No, our Women in Film issue doesn\u2019t exclusively<\/i> feature women \u2014 Noah Baumbach<\/a> and Brendan Fraser<\/a> feature in our Dec. 16 edition as well \u2014 but it does shine a particular spotlight on their extraordinary contribution to the year in film. <\/p>\n As performers and production designers<\/a>, writers, directors and more, the women included here helped fashion deeply felt stories of parenthood<\/a>, friendship<\/a>, grief<\/a> and betrayal<\/a>, and that\u2019s just for starters. Read on for more highlights from this week\u2019s Envelope. <\/p>\n (Jason Armond \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n This year\u2019s Oscar Actresses Roundtable<\/a> was full of laughter, sparked by everything from Gwyneth Paltrow\u2019s impression of mother Blythe Danner to Sydney Sweeney\u2019s tales from inside the ring on \u201cChristy.\u201d But when it comes to self-determination, this year\u2019s participants \u2014 who also included Emily Blunt, Elle Fanning, Jennifer Lopez and Tessa Thompson \u2014 are dead serious. <\/p>\n As performers, producers and businesswomen, the sextet told moderator Lorraine Ali, the boxes that Hollywood and the broader culture seek to put them in need not apply. And realizing that is its own liberation. As Lopez put it, \u201cI don\u2019t ever feel like there\u2019s somebody who can say to me, \u2018No, you can\u2019t.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n (Evelyn Freja \/ For The Times))<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n Since the moment I first saw \u201cHamnet,\u201d I\u2019ve been raving to everyone I know about its climactic sequence, set inside the Globe Theatre during a performance of Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cHamlet.\u201d (Well, if you can call it \u201craving\u201d when you preface your recommendation with the sentence, \u201cI sobbed through the last 45 minutes.\u201d) As it turns out, though, the process of making the film\u2019s final act was as miraculous as the finished product. <\/p>\n \u201cThere were only four days left of shooting on \u2018Hamnet\u2019 when Chlo\u00e9 Zhao realized she didn\u2019t have an ending,\u201d Emily Zemler begins this week\u2019s digital cover story<\/a>, which features Zhao, actors Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal and Joe Alwyn and production designer Fiona Crombie. What they created from that point, combining kismet, creative inspiration and grueling preparation, will buoy your belief in the power of art. \u201cIt was like a tsunami,\u201d Buckley tells Zemler. \u201cI\u2019ll never forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n When I first read Helen Macdonald\u2019s transporting \u201cH Is for Hawk,\u201d which combines memoir, nature writing and literary criticism, I can\u2019t say I closed the book wondering when we\u2019d get a film adaptation. Little did I know that director Philippa Lowthorpe, star Claire Foy and a pair of married bird handlers would provide such a thorough answer to my skepticism. <\/p>\nThe Envelope Actresses Roundtable<\/h2>\n
\u2018Hamnet\u2019s\u2019 last-minute miracle<\/h2>\n
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<\/picture>\nA Is for Animal Wrangler<\/h2>\n
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