Nomadland, which won three awards at the 2021 Oscars, including ‘Best Picture’. At the time, Zhao was also one of two women who had won ‘Best Director’ since the awards began. Following her work on directing Eternals, she expressed a desire to take a break while she worked on her next project. The schedule for production at the time is still unknown.
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