Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal are in talks to star in 'Hamnet'.
Jessie Buckley is in talks to star in 'Hamnet' with Paul Mescal
The duo are set to join the cast of Chloe Zhao's adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's best-selling historical fiction novel.
The tale imagines the story of Agnes – the wife of the world's most famous writer, William Shakespeare – as she struggles to come to terms with the loss of her only son Hamnet.
The story charts the emotional, familial and artistic consequences of the loss and brings to life a human and heart-stopping tale as the backdrop to the creation of Shakespeare's most famous play, 'Hamlet'.
Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris and Sam Mendes are producing the movie on behalf of Neal Street, the company that produced the Oscar-winning war film '1917'.
Chloe is adapting the script with O'Farrell but it is unclear if the film will be her next project as she is developing a number of movies following the success of 'Nomadland' – which dominated the Oscars in 2021.
Her most recent movie was the Marvel blockbuster 'Eternals', which was met with a mixed response, but Chloe acknowledges that it was never going to impress everyone.
The 41-year-old filmmaker told The Hollywood Reporter: "When you're in Marvel and when you're dealing with an audience that big, I truly treasure and respect that each of us is so unique. It's exciting that we're all so different, and we're all changing and growing every day.
"But with a global audience, it's almost impossible to make everybody perfectly happy, and to do that is to say that everyone is the same."
Chloe added: "So I think there's inevitably going to be that (difference of opinion), and you just have to stay true to the kind of film you want to make and who you are and the people you're collaborating with.
"That's all you can do, really, and have a good time. Everything else is out of your control."
Tagged in William Shakespeare Sam Mendes chloe zhao