The Oscar-nominated director of "Nomadland" has cast the Western and the Road Movie in a new light. She's now revisiting the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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Chloe Zhao took the long road to Hollywood.
The Chinese-born director, whose film Nomadland is the frontrunner for the 93rd Academy Awards this Sunday, had a very circuitous route to the top of the movie world.
Like Fern, the van-living nomad played by Frances McDormand in her new movie, Zhao's life has been marked by a wanderlust that has taken her from her birthplace in Beijing — via London, New York, and the Badlands of Wyoming — to Los Angeles, where she's now one of the most in-demand directors in show business.
Not that Zhao stays in L.A.. She prefers Ojai, a town in the Topatopa Mountains northwest of the city. Every magazine profile on her seems compelled to mention Zhao lives there with "two dogs and three chickens." Some also mention the other resident: her partner, Nomadland cinematographer, Joshua James Richards.
Writing history with 'Nomadland'
But ahead of the Oscars this weekend, there can be no doubt that whatever route she took to get here, Zhao has arrived.
She has won more than 50 awards for Nomadland so far, picking up four more at the Spirit Awards on Thursday, and is the bookmakers' pick to take home Oscars both for best picture and best director: a feat that would make history, with Zhao the first Asian women to win either category.
Next film a Marvel superhero movie
For her encore, Zhao is going big, with the $200 million (€166 million) Marvel superhero movie The Eternals, which she started just after wrapping a four-month, guerilla-style shoot for Nomadland.
Featuring a cast of stars, including Angelina Jolie, Gemma Chan and Kumail Nanjiani, and, according to reports, the first LGBTQ character in the Marvel Cinema Universe, The Eternals is set to hit theaters worldwide this November.
Watching Nomadland, a poignant portrait of the new American underclass— older, itinerant workers who live out of their campers, traveling across the country chasing seasonal jobs to survive — one wonders what Zhao's take on the superhero movie will look like. Personally, I'd pay good money to see a MCU version of Frances McDormand's Fern character — all spandex and cape, weather-worn face framed against the hills, staring off in the middle distance — but I imagine the studio will want a movie with more punch.
What seems certain is that Zhao will surprise us with a new perspective on an over-worn American film genre.
Revisiting Hollywood's cinematic mythology
It's what she's always done. Her 2015 debut, Songs My Brothers Taught Me and the 2017 follow-up, The Rider — both of which follow the stories of Lakota Sioux teens living on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation — shone fresh light on the Western.
In Nomadland, Zhao reinvents the visual language of the American road trip movie in a way that feels fresh and original while still remaining true to Hollywood's cinematic mythology.
Zhao's approach as a director combines an insider's obsession with details with the fresh eyes and endless curiosity of an outsider.
Inspired by real-life stories
To make her first three films, Zhao embedded herself in the communities she was depicting. Before Nomadland, which features two-time Oscar winner McDormand and veteran actor David Strathairn as a fellow traveler, the director only cast non-professionals in her movies. She would find real people who captured her interest and shape her stories around them.
Zhao spotted John Reddy, the star of Songs My Brothers Taught Me in a Pine Ridge school yearbook and cast him as a teenager who dreams of getting off the reservation. When Brady Jandreau, a Lakota cowboy Zhao had met during the making of Songs, was nearly fatally injured after a devastating fall, she cast him in The Rider, retelling his story as that of an injured rodeo star who struggles to find a sense of purpose after being told he can't ride anymore.
"She's basically like a journalist," McDormand explained to The Rolling Stone about Zhao's process. "She gets to know your story, and she creates a character from that."
Intimacy, for Zhao, does not breed mawkishness. Her films depict people living on the margins, but without a dose of misplaced pity or romanticism. As McDormand put it, Zhao "draws a razor-sharp line between sentiment and sentimentality."
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Intimate tributes to cinema greats
That sharp line distinguishes Zhao's portraits of the American West from that of Euro-romantics like Wim Wenders or Michelangelo Antonioni, who fell in love with the grand landscapes but didn't spend time looking took closely at the real people living in the foreground. And while Zhao likes to work with real people —and her films overflow with empathy for every character on screen— her movies are rigorous, not fly-on-the-wall. Visually, they are grandly lyrical and often stunningly beautiful. Many critics have compared Zhao use of magic-hour light to supreme stylist Terrence Malick.
A 2018 portrait in Vogue quotes one of Zhao's film professors at New York University, who said admiringly that her ex-student "has a very warm heart but an extremely cold eye."
Near the end of Nomadland, Zhao, an avowed movie geek, frames McDormand's Fern in a manner directly inspired by a famous shot of John Wayne in the 1956 classic The Searchers. It's an audacious and incredibly effective image that places this 60-something woman — who works minimum-wage, part-time jobs at Amazon packing centers and desert campgrounds — side-by-side as peer to the most famous cowboy in movie history.
By combining deep humanity and cold precision, Chloé Zhao is shining new light on the oldest stories in American cinema.
'Nomadland' wins big at 2021 Golden Globes
After nearly a year without movie theaters, productions for streaming services dominated the Golden Globes. However, the awards for best drama and best director went to a classic production.
