Chloé Zhao Says She Understood Only a Third of Shakespeare’s Language on Hamnet

Overview

• Zhao told the New Yorker Radio Hour that during filming she could “only understand a third” of Shakespeare’s words and leaned on Paul Mescal’s guidance.
• She cited Mescal’s view that effective Shakespeare can be felt physically without grasping every word, shaping her approach to directing performances.
• Zhao and cinematographer Łukasz Żal said they judged takes by their own physical reactions to Mescal’s delivery rather than full textual comprehension.
• The film adapts Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel, with Mescal as William Shakespeare and Jessie Buckley as Agnes, emphasizing Shakespeare as a grieving husband and father.
• Hamnet premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in October, includes sequences shot at Shakespeare’s Globe in London, and is slated for a January cinema release in the UK.