A devastating family tragedy leads to the creation of a literary masterpiece in Director Chloé Zhao’s biographical period-drama, Hamnet.

Based on the bestselling novel by Maggie O’Farrell, Zhao’s film tells the story of the relationship between William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes, who celebrate the birth of their son Hamnet, only to lose him at a young age. The ensuing heartbreak inspires Shakespeare to write his timeless play about a prince of Denmark.

On November 9, after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Zhao discussed the making of Hamnet during a Q&A moderated by Director Barry Jenkins (Mufasa: The Lion King). She also spoke about the film during a Q&A moderated by Director Derek Cianfrance (Roofman)  following the DGA New York screening on November 22.

During the Los Angeles conversation, Zhao spoke about her methodology for keeping her actors in a creative mode.

“I find that whenever we cut, I lose tension and it’s usually supplemented by revealing something else very surprising or in juxtaposition. That’s the beauty of editing. But in this case, in this film, pretty much in every scene we know what’s going to happen. But what I was excited about is how can I contain the energy of two polarizing forces going at each other within a frame and let it build so that you feel when that explosion happens, it’s like a blast towards the camera.”

Zhao’s other directorial credits include the feature films Songs My Brothers Taught Me, The Rider and Eternals. She won the 2020 DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for her third feature, Nomadland, which also earned her Academy Awards for “Best Motion Picture” and “Best Achievement in Directing.”

Zhao has been a DGA member since 2019.