Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley are teaming up with Chloé Zhao for Hamnet. More on that project below.
In November, we reported that Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao is getting ready to shoot her new film Hamnet in April 2024. We had no details of the film’s cast back then, but we do now and boy, it’s going to be a doozy.
The Guardian reports that Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley have both signed on for the project. Mescal, currently starring in the outstanding All Of Us Strangers, will play a young William Shakespeare while Buckley will play Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway.
Hamnet is based on Maggie O’Farrell’s book of the same name and the fictional story explores Shapespeare and his wife coming to terms with the loss of their 11-year-old son Hamnet to the plague.
Speaking to Vogue, Mescal described the novel as “devastating”, adding that he...
In November, we reported that Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao is getting ready to shoot her new film Hamnet in April 2024. We had no details of the film’s cast back then, but we do now and boy, it’s going to be a doozy.
The Guardian reports that Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley have both signed on for the project. Mescal, currently starring in the outstanding All Of Us Strangers, will play a young William Shakespeare while Buckley will play Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway.
Hamnet is based on Maggie O’Farrell’s book of the same name and the fictional story explores Shapespeare and his wife coming to terms with the loss of their 11-year-old son Hamnet to the plague.
Speaking to Vogue, Mescal described the novel as “devastating”, adding that he...
- 1/30/2024
- by Maria Lattila
- Film Stories
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s stage adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling novel Hamnet, a tale of love and heartbreak concerning Agnes Hathaway and her beloved one William Shakespeare, has taken the unheralded step of announcing its West End transfer before it has has even opened in the famous playwright’s place of birth.
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The play, adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti — whose version of Life of Pi is on Broadway — directed by Erica Whyman and starring Madeleine Mantock begins performances at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 1 through June 17.
Madeleine Mantock
But following a “tsunami” of interest from eager ticket buyers, the show will transfer after its run in Stratford to London’s Garrick Theatre for 14 weeks from September 30 through January 6.
If the phenomenal level of interest is maintained, then expect seats at the Garrick to be hard to come by after they go on priority sale from March 28, with public booking from April 6.
The plain fact is that O’Farrell’s engrossing novel has sold more than 1.5 million copies and has fans on every continent.
Her story of the plain-speaking, free-spirited Agnes Hathaway; her relationship with Shakespeare; the heartbreaking death of Hamnet, their 11-year-old son; and how that tragedy inspired the Bard to write Hamlet; touched a nerve coming out as it did during the pandemic. “It’s totally a love story, it’s very romantic,” Chakrabarti told us.
‘Hamnet’ director Erica Whyman
Also, Chakrabarti continued: “Shakespeare is endlessly fascinating because we are trying to work out who was the man behind these amazing pieces of work, but Maggie O’Farrell’s book asks: Who was the family behind him? Anne, or Agnes, Hathaway has had a pretty bad press, and this redresses some of those injustices.”
Whyman had a “hunch”the RSC ought to put it on stage the minute she’d finished reading it because it dealt “so beautifully with bereavement and love.”
That love, Whyman observed, “carried Shakespeare to some of the most remarkable achievements of his life, notably writing Hamlet.”
Liza Marshall’s Hera Pictures already had acquired an option, and the movie’s in development with Neal Street Productions, founded by Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris and Caro Newling, and Amblin Partners. Chiara Atik is writing the screenplay.
Lolita Chakrabarti. Courtesy RSC.
However, O’Farrell and Neal Street had a keenness for it to be staged in Stratford, so agreements were struck with the RSC for Neal Street, in association with Hera Pictures, to allow a theater version that would be separate from the movie. Amblin has been supporting the stage adaptation enthusiastically.
O’Farrell has been giving “hands-on” attention to both the screenplay and the stage play, Newling said.
Newling admitted that “it’s unusual” to “shout about” transferring before you’ve opened, but “there was this tsunami of interest, and we were never going to satisfy the extraordinary level of interest during the run at the Swan alone. There is such demand for this title,” she added.
