For his critically acclaimed portrayal of playwright William Shakespeare in Chloé Zhao’s fall film fest darling Hamnet, Paul Mescal will be promoted this awards season for best supporting actor — as opposed to best actor — honors, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
There has been widespread speculation about which path would be pursued by Mescal — a best actor Oscar nominee in 2023 for 2022’s Aftersun — and his backers, including Hamnet distributor Focus Features. But a decision has only just been solidified.
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While Hamnet is a film about the love and loss experienced by William and Agnes Shakespeare, the fact of the matter is that Agnes — played by Jessie Buckley, a frontrunner for the best actress Oscar — is actually featured in quite a bit more of the film than her famous husband: Mescal appears in 44 minutes and 57 seconds (or 36 percent of the full runtime), whereas Buckley appears in 63 minutes and 49 seconds (or 51 percent of the full runtime).
In other words, it’s not a stretch to argue that Mescal’s performance is, in fact, supporting Buckley’s. And besides, it’s sort of all right there in the film’s plot: part of Agnes’ frustration with William, as expressed in the film, is that he is away in London for large chunks of time while she is back at home without him dealing with challenges related to their children.
While there is no reason to believe this factored into the Mescal decision, it is nevertheless the case that the 29-year-old is the clear lead of another awards hopeful, Mubi’s The History of Sound, so having him go supporting for Hamnet also serves to keep him from splitting the votes of his own fans.
Hamnet had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, where it was the talk of the fest. It then screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People’s Choice Award, which is often a harbinger of Oscar success. It next plays at several regional film festivals en route to Focus releasing it in select theaters on Nov. 27 and then wide on Dec. 12.
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