Noah and Jacobi Jupe on Starring Together in Hamnet Film

When 3-year-old Jacobi Jupe visited his older brother, Noah, on the set of the 2017 movie Wonder, he was amazed by the spectacle of it all. He turned to their mom and, in classic little sibling fashion, asked: “How do I do that? How do I do what Noah does?”

“I didn’t want to be that older brother that was like, ‘You should do it this way. This is what you need to learn.’ I was there if Jacobi wanted to ask me questions,” says Noah of his brother entering his chosen profession. “I wanted to support him and just make sure that he was loved and cared for and protected in this crazy world.”

Both Jupes grew up in London — along with a middle sister — in a household led by actress Katy Cavanagh and filmmaker Chris Jupe. Jacobi, now 12, has since appeared in Disney’s Peter Pan & Wendy and the Billy Crystal Apple drama Before. Noah, 20, has starred in Paramount’s A Quiet Place franchise and shared the screen with the likes of Christian Bale and Natalie Portman. But with this month’s awards frontrunner Hamnet (out Nov. 26), the brothers appear in the same project together for the first time.

The film — based on Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling 2020 historical novel — explores the marriage of Agnes and William Shakespeare as they endure the death of their young son, a loss that supposedly inspired one of the Bard’s most indelible works, Hamlet. Jacobi was the first Jupe cast in Hamnet, playing the titular Shakespearean son.

“I was like, damn, it sounds really good,” says Noah of hearing about the drama that would see his little brother directed by Oscar winner Chloé Zhao and starring opposite Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley. “I was calling him and hearing all about it and maybe a tad jealous.”

“Maybe a bit more than a tad,” interrupts Jacobi with a shy laugh.

Filming had been underway across Wales and England, with the production erecting a scale replica of the Globe Theatre, circa 1600. But Zhao still needed to cast the actor who would play the thespian portraying Hamlet in the play within the movie.

Noah was on set in Greece when he got a call from his mom. “She was like, ‘Crazy question, but how would you feel about playing Hamlet?’ ” Zhao was on the line too, visibly excited by the possibility. The idea of Noah playing Hamlet — opposite Jacobi’s Hamnet — brought an unexpected emotional symmetry to the film.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Jacobi was listening in on the call through the wall of a production tent. Says Noah, “Jacobi is too good at finding stuff out.”

Both brothers have been singled out by critics for their performances in the film, Jacobi for his scene-stealing death performance and Noah for his cathartic reading of Shakespeare’s most famous soliloquies (“To be or not to be …”). And both Jupes describe sharing the screen as a “surreal” experience.

“When you’re watching yourself, you judge yourself a lot,” Noah explains. “But with my brother, I know every bit of his face, I know every emotion he’s ever had, and yet there is no judgment.”

As for what’s next: Noah has A24’s The Death of Robin Hood and the new season of The Night Manager. Jacobi has the adaptation of the horror thriller Victorian Psycho — and then, he petitions, “I would really love to do a comedy, please.”

For now, the brothers are just enjoying the novelty of finally sharing a frame.

This story appeared in the Nov. 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.