Maggie O’Farrell. Courtesy RSC.
The play’s a terrific opportunity for Mantock, who made her debut in a recent revival of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit directed by Richard Eyre.
Whyman, Chakrabarti and Newling all spoke of their excitement in finding Mantock, heaping casting director Amy Ball with praise.
“It’s simple,” said Whyman “She has got really old-fashioned star quality but at the same time has got her feet firmly on the ground. Agnes is a hard-working, fearless woman who knows her own mind, and so does Madeleine.”
For the Nottinghamshire-born Mantock, Agnes is a “giant role” for her. “It does feel like the role of a lifetime. I don’t know if I’ll get this opportunity again, so I’m very grateful.”
The cast got to meet O’Farrell during rehearsals, and Mantock remembers the novelist telling the company “that ‘not every person in history is remembered kindly and sometimes they are misremembered,’ and I think we all felt lucky to have a responsibility to look at how we might choose to see Anne Hathaway this time.”
Mantock said that “there’s a lot of pain and loss and grief, but there’s also the love, the joy and the hope. And you have to feel all of those things … that’s what life is.”
She noted the advantages of having Chakrabarti at rehearsals, plus, if needs be, “if we get a bit stumped and we don’t know which way to go with something, we can go to the book. We’ve got this amazing resource.”
So first the Swan Theatre, followed by a season at the Garrick in the West End. The phenomenon of Hamnet is unlikely to end there.
There’s Broadway and beyond.
Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon
The cast also includes Tom Vary as William and Sarah Belcher, Will Brown, Haydn Burke, Ajani Cabey, Faye Campbell, Frankie Hastings, Karl Haynes, Alex Jarrett, Hannah McPake, Elizabeth Rider, Rose Riley, Harmony Rose-Bremner, Obioma Ugoala and Peter Wight.
Creatives includes Tom Piper design and Prema Mehta lighting.
Related Story Breaking Baz: ‘Ted Lasso’ Star To Lead Hot London Production Of ‘Romeo And Juliet’ Alongside ‘Red Rose’ Actress Isis Hainsworth Related Story Breaking Baz: 'House Of The Dragon' Star Milly Alcock Stirs Up A Witches Brew For London Stage Debut In Arthur Miller Classic 'The Crucible' Related Story Breaking Baz: Hollywood Lets Its Hair Down & Does The Conga After Midnight At Vanity Fair Oscar Party – Check Out The Guest List
The play, adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti — whose version of Life of Pi is on Broadway — directed by Erica Whyman and starring Madeleine Mantock begins performances at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 1 through June 17.
Madeleine Mantock
But following a “tsunami” of interest from eager ticket buyers, the show will transfer after its run in Stratford to London’s Garrick Theatre for 14 weeks from September 30 through January 6.
If the phenomenal level of interest is maintained, then expect seats at the Garrick to be hard to come by after they go on priority sale from March 28, with public booking from April 6.
The plain fact is that O’Farrell’s engrossing novel has sold more than 1.5 million copies and has fans on every continent.
Her story of the plain-speaking, free-spirited Agnes Hathaway; her relationship with Shakespeare; the heartbreaking death of Hamnet, their 11-year-old son; and how that tragedy inspired the Bard to write Hamlet; touched a nerve coming out as it did during the pandemic. “It’s totally a love story, it’s very romantic,” Chakrabarti told us.
‘Hamnet’ director Erica Whyman
Also, Chakrabarti continued: “Shakespeare is endlessly fascinating because we are trying to work out who was the man behind these amazing pieces of work, but Maggie O’Farrell’s book asks: Who was the family behind him? Anne, or Agnes, Hathaway has had a pretty bad press, and this redresses some of those injustices.”
Whyman had a “hunch”the RSC ought to put it on stage the minute she’d finished reading it because it dealt “so beautifully with bereavement and love.”
