Hamnet Stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal Reunite for Impossible Love Story

If you liked Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal together in 'Hamnet', get ready for more: the actors are teaming up again, this time under the direction of Benh Zeitlin (yeah, the guy behind 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'). The new project is called 'Hold on to Your Angels' and, based on everything we know so far, this one sounds both deeply mythic and deeply bizarre—in a good way.

Who's Doing What, and Where Is This Going Down?

Let's break it down:

• Jessie Buckley: Fresh off her Oscar win for 'Hamnet'.
• Paul Mescal: If you saw 'Aftersun', you know why he was up for that Best Actor Oscar. He also plays the outlaw here.
• Benh Zeitlin: Both writing and directing. This guy has been developing the story for almost two decades (yeah, 17 whole years), reportedly since someone named Pam Harper showed up to audition for 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'—apparently that left a mark.
• Setting: Louisiana's battered coast. We're talking bayous, erosion, slow-motion apocalypse vibes.
• Premise: Mescal is a doomed outlaw; Buckley is the 'shepherd of lost souls'. The two are headed straight for catastrophic love as their swampy, crumbling world falls apart.

How Big Is This?

This thing is swinging for the fences with production companies, too. Plan B (the folks behind Oscar fare like 'Moonlight' and '12 Years a Slave') have climbed on board. Alex Coco—who worked on 'Anora', if you follow the indie circuit—is producing under Rapt Film. Rights for the movie are being shopped around right now: domestic with CAA Media Finance, international with The Veterans. Cannes buyers will get the first crack, and word is everyone expects it to make a splash.

Here's the Director's Take

'Hold on to Your Angels is the most impossible love story I’ve ever witnessed. An outlaw romance for the end of America, set on the crumbling edge of South Louisiana.'

Poetic, right? Zeitlin is clearly leaning hard into the messy, beautiful decline of both landscape and romance. It's inspired by something real (or at least real-ish), and the production timeline is proof: they're not rushing anything, since shooting doesn’t even start until February 2027. That means a long wait for basically everyone, and no trailer or release date anytime soon.

The Wrap-Up

So, to sum up: big cast, ambitious director, a plot that sounds half-myth, half-Southern Gothic, and producers who like their movies with awards potential. If Zeitlin’s last bayou movie was your thing, or you just want to see Buckley and Mescal trading hurricane-force emotions, mark your calendar for, well, way in the future. We’ll keep an eye on this one as it moves through production—and let you know the second something less mysterious than 'a ferocious shepherd of lost souls' drops.