Sadie Sink and Noah Jupe on child stardom and Romeo and Juliet

Noah Jupe and Sadie Sink begin by comparing CVs: Jupe played Hamlet at 19 on a replica of Shakespeare’s Globe in Chloé Zhao’s Oscar-nominated adaptation of Hamnet two summers ago. He says Shakespeare wasn’t something he was interested in at school, taught in a way that left no passion.

Sink teases him about the lines—“How many lines?”—and concedes he has more Shakespeare experience than she does. The pair have just finished five weeks of rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet with director Robert Icke. Sink says she never saw herself doing Shakespeare so early, but a meeting with Icke gave her a gut feeling to take Juliet now.

Icke urged the casting because Juliet is a part that must be played young, and he felt his 2012 production was unfinished—made on tour, on no money, when he was much younger.

sadie sink, noah jupe, child stardom, romeo, juliet, hamlet, hamnet, shakespeare, chloé zhao, robert icke