That love, Whyman observed, “carried Shakespeare to some of the most remarkable achievements of his life, notably writing Hamlet.”
Liza Marshall’s Hera Pictures already had acquired an option, and the movie’s in development with Neal Street Productions, founded by Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris and Caro Newling, and Amblin Partners. Chiara Atik is writing the screenplay.
Lolita Chakrabarti. Courtesy RSC.
However, O’Farrell and Neal Street had a keenness for it to be staged in Stratford, so agreements were struck with the RSC for Neal Street, in association with Hera Pictures, to allow a theater version that would be separate from the movie. Amblin has been supporting the stage adaptation enthusiastically.
O’Farrell has been giving “hands-on” attention to both the screenplay and the stage play, Newling said.
Newling admitted that “it’s unusual” to “shout about” transferring before you’ve opened, but “there was this tsunami of interest, and we were never going to satisfy the extraordinary level of interest during the run at the Swan alone. There is such demand for this title,” she added.
Maggie O’Farrell. Courtesy RSC.
The play’s a terrific opportunity for Mantock, who made her debut in a recent revival of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit directed by Richard Eyre.
Whyman, Chakrabarti and Newling all spoke of their excitement in finding Mantock, heaping casting director Amy Ball with praise.
“It’s simple,” said Whyman “She has got really old-fashioned star quality but at the same time has got her feet firmly on the ground. Agnes is a hard-working, fearless woman who knows her own mind, and so does Madeleine.”
For the Nottinghamshire-born Mantock, Agnes is a “giant role” for her. “It does feel like the role of a lifetime. I don’t know if I’ll get this opportunity again, so I’m very grateful.”
The cast got to meet O’Farrell during rehearsals, and Mantock remembers the novelist telling the company “that ‘not every person in history is remembered kindly and sometimes they are misremembered,’ and I think we all felt lucky to have a responsibility to look at how we might choose to see Anne Hathaway this time.”
Mantock said that “there’s a lot of pain and loss and grief, but there’s also the love, the joy and the hope. And you have to feel all of those things … that’s what life is.”
She noted the advantages of having Chakrabarti at rehearsals, plus, if needs be, “if we get a bit stumped and we don’t know which way to go with something, we can go to the book. We’ve got this amazing resource.”
So first the Swan Theatre, followed by a season at the Garrick in the West End. The phenomenon of Hamnet is unlikely to end there.
There’s Broadway and beyond.
Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon
The cast also includes Tom Vary as William and Sarah Belcher, Will Brown, Haydn Burke, Ajani Cabey, Faye Campbell, Frankie Hastings, Karl Haynes, Alex Jarrett, Hannah McPake, Elizabeth Rider, Rose Riley, Harmony Rose-Bremner, Obioma Ugoala and Peter Wight.
Creatives includes Tom Piper design and Prema Mehta lighting.
- 3/21/2023
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Amblin Partners, Hera Pictures, Neal Street Productions are teaming on a film adaptation of the Maggie O’Farrell novel Hamnet. They’ve set Chiara Atik to write the script.
Liza Marshall, Sam Mendes and Pippa Harris are producing.
The bestselling historical fiction novel 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 novel charts the emotional, familial and artistic consequences of that loss, bringing to life a human and heart-stopping story as the backdrop to the creation of Shakespeare’s most famous play, Hamlet. Hamnet won the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Fiction Prize at the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Awards, and was also shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize and longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.
Atik has previously worked...
Liza Marshall, Sam Mendes and Pippa Harris are producing.
The bestselling historical fiction novel 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 novel charts the emotional, familial and artistic consequences of that loss, bringing to life a human and heart-stopping story as the backdrop to the creation of Shakespeare’s most famous play, Hamlet. Hamnet won the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Fiction Prize at the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Awards, and was also shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize and longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.
Atik has previously worked...
