Dir: Chloé Zhao (2025)

"The Beauty of the World"
Starring in miniature Jessie Buckley.

I've always been quite taken with those old-fashioned multi-layered-but-flat theatre sets, the kind that are 2D & 3D at the same time.

When I started making a Glass Cathedral of HAMNET for my Cinerama collection, I wondered how best to recreate the magical forest world of the hero, Agnes, in her element.

The movie scene already held all the essential elements of a Glass Cathedral, to be tiny in the immensity of things, and also to be the hero of your own story. But how to get the miniature recreation to really come alive?

I remembered I had some dry pieces of lichen-covered bark that I'd picked up on Hampstead Heath in the autumn. Of course, in a Glass Cathedral, a small piece of bark transforms into a mighty tree trunk! And that is how I built up this world for tiny Agnes.

I'm thrilled with the result, "The Beauty of The World", and am inspired to make more fantastical layered scenes using natural elements.

It also feels quite apt to be heading in a bold new direction inspired by Hamnet, given the almost unbelievable story of how Chloé Zhao came up with the final scene of the movie. It was 4 days before the end of filming and Zhao had not decided how to end the film. Jessie Buckley sent her a piece of music, and as Zhao was driving along listening to it, she stretched her hand out of the window to catch the rain.The ending came to her. SO BRAVE.