Hamnet Star Paul Mescal Reveals Blue Valentine ‘Always’ Brings Him to Tears

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The actor, known for his role in Gladiator II, explained that the film’s emotional impact comes from showing the full story of a relationship, not just a side plot. Seeing how the love develops and ultimately ends is what he believes will make him cry.

Released in 2010, Blue Valentine is a film written and directed by Derek Cianfrance. It stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams as Dean and Cindy Pereira, and tells their story through two timelines: the beginning of their romance and a later period of their troubled marriage. The film explores both the joy and heartbreak of their relationship.

I was really excited to see Paul Mescal in Hamnet, alongside incredible actors like Jessie Buckley, Emily Watson, and Joe Alwyn. The film is based on Maggie O’Farrell’s beautiful novel, with a screenplay co-written by O’Farrell and Chloé Zhao. It’s not a strict biography, but a moving, imagined look at William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway’s marriage, focusing on the heartbreaking period after they lost their son, Hamnet.

What Happens in Hamnet?

The movie stars Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare (also known as Anne Hathaway), Joe Alwyn as Bartholomew Hathaway, and Emily Watson as Mary Shakespeare. David Wilmot, Noah Jupe, Olivia Lynes, Louisa Harland, Sam Woolf, Jack Shalloo, Dainton Anderson, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, and Jacobi Jupe, who plays young Hamnet, complete the main cast.

Since its debut in August at the Telluride Film Festival, Hamnet has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from both critics and audiences. Currently, the film boasts an 87% “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 225 critic reviews. Even more notably, audiences have given it a 92% approval rating, according to Rotten Tomatoes’ “Popcornmeter,” based on over 500 user ratings.

The film received the People’s Choice Award at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, a significant achievement for writer-director Chloé Zhao. This win is historic, making her the first person to ever win the award twice. She previously won in 2020 with her film Nomadland, which was adapted from Jessica Bruder’s 2017 book, Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century.

Hamnet is in theaters now.

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2025-12-13 19:40