- 6/22/2021
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
“Mulan” director Niki Caro has closed a deal to direct “Beautiful Ruins” for Amblin Partners, according to an individual with knowledge of the project.
In February, Amblin announced that they were re-teaming with Neal Street Productions to make the film, following their collaboration on “1917,” which won three Academy Awards and has so far earned $375 million at the worldwide box office. Neal Street’s Pippa Harris, Sam Mendes and Julie Pastor will produce “Beautiful Ruins.” Nicolas Brown is executive producing.
Based on the New York Times bestseller written by Jess Walter, the story centers on a charming young man in an Italian seaside village in 1962, who runs a hotel with no guests, until one day an American starlet, fresh from the set of “Cleopatra,” appears and captures his heart. Five decades later in Hollywood, a jaded assistant to a once-powerhouse producer gets caught up in the magic of the Italian’s story,...
In February, Amblin announced that they were re-teaming with Neal Street Productions to make the film, following their collaboration on “1917,” which won three Academy Awards and has so far earned $375 million at the worldwide box office. Neal Street’s Pippa Harris, Sam Mendes and Julie Pastor will produce “Beautiful Ruins.” Nicolas Brown is executive producing.
Based on the New York Times bestseller written by Jess Walter, the story centers on a charming young man in an Italian seaside village in 1962, who runs a hotel with no guests, until one day an American starlet, fresh from the set of “Cleopatra,” appears and captures his heart. Five decades later in Hollywood, a jaded assistant to a once-powerhouse producer gets caught up in the magic of the Italian’s story,...
- 6/30/2020
- by Umberto Gonzalez
- The Wrap
Amblin Partners has closed a deal with Niki Caro to direct “Beautiful Ruins,” sources tell Variety.
The story is set in an Italian seaside village in 1962, where a charming young man runs a hotel with no guests, until one day an American starlet, fresh from the set of “Cleopatra,” appears and captures his heart. Five decades later in Hollywood, a jaded assistant to a once-powerhouse producer gets caught up in the magic of the Italian’s story, and takes it upon herself to find a happy ending.
Following the success of “1917,” which won three Academy Awards and has so far earned $375 million at the worldwide box office, Amblin announced that it would re-team with Neal Street Productions to make the film. Neal Street’s Pippa Harris, Sam Mendes and Julie Pastor will produce, with Nicolas Brown executive producing.
Based on the New York Times bestseller written by Jess Walter,...
The story is set in an Italian seaside village in 1962, where a charming young man runs a hotel with no guests, until one day an American starlet, fresh from the set of “Cleopatra,” appears and captures his heart. Five decades later in Hollywood, a jaded assistant to a once-powerhouse producer gets caught up in the magic of the Italian’s story, and takes it upon herself to find a happy ending.
Following the success of “1917,” which won three Academy Awards and has so far earned $375 million at the worldwide box office, Amblin announced that it would re-team with Neal Street Productions to make the film. Neal Street’s Pippa Harris, Sam Mendes and Julie Pastor will produce, with Nicolas Brown executive producing.
Based on the New York Times bestseller written by Jess Walter,...
- 6/30/2020
- by Justin Kroll
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: On the heels of 1917 winning three Oscars and its soon to be $300M+ success at the global box office, Amblin Partners is reteaming with Pippa Harris and Sam Mendes’ Neal Street Productions for an adaptation of the Jess Walter New York Times bestseller Beautiful Ruins. Amblin takes over from Fox 2000 as the studio on the project. This is not a project that Mendes will direct. Amblin and Neal Street are currently winnowing the list of potential helmers.
Walter’s book is set in an Italian seaside village off the Ligurian Sea in 1962. There a charming young man runs a hotel with no guests, until one day an American starlet, fresh from the set of Cleopatra, appears and captures his heart. Five decades later in Hollywood, a jaded assistant to a powerhouse producer gets caught up in the magic of his story, and takes it upon herself to find a happy ending.
