Focus Features has acquired domestic distribution rights to Chloé Zhao's next film Hamnet , starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley. Universal Pictures will handle international distribution. Zhao will direct, with Emily Watson and Joe Alwyn rounding out the cast.
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Based on Maggie Maggie O'Farrell's novel, Zhao adapted the script with O'Farrell. Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Sam Mendes and Steven Spielberg will produce, with Kristie Macosko Krieger, Nic Gonda and Laurie Borg serving as executive producers.
The New York Times bestselling historical fiction novel tells 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. Charting the emotional, familial, and artistic fallout of that loss, the novel brings to life a human and heartbreaking story as the backdrop for the creation of The Bard’s Hamlet.
The novel won a National Book Critics Circle Award and The Women's Prize for Fiction. Hamnet has sold 2 million copies in the UK and US and has been translated into 40 languages.
