James Cameron Cried Watching New Oscar-Nominated Shakespearean Movie (Twice)

James Cameron reveals that he cried twice while watching a new, Oscar-nominated Shakespearean movie about love and loss.

Cameron dominated theaters in 2025 with the release of Avatar: Fire and Ash. His latest sci-fi action movie has earned $1.441 billion at the global box office, against a budget estimated to be upwards of $500 million. However, it's not the only movie that left a major impression on his life last year.

IndieWire reports that, in a recent directors roundtable hosted by The Hollywood Reporter, Cameron revealed to director Chloé Zhao that her period drama Hamnet made him cry "multiple times." The Avatar franchise creator explained how emotional he got while watching the movie twice, asking her how she managed to make the film's premise so empathetic:

I bawled both times, multiple times in the film. Your superpower is your empathy. So what the hell are you doing in Hollywood? How do you navigate that and still be able to keep your heart open? Is there a trick to that? I’d like to personally know. It seems like your connection with nature is the core of everything.

Hamnet is based on Maggie O'Farrell's 2020 novel of the same name, dramatizing the life of William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife, Anne Hathaway (Jessie Buckley), following the death of their son, Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe). It posits the play Hamlet was used as a coping mechanism for the playwright. Hamnet earned critical acclaim and multiple forthcoming Oscar nominations.

In their discussion, the pair talked about the importance of storytelling, particularly in the way they approach stories as a way of processing reality. Zhao, who discovered Cameron through The Terminator movies, explained a lot of her creative process, specifically through the movie's most emotional sequences. These helped to elevate the film's central themes and messages.

Cameron's emotional praise is a reflection of how well the movie succeeded in what it set out to do. The emotional elements allowed Hamnet's characters to shine in their roles, with attention paid to the dynamic of the couple following the loss of their son. It's one that, as Cameron says, makes them more empathetic, and the story more human.

It also relates in some capacity to the director's latest Avatar movie. The characters in Avatar: Fire and Ash are also dealing with the tragic loss of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) at the end of The Way of Water. Grief is a constant in both movies, albeit through very different lenses. The importance Cameron puts on family in his own work explains his emotional connection to Hamnet.

Just how emotional Cameron felt both times watching Hamnet is a testament to Zhao's ability to bring the Shakespearean story to life in a perfect way. The film may not be an easy watch, considering the subject matter. But it's an important one, as demonstrated by the praise Cameron has given it.

Release Date November 26, 2025

Runtime 126 minutes

Director Chloé Zhao

Writers Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell

Producers Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Sam Mendes, Steven Spielberg, Nicolas Gonda, Caroline Reynolds, Maggie O’Farrell