Hamnet director Chloe Zhao has said she has a “very personal” connection with Ireland and that the film has “some energy” from the country, while speaking at the 2026 Bafta film awards.
The hit film took home two gongs at this year’s ceremony and showcases Irish talent, having been adapted from author Maggie O’Farrell’s award-winning novel and starring actors Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal.
Buckley takes the lead as Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes Hathaway – historically known as Anne – in the film, which follows the family life of William Shakespeare after the death of their young son.
Liza Marshall, Jessie Buckley, Chloe Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell attend the 79th British Academy Film Awards (Ian West/PA)
(Ian West)
During the winner’s press conference, Chinese filmmaker Zhao spoke about the Irish influence on the film after it took home the prize for outstanding British film.
She said: “I have a very personal connection with Ireland, and I can’t share what that is.
“But the land and the culture and the desire to try to remember what might have been forgotten and passed away from that culture is really, really strong.
“When I met Maggie and read her book, I felt that, yes, this is a story about Shakespeare’s family, but for some reason, her being Irish has something to do with it.
“There’s some spirit. There’s some energy in it that came from her part of the world.”
Cast and crew of Hamnet Joe Alwyn, Maggie O’Farrell, Liza Marshall, Dame Pippa Harris, Chloe Zhao, Jacobi Jupe, Jessie Buckley, Olivia Lynes, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Emily Watson and Nicolas Gonda celebrate winning the outstanding British film award at the Baftas (Ian West/PA)
(Ian West)
Speaking about when Zhao proposed the casting for Hamnet, O’Farrell joked: “I said, ‘did you actually do any auditions, or did you just go straight to Ireland and you didn’t come back?’”
The novelist, who is from Coleraine in Northern Ireland, continued: “But they were just simply the best people for the job. All the cast, I think were just so perfectly cast.”
During the press conference, Zhao also praised O’Farrell for the “transforming experience” of the film, and called taking part in the making of Hamnet a life-changing experience.
She added: “From now on we can always look across the room and go, ‘we were there, transformed by that experience from the forest to (Shakespeare’s) Globe theatre.”
Alongside the outstanding British film award, Buckley, from Killarney in Co Kerry, took home the best actress gong.
Mescal, from Dublin, has received a string of nominations across the awards season for Hamnet but has yet to receive a prize for his role.
Meanwhile, Buckley is a frontrunner for the Oscars and has dominated the awards season, having so far proved unbeatable for her role in the hit film.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source uk.news.yahoo.com ’
