Steven Spielberg made a surprise appearance at the London Film Festival premiere of Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, praising her work on the historical drama.
Spielberg is a producer on the film, which tells the “powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet,” according to the film’s synopsis. Paul Mescal plays William Shakespeare opposite Jessie Buckley, who plays his wife, Agnes.
On Saturday night (October 11), legendary filmmaker Spielberg stepped onstage at the Royal Festival Hall and explained how he first met Zhao at a dinner for Oscar-nominated directors in 2022, the year following her win for Nomadland.
“We became friends and we’d have lunch together at Amblin, and I’m just amazed by her, you know,” Spielberg said, per Variety. “I really believe the earth has a heartbeat. It’s a 24/7 seismic cycle, and all of us are connected to this heartbeat, which happens right under our feet. But Chloé Zhao is connected to it in a profound way because it’s where her art comes from.”
“It’s what she brings to set every day, it’s what she anoints and shares with her cast every day. And I really believe that when you see Hamnet, you’ll be able to feel the seismic heartbeat of the earth because of Chloé Zhao.”
At the premiere, Mescal also lauded Zhao as “one of the great witches of our day,” and said that “the atmosphere she established is one of the main reasons that people seem to be responding to the film.”
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Zhao was visibly emotionally when it was her turn to speak, and, after asking the audience for grace, said: “I feel immense gratitude because today we finally brought Hamnet home.
“Making a film on this island with this village has given me a deep feeling of community, of safety that I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before. It helped me through a very difficult time in my life and I don’t take it for granted, especially in a world that is becoming increasingly lonesome.”
She then led the audience in a breathing exercise before the screening started, inviting attendees that “all emotions are welcome” while watching the film.
Hamnet is set for a limited theatrical release in the US and Canada from Focus Features from November 27, and will release in the UK on January 9 via Universal Pictures.
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