Hamnet may be about to win big at the Oscars, but Sir Ian McKellen won\u2019t be voting for Chlo\u00e9 Zhao\u2019s weepie to win Best Picture.<\/p>\n
The British actor, who became a member of the Academy in 1999 after receiving a nomination for Gods and Monsters, is a Shakespeare enthusiast who has played characters ranging from Hamlet and King Lear to Macbeth and Falstaff.<\/p>\n
But he is not a fan of Hamnet, the fictional drama based on Maggie O\u2019Farrell\u2019s novel about the death of the Bard\u2019s 11-year-old son in the 1500s. The film imagines how the tragedy might have inspired Hamlet.<\/p>\n
For McKellen, 86, this is a stretch too far. \u201cI don\u2019t quite get it,\u201d the thespian said in a new interview. \u201cI\u2019m not very interested in trying to work out where Shakespeare\u2019s imagination came from, but it certainly didn\u2019t just come from family life.\u201d<\/p>\n
He predicted the film would win several Oscars when the Academy Awards take place in March, but described details of the plot as \u201cimprobable\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Hamnet races towards the finishing line as far as Oscars are concerned, it\u2019s likely to repeat the success of Shakespeare in Love, which had odd views as to how plays get put on,\u201d McKellen continued.<\/p>\n
Sir Ian McKellen thinks weepie \u2018Hamnet\u2019 is improbable (Getty)\u201cBut then Shakespeare\u2019s perhaps the most famous person who ever lived, so of course there is some interest in what he looked like, what his relationship with his family was. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we can\u2019t know, but the idea Anne Hathaway has never seen a play before? It\u2019s improbable, considering what her husband did for a living. And she doesn\u2019t seem to know what a play is! I think there are a few doubts of probability.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the film, Shakespeare\u2019s wife (Jessie Buckley) remains at home in Stratford-Upon-Avon, looking after their children while he travels to London and becomes a successful playwright. The film depicts Hathaway as being clueless about his profession.<\/p>\n
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day<\/p>\n
New subscribers only. \u00a39.99\/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.<\/p>\n
Try for freeADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.<\/p>\n
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day<\/p>\n
New subscribers only. \u00a39.99\/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.<\/p>\n
Try for freeADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.<\/p>\n
While the film is nominated for Best Picture, it faces fierce competition from Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s One Battle After Another and Ryan Coogler\u2019s Sinners. <\/p>\n
However, lead star Buckley is the favourite to win Best Actress. Hamnet received eight nominations in total, including Best Director for Zhao and Best Adapted Screenplay for Zhao and O\u2019Farrell.<\/p>\n
Jessie Buckley is in the running for an Oscar for her role as Shakespeare\u2019s wife in \u2018Hamnet\u2019 (Agata Grzybowska\/Focus Features\/AP)The film, which also stars Paul Mescal and Jacobi Jupe, has become a box office hit, grossing $74m (\u00a354.3m) from a budget of $35m (\u00a325.6m). The film is expected to extend these takings as awards season intensifies; the Oscars take place on 15 March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hamnet may be about to win big at the Oscars, but Sir Ian McKellen won\u2019t be voting for Chlo\u00e9 Zhao\u2019s weepie to win Best Picture. The British actor, who became a member of the Academy in 1999 after receiving a nomination for Gods and Monsters, is a Shakespeare enthusiast who has played characters ranging from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n