Watch the incredibly moving trailer for Hamnet below:

Here’s the official synopsis:

From Academy Award® winning writer/director Chloé Zhao, Hamnet tells the powerful love story that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.

As a filmmaker Zhao has captured the attention of audiences with her ability to capture a wife array of dramatic feelings and emotions in her work, and now she turns her attention to the life and work of William Shakespeare, the greatest voice in English language, and in adapting Maggie O’Farrell’s acclaimed novel, she takes audiences into a radiant, fairy-tale-esque story of romance, heartbreak and creative freedom, and this trailer promises a cinematic experience that will sweep over audiences.

The presence of Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal also elevate the experience of what this film will be with their incredible talent, and you can feel the burning passion and chemistry that two share together. Buckley herself looks to have transcended to an entirely new place with her performance as Agnes, wife to Shakespeare who experiences a severe sense of grief and shock following the death of her only son, and Buckley appears to have taken her emotive performance to a whole new level with this performance.

Hamnet is a film that looks to be shaped by texture and realism, with a string sense of natural light and dynamic, close-in camera work helping to pull audiences into the time and feeling of the Elizabethan stage, and Zhao’s beautifully crafted world building helps to elevate this dream-like, fairy-tale feeling that she’s bringing to the production, and this is a film rich in visuals that will pull audiences in with its elevated ambience.

Get ready to have your emotions pulled in every direction with Chloé Zhao and her tribute to the expression of absolute love and the burning fires of creativity when Hamnet arrives in cinemas on January 15.

Image: Universal Pictures

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This isn’t your high school Shakespeare. Think Shakespeare meets Saltburn; all opulence, obsession, and dangerous allure. Director Benjamin Kilby-Henson (The Effect, King Lear) reimagines the greatest love story of all time as a fast-paced, cinematic thriller, set against the wild freedom of the 1960s, a decade dripping with rebellion, liberation, and lethal romantic energy.

Here, love is a loaded gun, and when Romeo and Juliet collide? KABOOM.

Stepping into the iconic roles are Theo Dāvid (Shortland Street) and Phoebe McKellar (One Lane Bridge), two rising stars who bring smouldering intensity and youthful defiance to Shakespeare’s doomed lovers. Kilby-Henson describes their chemistry as “flint and gunpowder,” and the pair light up the stage with an irresistible mix of fragility, fire, and full-blown obsession.

And it’s not just the leads who bring the drama. This Romeo & Juliet boasts a powerhouse supporting cast, including Ryan Carter as the mercurial Mercutio, Jesme Fa’auuga as a deadly Tybalt, and Courtney Eggleton as a scene-stealing Nurse. Miriama McDowell brings soul and gravitas as Friar Lawrence, while Amanda Tito takes on multiple roles, including Death herslef, with haunting intensity.

This production is set to sizzle with modern energy. Composer Robin Kelly is set to deliver a haunting original score that pulses like a heartbeat, while designers Daniel Williams and Daniella Salazar cloak the stage in a Milan-meets-Mod aesthetic, with sleek tailoring, bold prints, high fashion, and smoky glamour. It’s the ‘60s, but make it tragic couture.

And make no mistake, while the look is luxe and the pace is electric, Romeo & Juliet will still deliver all the heartache, horror, and heady passion that made it a classic. Underneath the spectacle lies a story of forbidden love, fractured families, and how youthful idealism is too often swallowed whole by hate.

“This is Shakespeare’s ode to love of all kinds,” says Kilby-Henson. “Romantic love, sexual love, the love between friends and family, love through faith.” And in this production, every form of love is on full display—raw, risky, and sometimes ruinous.

With death lurking in every corner, and a summer heat that could burn the whole city down, Auckland Theatre Company’s production of Romeo & Juliet is set to deliver a theatrical fever dream you won’t soon forget. It’s sexy. It’s stylish. It’s Shakespeare with a knife in its back and roses in its teeth.

Tickets are on sale now at atc.co.nz.

Image: Auckland Theatre Company

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