'The Interview': Chloé Zhao Is Yearning to Know How to Love
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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From The New York Times, this is The Interview. I'm David Marchese. Chloe Zhao is an anomaly. At only 43, with just five feature films under her belt, she's already established herself as one of cinema's most distinctive and distinguished directors. And she's done it at a time when the movie business is increasingly averse to artistic risk and originality, qualities on display in all her work. She started with independent film, including the sparsely poetic neo-Western Nomadland, which won Academy Awards for Best Picture and for Zhao Best Director. She then tried her hand at an ambitious mega-budget Marvel movie, Eternals. And her latest is last fall's heart-wrenching drama Hamnet, an adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's historical novel about the death of Shakespeare's young son from the plague and the grief his parents experienced after.
It won two Golden Globes and is up for several Academy Awards, including Best Director. So how has she done it? Because as I learned firsthand, Zhao is an enigmatic, even somewhat mystical presence in person. Not exactly the sort of hotshot personality we often associate with big-time Hollywood directors. But as it turns out, Zhao isn't much interested in simple or straightforward answers. Here's my conversation with Chloe Zhao. Chloe, thank you for taking the time to come speak with us today. I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
an award season question.
Your eyes just glazed over a little. Sorry. No, it's excitement. Yeah, that was a look of excitement, yeah.
Like an animal in the jungle.
There's obviously a lot of... award season buzz around Hamnet and by the time this interview comes out we'll know what nominations the film did or didn't get but right now the thing that I'm curious about is sort of what like the whole awards rigmarole stirs up for you Because I imagine it could involve feelings like of envy or competition or it involves salesmanship or glad handing, which I feel like are not necessarily the kinds of feelings or ideas that are interesting to you or come naturally to you. So how do you deal with this moment?
I love that that's almost like a form of compliment you just did. You think of me a lot more highly than...
Maybe you like doing it.
I don't know. But I think all those quite basic emotions, none of us can escape it, right? And especially artists, so many of us, majority of us started telling stories because we didn't have the easiest childhood.
What unique qualities does Chloe Zhao bring to her filmmaking?
So when your work, right, which is the only way that you can see connection and validation since you're a little child is being compared and judged. You could go as far as feeling a rejection of that is a rejection of who you are and what your ability to belong to a tribe or be safe, or be loved. You could go that far. And it does go that far to me at times. But what I like about it, I don't know if people know, is that filmmaking is quite of a lonely process. At least speaking as director, you're like a Ronin, you know, you're like a samurai.
A wandering samurai.
Yeah, you're getting hired to do jobs and jobs and jobs. And then You create this family and then you have to leave again. So a worse season, especially if someone like me who came up from independent films and having to go festivals and labs after labs to even get money to grants and to make my first film, I was exposed to a lot of my fellow filmmakers over a decade ago. So to be paid, to be brought together and to see each other, And to hang out at these events and roundtables and stuff is actually really nice.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:23
2
What unique qualities does Chloe Zhao bring to her filmmaking?
3:23–12:00
3
How does Chloe Zhao navigate the pressures of award season?
12:00–18:54
4
What emotions does Chloe Zhao associate with her creative process?
18:54–22:03
5
How does Chloe Zhao define the relationship between personal and professional success?
22:03–43:21
6
What insights does Chloe Zhao share about the experience of loss and grief?
43:21–49:50
Speakers
6 identifiedMore from The Daily
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