- Title: FILE: A look at Oscars best picture nominee 'Hamnet'
- Date: 3rd March 2026
- Summary: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - JANUARY 22, 2026) (A.M.P.A.S. UNRESTRICTED POOL) VARIOUS OF ACTORS, DANIELLE BROOKS (R) AND LEWIS PULLMAN (L) ON STAGE ANNOUNCING BEST PICTURE NOMINEES, INCLUDING "HAMNET" - LIZA MARSHALL, PIPPA HARRIS, NICOLAS GONDA, STEVEN SPIELBERG AND SAM MENDES, PRODUCERS BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT - FEBRUARY 10, 2
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: Chloe Zhao Hamnet Jessie Buckley Oscar luncheon Oscars Paul Mescal Steven Spielberg best picture
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- Country: US
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Film,North America
- Reuters ID: LVA00E615312012026RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Oscar-winning filmmaker Chloe Zhao's period drama "Hamnet", in competition for best picture at the Academy Awards, reimagines British playwright William Shakespeare's formative years and his personal life with Agnes, a fictionalised version of his wife, Anne Hathaway.
Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley star as Shakespeare and Agnes, with the film following their romance and parental grief as they lose their son Hamnet to the plague. This then leads Mescal's Shakespeare to write the tragedy play "Hamlet."
Despite the film's heavy themes, the lead actors feel "Hamnet" has many layers in the way it explores grief.
"Grief is many colours. It's not just a well of sadness. There is deep love in there. There's rage. Silence. There's searching. So, it's never just one colour. And I think Chloe (Zhao) is such a weaver of emotion and an incredible editor," said Buckley.
Adapted from Maggie O'Farrell's bestselling 2020 novel of the same name with Zhao co-writing the screenplay with the author, the movie acknowledges that the names Hamlet and Hamnet were interchangeable in Shakespeare's day.
"I feel like at the heart of this book, this beautiful book, it is about love and death and the metamorphosis, the power, the alchemical power of storytelling. And that is the most important aspect," said Zhao.
The film has garnered several awards already, including best motion picture - drama at the Golden Globes, movie of the year at the AFI Awards, the Vanguard award at Palm Springs International Film Festival, best gala film at San Diego International Film Festival and it recently received the prize for outstanding British film at the BAFTA Film Awards in London.
Buckley has scooped best actress prizes at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Critics Choice Awards, New York Film Critics Awards and London Critics Circle Awards.
Nominated for eight Oscars, including best director and best adapted screenplay, "Hamnet" will compete against fellow best picture contenders Ryan Coogler's "Sinners" and "Marty Supreme," starring Timothee Chalamet, among others.
(Production: Lisa Giles-Keddie) - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
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