Walter’s book is set in an Italian seaside village off the Ligurian Sea in 1962. There a charming young man runs a hotel with no guests, until one day an American starlet, fresh from the set of Cleopatra, appears and captures his heart. Five decades later in Hollywood, a jaded assistant to a powerhouse producer gets caught up in the magic of his story, and takes it upon herself to find a happy ending.
- 2/13/2020
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Portlandia co-mastermind Carrie Brownstein has lined up her first feature directing gig, with Deadline reporting that the Sleater-Kinney rocker has been tapped to direct MGM’s upcoming Fairy Godmother film. Written by blogger/playwright Chiara Atik, the film centers on the titular supernatural services provider, who finds herself in a bind when the prince she’s meant to be hooking up with her latest client falls in love with her instead.
Brownstein has been moving steadily into the world of directing in the last few years, cementing herself as something of a comedy Renaissance person. (She also wrote a well-received memoir, among other accomplishments.) Brownstein previously helmed a couple of episodes of Hulu’s Casual, Comedy Central’s Idiotsitter, plus her own IFC sketch show, which wraps up its run with an eighth season next year.
Brownstein has been moving steadily into the world of directing in the last few years, cementing herself as something of a comedy Renaissance person. (She also wrote a well-received memoir, among other accomplishments.) Brownstein previously helmed a couple of episodes of Hulu’s Casual, Comedy Central’s Idiotsitter, plus her own IFC sketch show, which wraps up its run with an eighth season next year.
- 5/18/2017
- by William Hughes
- avclub.com
Seventy-three unproduced screenplays comprise this year’s Black List, an annual ranking of well-regarded scripts that have yet to make the leap from page to screen. More than 250 executives in the film industry voted on this year’s edition, and their consensus is that Elyse Hollander’s Madonna biopic “Blond Ambition” is the “most liked” of them.
Previous screenplays that have appeared on the Black List and gone on to be produced include “Spotlight,” “Arrival” and “Manchester by the Sea.” Full list below:
“Blond Ambition” by Elyse Hollander (48)
“Life Itself” by Dan Fogelman (35)
“The Olympian” by Tony Tost (35)
“The Post” by Liz Hannah (35)
“Voyagers” by Zach Dean (28)
“In the Blink of an Eye” by Colby Day (25)
“O2” by Christie LeBlan (22)
“Untitled Lax Mandis Project” by Seth Spector (22)
“Dark Money” by Matt Fruchtman (21)
“Letters from Rosemary Kennedy” by Nick Yarborough (21)
“Linda and Monica” by Flint Wainess (20)
“Hala” by Minhal Baig (19)
“The...
Previous screenplays that have appeared on the Black List and gone on to be produced include “Spotlight,” “Arrival” and “Manchester by the Sea.” Full list below:
“Blond Ambition” by Elyse Hollander (48)
“Life Itself” by Dan Fogelman (35)
“The Olympian” by Tony Tost (35)
“The Post” by Liz Hannah (35)
“Voyagers” by Zach Dean (28)
“In the Blink of an Eye” by Colby Day (25)
“O2” by Christie LeBlan (22)
“Untitled Lax Mandis Project” by Seth Spector (22)
“Dark Money” by Matt Fruchtman (21)
“Letters from Rosemary Kennedy” by Nick Yarborough (21)
“Linda and Monica” by Flint Wainess (20)
“Hala” by Minhal Baig (19)
“The...
- 12/12/2016
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Exclusive: In competitive bidding, MGM has acquired Fairy Godmother, the first spec script written by playwright Chiara Atik. Whiplash producer Helen Estabrook will produce. The spec is a comic revisionist look at the classic Fairy Godmother tale. Atik is a playwright, writer and blogger whose plays include Women, and Five Times In One Night, the latter of which Sam Mendes’ Neal Street Productions will take to the London stage next year. An alumni of Ensemble Studio…...
- 10/26/2016
- Deadline
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