Focus has taken worldwide rights on Chloé Zhao’s next film Hamnet starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley and will be a creative partner on the project. Universal Picture International will handle international distribution for the studio.Universal Pictures will handle international distribution. Zhao will direct with Emily Watson and Joe Alwyn rounding out ensemble.

Based on Maggie Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, Zhao co-adapted the script with O’Farrell. Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Sam Mendes and Steven Spielberg will produce with Kristie Macosko Krieger, Nic Gonda and Laurie Borg will exec produce.

The New York Times bestselling historical fiction novel imagines the story of Agnes – the wife of the world’s most famous writer, William Shakespeare – as she struggles to come to terms with the loss of her only son, Hamnet. The novel charts the emotional, familial and artistic consequences of that loss, bringing to life a human and...