At a Glance
- Director Chloé Zhao shared a video of the Hamnet cast and crew dancing to Rihanna’s “We Found Love” on the final day of filming.
- The dance party, still in 16th-century costume, was a deliberate “release” of months of emotion built up during the grief-heavy production.
- Jessie Buckley has already won a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for her role as Agnes Shakespeare; she is nominated for the upcoming Actor Awards on March 1.
- Why it matters: The footage gives audiences a rare, uplifting window into how a team processes sorrow through communal joy.
The Globe Theatre set of Hamnet-a film steeped in the grief of losing a child-erupted in cathartic celebration when director Chloé Zhao called for the production’s final “Dance Take.” On January 20, Zhao posted a video to Instagram showing Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley, and dozens of cast and crew, still in Elizabethan dress, jumping and spinning to Rihanna’s 2011 anthem We Found Love.
The Dance Take Tradition
Zhao, 43, explained that the set ritual began as a way to “discharge” the weight of heavy scenes.
- Each dance break was filmed immediately after intense emotional work.
- The director believes “emotional is energy in motion,” so movement helps reset the cast.
- On the last shoot day inside the reconstructed Globe, the entire company formed a circle on the wooden stage and let the music blast.
Jessie Buckley, 36, and Paul Mescal, 29, led the charge, hoisting young co-star Jacobi Jupe onto their shoulders as extras cheered from the gallery. Joe Alwyn, Noah Jupe, and other performers soon flooded the stage, puffed sleeves and corsets flying.
> “It was a release that turned everything we’d been holding into joy, into shared catharsis,” Zhao wrote in her caption, adding that Shakespeare himself gathered crowds here for the same reason: communal release.
Awards Momentum
The joyful footage lands amid a serious awards push for the grief-laden drama.
| Award | Outcome | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Golden Globe – Best Motion Picture (Drama) | Won | January 2025 |
| Golden Globe – Best Actress | Won by Jessie Buckley | January 2025 |
| Critics Choice Award – Best Actress | Won by Jessie Buckley | January 2025 |
| Actor Awards – Best Female Actor (Leading Role) | Nominated | March 1, 2025 |
Buckley’s portrayal of Agnes Shakespeare, wife to William Shakespeare (Mescal), tracks a marriage buckling after the death of their son Hamnet. The real-life boy died at age 11; the film adapts Maggie O’Farrell’s novel of the same name. Early reviews praised Buckley’s ability to externalize raw maternal grief without slipping into melodrama.
Behind the Emotional Shoot
Sources close to the production told News Of Los Angeles that cast members kept “emotion journals” between takes.
- Pages were privately shared with Zhao to calibrate performances.
- Child actors were given colored wristbands signaling when breaks were needed.
- The dance parties, always 90 seconds long, were scheduled like stunt rehearsals.
The final dance lasted nearly four minutes-double the usual time-because Zhao wanted everyone “wrung out” before wrapping. The footage she posted runs 58 seconds; the full number was captured on two steady-cams for possible use in a future behind-the-scenes feature.
From Stage to Screen
Hamnet shot primarily in Surrey, England, with the Globe interior built on a soundstage. Production designer Michael Carlin referenced surviving architectural drawings to recreate the 1599 layout. The dance sequence therefore unfolded on historically accurate oak planks, though Rihanna’s beats were decidedly non-period.
Public Reaction
Within 12 hours of Zhao’s post:
- The video surpassed 1.2 million views on Instagram.
- Comments flooded in from theater programs using the clip as a morale booster.
- Fans stitched their own “Dance Take” videos, tagging #WeFoundLove and #HamnetFilm.
The official Hamnet account reposted Zhao’s caption in full, adding: “May this energy carry you through whatever you’re holding today.”
What’s Next
Hamnet is now playing in select theaters and expands nationwide February 7. Awards consultants for distributor Focus Features have already shipped screening links to the Actor Awards voting body, according to sources familiar with the campaign. Buckley is scheduled to attend the Santa Barbara Film Festival January 30 for a tribute evening, where organizers plan to screen both the film and Zhao’s dance video as part of her career montage.
Key Takeaways
- A single Rihanna track turned the heaviest film set of 2024 into a jubilant dance floor.
- The ritual underscores Zhao’s belief that shared movement can metabolize grief.
- With two major wins already secured and a March 1 nomination pending, Jessie Buckley has emerged as the awards-season actor to beat.
