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The Hollywood Reporter takes you inside the making of Chloé Zhao's 'Hamnet,' which received eight 2026 Oscar nominations, including best picture and best actress for Jessie Buckley's performance as Agnes. Hear exclusive behind-the-scenes details from the craftspeople who helped recreate the world of William Shakespeare, including production designer Fiona Crombie, costume designer Malgosia Turzanska, cinematographer Łukasz Żal, editor Affonso Gonçalves and hair & makeup designer Nicole Stafford, as well as from producer Steven Spielberg. 

They speak about working with Zhao, who is nominated for best director this year, recreating the iconic Globe Theater, how the actors' performances helped shape the movie, constructing period-authentic sets, what it was like filming the many heartbreaking scenes between Buckley and Paul Mescal and much more.

The adaptation of the 2020 novel written by Maggie O'Farrell chronicles the life of Shakespeare (Mescal) his wife Agnes (Buckley) as they grieve the death of their son Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe).

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00:08Those globe scenes were shot at the very end so we could fit those actors throughout the
00:14whole movie. There was 350 background performers they're surrounding Joe and
00:20Jessie in those globe scenes and they are emoting with them they're crying it
00:23was really astonishing to see them working. We got off to a really good
00:27start because we went and we looked at the real globe and for Chloe it was a
00:31really about scale like she felt that it was too big and that we ours needed to
00:35have an intimacy so we brought ours in so it's 75% so you feel that relationship
00:40with the stage and the audience just it's a little more enveloping. We create
00:44everything around Jessie so we built around her reacting to what she's seen
00:48how much the play evolves and that's the scene with probably work the longest
00:53because you really needed to get it right. I love Jessie close-up at the end
00:59all the world is reflecting her eyes and there's so many emotions and they just
01:03change. We knew the moment that just extends the hand it was so important from
01:10so we could work backwards from that. When I first read the script I saw Jessie as
01:17this essentially a heart muscle she was this like vibrant beating heart and so I
01:24wanted to make sure that we kind of give that impression of her in the
01:27costumes and so there's this like raw vibrant reds and oranges and maroons and
01:33it's all kind of twisting and turning so when we see her kind of through Will's
01:37eyes she is so alive and so just undeniably present that was really why I
01:43wanted it to be like so so so vibrant and red but also Chloe and I and Jessie
01:48talked about blood and sort of the essence of womanhood and humanity it
01:52kind of like in a physical sense and so the redness also when she starts she is
01:57this vibrant fresh blood color and then as she goes through the story when she's
02:02a mother the blood kind of rusts around the edges so there's more oranges more
02:06bricks and so on and then as she's going through the death of Hamnet the blood
02:10dries up it's she's like brown and gray and kind of prune purplish color like a
02:15like a scab and then when we see her at the very very end at the globe we see the
02:20blood kind of starting to course through her veins again so that was the color
02:23journey for her. The color in the production design is really sparing I mean
02:28it's very deliberately sparing you know I knew what Malgo she was going to be
02:31doing with the costumes but really for me I was looking at you know the heavy
02:34beams of the Tudor architecture and the way that they're so graphic like the
02:39dark tones with the whitewash that kind of structural linear quality sits in
02:44opposition to the rambling forest like in the vivid green so I was sort of playing
02:48more with that knowing that I would have a woman in a red dress walking you know
02:53amongst all of that so it was all kind of quite finely calibrated so that we're
02:57sort of supporting each other the kids dressing up as witches that was a super
03:12last-minute addition Jessie didn't know it was happening so when she opens her
03:17eyes she truly actually is seeing it for the first time so when she says that's
03:21amazing that like that was Jessie you know and it created this meta layer
03:26because I was running around looking for things to put on them just as they would
03:31be running around the house you know so I was in Fiona's department looking for
03:35the baskets and try to you know fitting them on my head and so that was a good
03:39little comedy bit for me at that time it was very much about family and really I
03:56wanted with the production design to bring the audience close to that family to
04:01have them relatable and for it to not be a period piece that you admire from a
04:07distance and you think oh isn't that a beautiful you know set I wanted it to be
04:11unmade beds eggshells and laundry by the door I kept looking honestly around my
04:16house and looking at my family and thinking how can I bring my daily life
04:20into this Elizabethan family what do you wish to do Hamlet I should be one of the
04:27players with the sword sword yes and I should clash it against the sword of the other player
