Chloé Zhao to direct movie about Shakespeare’s son, still no word on Eternals 2
The Oscar-winning Nomadland director still hasn't lined up her next project
Aux News Chloé Zhao
Chloé Zhao has been pretty quiet since making Eternals for Marvel Studios—especially considering that the movie came out shortly after she won Best Picture and Best Director for Nomadland—but that might be changing soon. Deadline says that she’s going to direct an adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling historical fiction book Hamnet for Amblin Partners (and a string of other production companies that are not as famous as Amblin, no offense to them).
The original book is about a woman named Agnes, wife of an up-and-coming playwright/poet named William Shakespeare, who must reckon with the tragic death of her young son (the eponymous Hamnet). This comes from Variety, which says the book follows “the emotional, familial, and artistic consequences of that loss, bringing to life a human and heart-stopping story as they backdrop to the creation of Shakespeare’s most famous play, Hamlet.” No other specific details about the adaptation have been announced, and Deadline notes that it’s “still unknown” if this will be her next project or just something she’s putting her name on.
If it’s the latter, it joins a list of at least two other interesting prospects for Zhao (who apparently took a conscious filmmaking break after working with Marvel). The more exciting one is her mysterious sci-fi/Western version of Dracula, which sounds sick as hell and was first teased before even Nomadland had come out. The other possibility is a sequel to Eternals, which nobody has really acknowledged one way or the other. It would be beyond weird for Marvel if none of those characters ever showed up again, but a Hollywood Reporter story says that Zhao “declined to comment” when asked about doing another Eternals.
That seems like a “no,” but again, Marvel doesn’t really scrap plans.
16 Comments
I thought Shakespeare’s wife was named Anne Hathaway.
I thought Catwoman’s name was Anne Hathaway.
I thought Anne Hathaway’s name was Anne Hathaway.
I thought Anne Hathaway’s Flintstone name was Anne Häggiteway.
Apparently Anne Hathaway’s name is Annie Hathaway.
The Shakespeare references in Batman are oft overlooked.
When I was a kid, I thought that Shakespeare having a son named “Hamnet” in The Sandman comics was a joke. Then I found out that “Hamlet” was kind of a joke on his son.
Reminds me of when I was in college and a friend told me that Sherlock Holmes had a brother named Mycroft. I was like, what the hell, you’re making that up, why would his name sound like “Microsoft.”
Robin Goodfellow’s present whereabouts are unknown.
I want the Dracula thing more than I want any other Marvel movie by her or anyone else.
I’d imagine MCU Dracula will show up, why would you have Blade otherwise? The Vampire Nation one shot had a great premise.
Here is a word about Eternals 2:“No.”
Eternals 2? Ha!Also, is any news outlet ever going to call Zhao out on her skipping multiple lines to get into a director’s chair? There are far better women directors who should be helming 8-figure productions. But Zhao has powerful connections in the industry. And she has quickly proven herself to be overrated as an auteur.
Eternals is such a big swing from Marvel. Huge cosmic gods, massive dead bodies in the ocean, missing superheroes, Blade. Yet, it doesn’t seem to fit in with everything else Marvel is doing at all. But surely they can’t/won’t just let it go. Can’t imagine they’ll do a sequel but some characters would have to reappear.
They tried to cram way too much story in. It should have been a Disney+ series.
Hamnet was a good read. Notable for its almost exclusive use of the present continuous tense. “She is going down the stairs to the kitchen” etc. Which gives the whole novel a quality of floating. I don’t remember there being much dialogue either. So I’m curious to see how Zhao adapts it. (I’m also a little curious why Amblin decided to option it. But fuck it: make a weird indie historical fiction film about Shakespeare’s dead son.)