Chloé Zhao Vivien Killilea/Getty Images "I can never quite pinpoint why I choose stories," muses Chloé Zhao. "I think they choose me." It's late August and the Chinese director - renowned for her Oscar-winning Nomadland (2020) with Frances McDormand - is talking to The Hollywood Reporter over Zoom about re-entering the film world with an adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's novel Hamnet. On Sept. 7, the movie had its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) where Zhao, also helmer of the MCU's Eternals (2021) presented the film alongside the young, white-hot talents Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley to rave reviews. Related Stories Movies Why Joachim Trier Dropped the Irony in 'Sentimental Value': "I Had to Be a Better Director" Movies Gus Van Sant's 'Dead Man's Wire' Goes to Row K Entertainment Hamnet, co-written by Zhao and O'Farrell, follows a fictional story of love and loss. It centers on the life of William Shakespeare (Mescal) and his wife Agnes (Buckley) after the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. It births the English playwright's celebrated tragedy Hamlet, a work Zhao describes as "one of the greatest pieces of literature in the world." "I never really understood [Hamlet]," she confesses. "The story is very dark. It's very dense. It talks a lot about the very difficult human experiences this young person went through in a short amount of time, and then he dies in the end. ... I never really understood it the way I did when I read Maggie's novel. When I read the novel, I thought, 'Oh, wow.' I just looked at Hamnet completely different." Instinctively, the creative wanted to decline to make the movie, also produced by Steven Spielberg for Amblin Entertainment and Sam Mendes, alongside Zhao and production partner Nic Gonda's Book of Shadows. "I didn't think I had the life experience to tell the story," she tells THR. But then she met Mescal, just before he earned his first Academy Award nomination for the cult hit Aftersun (2022). "I felt like if he plays young Shakespeare, maybe [this is] something I could do." When British star Buckley signed on, it was all systems go. "The chemistry test was ... sparks everywhere," giggles Zhao. Below, before TIFF, Zhao explains her four-year break from feature film after needing time to "decompress" in the wake of Nomadland and Eternals. She gets philosophical about Hamnet, also featuring Joe Alwyn and Emily Watson with a Max Richter score, and learning to love her project's "imperfections" as though she is raising a child: "This time, I made sure every step of the way I reminded myself: This is the best I can do." This is your first feature film since Eternals. Are you comfortable talking about the decision to take a four-year break and why Hamnet felt like the right project to return with? That's a really good question. I don't think anyone's asked me that ... I needed a break after Eternals and Nomadland because these two films were very intense. (Laughs.) [They were] back-to-back, making them and coming out. So I think it was the accumulation of a decade of me working non-stop ... And I've changed a lot as a person. I really wanted to have a period where I get to just decompress - because that takes time - instead of jumping onto the next thing. I'm always guided by what comes from inside [me] instead of what's external. And it took about four years to do! But I also started a company with my producing partner, Nic [Book of Shadows]. So we're doing quite a lot of producing, which is really exciting. Hamnet, I can never quite pinpoint why I choose stories. I think they choose me. This decompressing period changed the ecosystem a lot of what's going on [inside me]. I think the project chose me because I was ready to be the fertile ground for it. Do you remember the first time you saw Hamlet, the play? I don't think I've seen Hamlet on stage before, [apart from] school! I've seen the film, the original black and white one [with Laurence Olivier]. And then, I think, the one with Ethan Hawke. It was a long time ago. I remember Ethan Hawke's face on the poster. Chloé Zhao poses with her Oscar for best picture for Nomadland at the 2021 Academy Awards. Chris Pizzello-Pool/Getty Images I've seen both of these, but never really understood it. The story is very dark. It's very dense. It talks a lot about the very difficult human experiences this young person went through in a short amount of time, and then he dies in the end. I saw these films in my 20s, so I don't think I understood it. I read the play before. I never really understood it the way I did when I read Maggie's novel. When I read the novel, I thought, "Oh, wow." I just looked at Hamnet completely different. Then making this film, I used Hamlet as a very sacred container and in our version of the story, [we] know where that inspiration comes from - the two fundamental human conditions, love and death. That's how, in our story, [Shakespeare] birthed Hamlet. So to make a film like this, you have to