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Hamnet’ Builds Awards Momentum With Critics Choice Win as UK Release Spurs Praise and Pushback

Artisan accounts highlight Chloé Zhao’s collaborative, research‑driven craft shaping the Shakespeare family drama.

Overview

  • Jessie Buckley won the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress, and Hamnet heads into Golden Globes night with six nominations as she is widely viewed as a frontrunner.
  • Early UK reviews laud Buckley’s performance, Paul Mescal’s turn, and Łukasz Żal’s cinematography, while dissenting voices argue the film can feel overdetermined emotionally.
  • A Variety panel detailed Zhao’s low‑ego, highly collaborative direction that guided casting, camera language, production design, and performance choices from the outset.
  • Costume research at London rental house Cosprop yielded a rare Elizabethan doublet that informed wardrobe, and a major Globe Theatre sequence was staged with more than 350 extras.
  • Mescal described approaching Shakespeare’s journey through the lens of grief, with design and music choices — including linen burial fabrics and clay textures — reinforcing the character’s inner state.