I just finished watching Hamnet and can't stop thinking about something that probably went unnoticed by many in the audience. The two young actors who emotionally devastate you in the most intense scenes of the film, the ones playing Hamnet and Hamlet, happen to be siblings in real life. And no, it's not a coincidence or a casting mistake. Noah and Jacobi Jupe share blood, share a passion for acting, and now share one of the most important films of the season.

What’s interesting is how they got to this point. Jacobi was first; he auditioned where he had to improvise in front of Chloé Zhao without even knowing who she was. The director told him: your father is taken away in a truck, and you have to convince me not to let that happen. Just like that. The 12-year-old boy panicked but later said it was beautiful. Then, when Noah was filming in Greece, he received a call directly from his mother and Zhao. They asked if he wanted to play Hamlet. Of course, he said yes.

What happened next was even more special. Originally, the characters didn’t share scenes, but Zhao decided to write a moment where Jacobi appears on stage at the end. Noah explained it like this: we were all thinking about Jacobi, trying to connect with him even though he wasn’t physically there. Zhao wanted him to emerge from the void and for Jessie Buckley to react. It was great.

Now, these two didn’t get here out of nowhere. Noah rose to fame in 2017 with Wonder, where he worked with Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson. Then came A Quiet Place with Emily Blunt, The Undoing with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, and he worked with directors like John Krasinski who profoundly impacted him. Those kinds of experiences, that level of mentorship on set, clearly shape a young actor differently. And then Jacobi saw all that, asked what his brother was doing, and when he finally stepped onto a set, he just knew this was his path.

What fascinates me is that Noah admitted he was envious when Jacobi got the role. He wanted to play a character who died on screen, so when his younger brother did in Hamnet, the emotions were complex. But then, when he saw Jacobi act, he forgot about the envy. He said he was proud, that he told everyone he was Jacobi’s brother.

That’s rare in the industry. Usually, you see rivalry, competition. Here, you have two brothers who admire each other, who share the code of what it means to be on set, who understand each other in a way their friends can’t. Jacobi said it clearly: now I have someone who understands what I’ve been through, who relates to me.

Hamnet is winning everything: the Globo de Oro for Best Drama, the Oscar(s) with eight nominations, and it’s heading to the Oscars. Jessie Buckley is shining as Agnes, Paul Mescal is incredible as Shakespeare. But those two brothers, Noah and Jacobi Jupe, are the ones who bring tears to your eyes without you even realizing. And that’s what happens when talent is genuine, when two people who truly love each other share a scene. The audience can feel it.