Chloé Zhao Is Adapting Maggie O’Farrell’s Novel Hamnet For Film

Following Chloé Zhao’s quiet dramas of the American heartland, then her big-budget Marvel contribution, “Hamnet” promises to be a departure from the director’s earlier work. Crucially, “Hamnet” takes place in the provincial setting of Elizabethan England, in which Agnes shows an affinity for nature. The Shakespeare-era adaptation is being backed by Amblin Partners, Hera Pictures, Neal Street Productions, and Book of Shadows.

“Hamnet” isn’t the only forthcoming project on Zhao’s plate. The filmmaker is also penning a script for a sci-fi Western take on Dracula that has been in the works since early 2021. It remains to be seen whether she is attached to the “Eternals” sequel. “Hamnet,” meanwhile, isn’t only being adapted for the screen; the Royal Shakespeare Company production of “Hamnet” opens this month.  

Though Zhao is adapting “Hamnet” with Maggie O’Farrell, the novelist admitted that scriptwriting isn’t her forte. “As a novelist, I’m asking a reader to follow me through a forest, a bit like ‘Hansel and Gretel,’ and I know how to leave a trail of visible breadcrumbs for the novel,” she told The Guardian. “But I wouldn’t know how to do that for an audience. I just don’t have those muscles.” Luckily, O’Farrell is collaborating with a more than capable screenwriter.