Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley to star in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet

All of Us Strangers actor will play William Shakespeare alongside Buckley as his wife in film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel

Paul Mescal will star as the young William Shakespeare in a big-screen version of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel Hamnet, directed by Chloé Zhao.

The film is not related to Lolita Chakrabarti’s stage play, which has played to sold-out runs in Stratford-upon-Avon and the West End; rather it will be scripted by Zhao and O’Farrell.