04:35I remember like we did this shot and then I look at my focus puller and he's crying and
04:40then he's asking me how many more takes are we going to shoot it because it was very heavy
04:45and really painful to be in it we knew it's a film and of course Hamlet is not dying for
04:52real
04:53but on the other hand when we were in this house together with the crew it was so real and
04:58Jesse
04:58and Paul it was so painful and then emotions were so real that it was really hard not to really
05:04feel those emotions will you be brave yes will you be brave yes yes I'll be brave I'll be brave
05:13I think the
05:14most important thing was performance I think that's what kind of led us to any any times like
05:19okay this is it we watched the footage whenever we found the performance that felt the most
05:23emotional then that's where we went that was our principle to create you know a space atmosphere and
05:33give our cast freedom to be open to what is happening situations which are unexpected I think
05:40the great example was just before shooting Paul asked me if it's possible that I will give them a
05:46freedom in terms of the camera for example the forest which were in the place where they meet
05:50I was thinking about different tools and still was wondering maybe this maybe this maybe crane
05:54maybe gimbal realize that no I just need to be very simple have a small handheld camera and be ready
06:01to move quickly be ready to react quickly basically be open to everything what is happening follow
06:06the emotions follow them that was the most important thing what are you looking at you why
06:15there were moments where I wish I could have found a new word for hair and makeup just to kind
06:20of
06:20describe what it was that we were going to be doing it was important that we expressed that freckles were
06:26makeup and sweat was makeup looking tired was makeup and looking happy could be embellished with makeup there
06:34was many occasions where you would meet Jessie and she would just be coming back from training a hawk and
06:40she would have studied all the scratches on her arms the cast were so deeply deeply involved in telling
06:47this story there was iron gall ink that we would use on Will's fingers every day to show that he'd
06:54been
06:54writing through the night and then Malgoge I know would incorporate the iron gall ink into the costumes when
07:02we see him first he is wearing a jerkin that is made out of the scratched leather and I was
07:07imagining his
07:07father who constantly pokes at him I was imagining him using a little piece that he's wearing which is
07:13worn as jewelry but it was actually a toothpick and the toothpick was a real thing it was a real
07:17period
07:17thing but then gradually as well as getting we see him kind of growing more and more frustrated with
07:22himself he starts getting these like slashes and little wounds on his garments which it is an Elizabethan
07:30detail it's called pinking the way we used it for him it was kind of to show his emotional journey
07:36and
07:36they start as those little scratches then grow and then when he's actually finally in London they are
07:41just gashes his doublet is holes into his soul and then finally when we see him as the ghost he's
07:47covered in a cloak that is made of mud or of clay rather and the clay is cracked and so
07:52we see him
07:53like cracking and the pieces falling off and then he finally gets to wash it off and and we see
07:58him
07:58break down and cried the thing that I felt was you really unique about working with Chloe was that
08:08she's incredibly intuitive and incredibly open I think that was the thing that I found really really
08:17gratifying and I'm so I just loved so much on this project was that Chloe was always open and so
08:24I was
08:25invited to the table I was invited to be a participant in the discovery of what this film
08:29could be Chloe is just extraordinary she is like one of a kind I might cry talking about her she
08:36is
08:36incredible didn't know this would happen with Chloe there are no mistakes there are a lot of happy accidents
08:45but there are no mistakes and she creates that village of courage and taking risks and Chloe is a great
08:52storyteller but she also makes everybody in that family feel like they too have a great story to
08:59share and I have never quite seen anything like this before I think one of the things that was
09:04really striking that I think is something that a good director can do and I think people don't
09:08necessarily attribute this is that they pick the right people there was a real sense of collaboration
09:14not just in a professional way but in a real spirit and a real heart and soul about wanting to
09:21create
09:21this really authentic story it was an extremely supportive group of people that all came together
09:29just wanting to do their best and wanting to tell the story in a really authentic but emotionally driven
09:36way atmosphere full of respect love and friendship and understanding that was very special it feels like
09:44we were Chloe's mushroom that we like grew around her and just kind of you know just kind of communicated
09:50I'm so proud of the movie because of it it feels so organic how it came together and it's because
09:56of Chloe
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