Chloe Zhao’s ‘Hamnet’ Lands at Focus Features, Steven Spielberg Boards as Producer

Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao’s next film “Hamnet” has landed at Focus Features with Steven Spielberg newly joining the project as a producer.

“Hamnet” is adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s Shakespeare-era novel, which was published in 2020 and fictionalizes the life of the Bard’s son who died at a young age. As previously announced, Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal will star in “Hamnet” alongside Emily Watson and Joe Alwyn. Zhao wrote the screenplay with O’Farrell.

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Focus will release ‘Hamnet’ in the U.S. on a yet-to-be-determined date, with Universal Pictures International handling the theatrical rollout in the rest of the world.

Along with Spielberg, producers on the movie include Liza Marshall (“The End We Start From”), Pippa Harris (“1917”) and Sam Mendes (“1917”). Executive producers are Kristie Macosko Krieger, Nic Gonda and Laurie Borg.

Zhao’s latest film was Disney’s 2021 Marvel adventure “Eternals,” which wasn’t all that well received at the box office (at least, by the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s sky-high standards) with $402 million globally. She made that film after becoming only the second woman ever to win best director at the Oscars for 2020’s “Nomadland,” which also took home the prize for best picture. Her other features include “Songs My Brothers Taught Me” and “The Rider.”

Focus Features’ upcoming slate is comprised of “Piece by Piece,” an animated biopic about Pharrell Williams that’s told through the lens of Legos, as well as Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu” remake, Edward Berger’s thriller “Conclave” and Steven Soderbergh’s crime drama “Black Bag” with Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender.

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