Image: NBC/AP/picture alliance
A digital event
So near and yet so far: Comedians Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the 78th Golden Globes from across the US. Fey was in front of the camera in New York, while Poehler co-hosted from Los Angeles. All award winners were digitally connected from their living rooms or hotels.
Image: NBC/AP/picture alliance
Best drama film
"Nomadland," starring Oscar-winner Frances McDormand, won the award for best drama. The film is a modern road trip story, exploring the lives of modern nomads living out of RVs and vans in the US. It's one of the few movies that was made for the theaters. Its director, Chloe Zhao, became the first woman of Asian descent to win best director.
The top comedy film winner was the Amazon production "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm." In it, British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen slipped into the role of Kazakh journalist Borat for the second time, holding a mirror to US society. In addition to the award for best comedy, Cohen also won best actor in a comedy.
Image: Everett Collection/picture alliance
Best film director
Director Chloe Zhao received the Golden Globes award for the best film director category for her work on "Nomadland." In doing so, she became only the second woman to win a Golden Globe in this category, 37 years after the award went to Barbra Streisand for "Yentl." Zhao's film had won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival in 2020.
Is there still room in the trophy case of Emmy and Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Aaron Sorkin? Sorkin (left) won the Golden Globe for best screenplay for the film "The Trial of the Chicago 7," about a lawsuit against pacifists who demonstrated against the Vietnam War in 1968. In it, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen (right) plays a serious role, and was also rewarded with a nomination.
Image: Niko Tavernise/Everett Collection/picture alliance
Best actress in a drama film
In a sense, soul singer Andra Day (center) had already won big: She was discovered by Stevie Wonder and has received Grammy nominations for her music. In 2017, she covered a song by jazz legend Billie Holiday, making her the perfect choice to embody the legendary singer in the biopic "The United States vs. Billie Holiday." She won the Golden Globe for best actress in a drama.
The award for Best Actor in a drama film provided one of the evening's most touching moments: Taylor Simone Ledward (right) accepted the award on behalf of her late-husband Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer last year at age 43. Boseman played the role of Levee Green, a trumpeter in blues singer in "Ma" Rainey's band, in the Netflix jazz drama "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."
In the dark comedy "I Care a Lot," Rosamund Pike (left) plays Marla Grayson, a court-appointed guardian who preys on wealthy seniors and has built up a network of doctors and nursing homes that help her — until she meets her match. Pike won her first Golden Globe for best actress in a comedy.
As in the directing and screenplay categories, the awards for best supporting roles are not divided into drama and comedy. For her portrayal of lawyer Nancy Hollander in "The Mauritanian," Jodie Foster was honored with a Golden Globe. The film is based on the Guantanamo diary of long-time prisoner Mohamedou Ould Slahi. The young German star Helena Zengel went away empty-handed.
With the surprise success of the 2018 "Get Out," Daniel Kaluuya became a familiar name in Hollywood. For his role as civil rights activist and Black Panther member Fred Hampton in "Judas and the Black Messiah," Kaluuya received the award for best supporting actor. Hampton was shot by police officers in his sleep in 1969.
The film "Minari," directed by Lee Isaac Chung, tells the story of a Korean family trying to start a new life farming in rural Arkansas in the 1980s. The film is based on Chung's own childhood, and won the Golden Globe for best foreign language film, although it is a US production.
Image: Christopher Polk/NBC/Zumapress/picture alliance
Best animated film
The Disney production "Soul" won the award for best animated film. It tells the story of a musician whose soul becomes detached from his body. It is the first film by animation company Pixar to feature an African-American protagonist; Jamie Foxx voices the lead role of jazz pianist Joe Gardner. The film also won a Golden Globe for best film score.
Image: Imago Images/Prod.DB
Best limited series
Netflix productions garnered a whopping 42 nominations this year. One of the winners was the series "The Queen's Gambit," which won best limited series. It tells the story of ambitious chess genius Beth Harmon, who aims to become chess world champion in the male-dominated sport in the 1950s. Lead actress Anya-Taylor Joy also received the award for best actress in a limited series.
Image: Phil Bray/Netflix/Everett Collection/picture alliance
Best TV drama
One of the big winners of the evening was Netflix series "The Crown," a historical fiction based on the lives of the British royal family. In addition to taking home the award for best TV drama, Emma Corrin won best actress in a TV drama series for her role as Lady Di — beating out castmate Olivia Colman, who plays Queen Elizabeth II. Josh O'Connor, who plays Prince Charles, also won best actor.
Image: Des Willie/Netflix/picture alliance
Best TV comedy
At the 2020 Emmy Awards, the comedy series "Schitt's Creek" won prizes in all major categories. Now series creator Eugene Levy (right) can also add a Golden Globe to his shelf. The series tells the story of a wealthy family who lose their fortune and move to the small town of Schitt's Creek.
Image: Cinema Publishers Collection/imago images
An award for her life's work
The Cecil B. DeMille Award is an honorary Golden Globe presented by the association for lifetime achievement. This year it went to actress and Oscar winner Jane Fonda, whose speech underscored the lack of diversity and inclusion in Hollywood. This came in light of the revelation that the Golden Globes awarding body had no Black members.