-Our next guest is a Golden Globe, DGA,
and BAFTA Award-winning director for her film "Nomadland,"
which is currently in theaters and on Hulu
and has been nominated for six Academy Awards.
Let's take a look.
-The way I see it is that the Titanic is sinking,
and, uh, economic times are changing.
And so my goal is to get the life boats out
and get as many people into the life boats as I can.
-Oh, yeah. Yeah. Nah, there's plenty.
-Oh, yeah, we've got plenty, jump and shout.
-Let you know, huh?
-What's that? -It's vegan.
-This is vegan?
-No, I'm a -- I'm a carnivore. -Good?
-Okay. -Thank you.
-Yeah, okay. Thank you, though. Looks good.
-Another carnivore?
-She's a carnivore. -Okay.
-Please welcome to the show Chloe Zhao.
How are you, Chloe?
-I'm good. Hi. Thanks for having me.
-Oh, my God. I'm delighted to have you.
Congratulations both on the awards you've been gathering
as we go into Oscar season, as well as your six nominations.
I imagine it was very surreal
for the film to receive that many nominations.
Are you someone who enjoys that on the day
when you get the news?
-I'm usually asleep when those announcements happens.
and then -- No, I am happy.
And when we set up to make a film like this the way we did,
this is not what we expect. No.
-I've also read you talking about the fact
that it's extra special because you have so many friends
amongst those who've been nominated this year.
-Yeah. This year feels like it's going to be
a really, really intimate affair, which is exciting.
There are people that are my co-workers
who were producers on my previous films,
and classmates who I --
We know each other way too well.
[ Laughs ]
And -- And also, people I admire for a long time,
people that influence my career so much.
And so having all these people in a room together
is gonna be great.
-Your part -- -And be with people.
And be with people. -Yeah, to be with people.
It doesn't even matter who they are.
You don't even have to respect them.
If they're people, it's a win right now.
-Exactly. A person! Hug me!
Oh, no. We can't do, either. No, not yet.
-So, this is also very nice.
Your partner was the cinematographer on this film,
and, so, you're living under one roof.
He also received his first Academy Award nomination
and very deservedly so.
This film is beautifully shot.
That must have saved any awkwardness
if you were the only one who got the call that morning.
-You know, that's what pets are for.
You know, you can always call the dogs over
to avoid awkwardness.
No, we're definitely both super happy,
you know, more happy the other person is nominated than us.
Out of love, yes, but mostly out of avoiding awkwardness, yes.
-This is a -- For those who don't know,
this is a beautiful film about people,
nomads, for, you know, lack of a better term,
who don't have a permanent address.
And they're sort of finding their way across the country.
This was based on a book.
I'm wondering how you first got introduced
to this piece of nonfiction and how it --
sort of what the journey was to making it into a film.
-Well, Frances McDormand,
who's also one of the producers on the film,
she and her producing partner, Peter Spears,
optioned the book, "Nomadland" by Jessica Bruder.
And Fran was in Toronto when she was supposed to be doing press.
She sneaked away and watched a movie
and that was "The Rider," my -- my second film.
And I think as a producer, she sort of put two things together.
She goes, oh, maybe there's a different way
of making this film than the one she's used to.
And she called me up.
-One of the things that's very different about this film
is it's no surprise to anyone whose seen Frances McDormand
that she's wonderful in it,
but you also cast a lot of non-actors,
and it brings a real authenticity to the film.
Is that something you knew from the very beginning
that you would use people --
many people who appeared in the book that are playing
slightly fictionalized versions of themselves?
-Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's what excites me about this film.
It's when I read the book and then it was from Fran,
and I thought, "Can these two things come together?"
You know, to have these really interesting characters,
that it's going to provide a kind of undeniable authenticity
that you don't usually see onscreen.
And yet they're united together by a very strong performance
with an emotional arc that is going to be able
to piece them together, like by Frances McDormand.
That was really the identity of the film,
and I got excited about that before anything else.
-Do you find yourself directing differently
when you're dealing with accomplished actors on one hand
and then people who haven't done film work in the past?
Or do you speak to everybody the same way?
I mean, how do you get those performances out of people
who are, you know, ultimately you probably just want them
to be true to who they are?
-Yeah, I have to -- The most important part is writing,
writing for non-professional actors,
because you want them to be a version of themselves,
and that's why you cast them.
And you don't want them to be anything else.
But writing them and --
So, by the time I got to set, the stuff they're going to say
are mostly things they already said to me.
And then they can take me
to places that's going to be surprising.
But with Fran, she would say
that I probably pay a lot more attention
to the non-professional actors than I do her.
I usually film her at the end.
So poor Fran would get like, you know, couple -- two takes.
Not that she needed more.
And then sometimes she would give me
like four or five different reactions
just in case in the edit,
that I would want to do things differently,
because the non-professional actors often surprised us
with things we didn't expect.
-As I've mentioned multiple times now, it's a beautiful film
that shows a lot of places in this country
that I'm sure many people have never been.
Are there places that you went in the making of this movie
that you want to return to?
-Definitely Quartzsite, Arizona.
If you haven't been -- You know,
I think because it's so hot in the summer,
so then every year around winter time is when all the nomadic --
People who live a nomadic lifestyle over the country
gather together.
It's quite a sight.
I love that place.
-I'd like to finish by asking
about another project you're working on that's so exciting.
You're also a member of the Marvel Universe now
and have "The Eternals" coming out later this year.
Is comics something that you were a fan of?
Were you aware of that world before you got involved?
-I grew up with manga more than the American comic books.
It was the Japanese manga.
But I have been a fan of the MCU for about a decade now
because of the movies. And I think --
I don't know if that helped my pitch or not,
but I think they could tell that I was a fan.
-Well, it's a really exciting marriage
to think of you helming something like that,
and I can't wait for that.
Best of luck at the Oscars,
and thank you so much for the beautiful film.
-Thank you. Thank you for having me.
-Of course.
"Nomadland" is currently in theaters and on Hulu.