Hamnet's Maggie O'Farrell Dreamed Paul Mescal as Shakespeare from the Start!

Maggie O'Farrell, the author of the award-winning novel Hamnet, was born in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, but spent most of her childhood in Wales and Scotland. Despite living in Britain, she says that Ireland is a very important part of her identity because she visited often as a child. Her novel Hamnet tells a fictional story about William Shakespeare, his wife Agnes, and their family, focusing on how the death of their son, Hamnet, might have influenced Shakespeare's famous play, Hamlet.

O'Farrell co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Hamnet with director Chloé Zhao. She was thrilled when she learned that Paul Mescal would play Shakespeare and Jessie Buckley would play Agnes. O'Farrell had seen Mescal perform in Dublin before he became well-known and always thought he would be perfect for the role of Shakespeare. She joked with Zhao, asking if she just went to Ireland to pick the cast because both Mescal and Buckley are Irish. O'Farrell believes Jessie Buckley is the perfect Agnes and brings the character to life in a special way.

While researching for her novel, O'Farrell read many books about Shakespeare but noticed that there was not much information about the women in his life, like his wife, mother, or daughters. She wanted to understand these women better, so she did hands-on research. She learned to fly a kestrel, baked bread using a recipe from Shakespeare's time, and planted a garden with old medicinal plants. In the film, Agnes is shown with her pet hawk and collecting herbs for medicine. At first, O'Farrell was unsure about helping to write the movie, but Chloé Zhao convinced her. She found the experience interesting and learned a lot about writing for film. O'Farrell and Zhao worked well together, with Zhao focusing on the big picture and O'Farrell helping with the details, especially the old-fashioned dialogue. The film Hamnet has received six Golden Globe nominations, including best actress for Jessie Buckley and best supporting actor for Paul Mescal. It will be released in UK cinemas on 9 January.