Chloé Zhao Trivia | 50 facts about the Chinese filmmaker
Posted in Cool
Chloé Zhao is a Chinese filmmaker that made lauded films like “The Rider” and the awards darling “Nomadland”. She directed the MCU film “Eternals” which will premiere in November 2021. Before her big break and possible Oscar win for Best Director, let’s find out some trivia and facts about her life and career. Chloé Zhao was born on March 31, 1982 She is a Chinese filmmaker Zhao is known primarily for her work in independent U.S. films Her debut feature film, Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015), premiered at Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim The film earned a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature Her second feature film, The Rider (2017), was critically praised It received nominations for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film and Best Director Zhao garnered further success with Nomadland (2020) The film attracted international recognition and won many awards Including Best Director at the Golden Globe Awards Zhao is the second woman and first Asian woman to win the category at the Golden Globes “Nomadland” won awards at film festivals Including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival She ventured into blockbuster filmmaking with the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film “Eternals” “Eternals” is slated for release in November 2021 Zhao was born Zhao Ting in Beijing in 1982 Her parents were the manager of a steel company and a hospital worker who was in a People’s Liberation Army performance troupe Vogue said she described herself as “a rebellious teen, lazy at school” who drew manga and wrote fan fiction She loved films growing up, especially Happy Together by Wong Kar-wai When she was 15 years old, despite knowing nearly no English, her parents sent her to a boarding school in the United Kingdom Her parents separated and her father later remarried to actress Song Dandan Growing up, she was drawn to influences from Western pop culture She attended a boarding school in London, then moved to Los Angeles to finish high school Zhao studied at Mount Holyoke College earning a bachelor’s degree in political science She studied film production at New York University Tisch School of the Arts In 2015, Zhao directed her first feature film, “Songs My Brothers Taught Me” Filmed on location at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota Τhe film depicts the relationship between a Lakota Sioux brother and his younger sister The film premiered as part of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance Film Festival It later played at Cannes Film Festival as part of the Director’s Fortnight selection In 2017, she directed The Rider Α contemporary western drama which follows a young cowboy’s journey to discover himself after a near-fatal accident ends his professional riding career Similar to her first feature, Zhao utilised a cast of non-actors who lived on the ranch where the film was shot Zhao’s impetus for making the film came when Brady Jandreau, a cowboy whom she met and befriended on the reservation where she shot her first film, suffered a severe head injury when he was thrown off his horse during a rodeo competition Jandreau later starred in the film playing a fictionalised version of himself as Brady Blackburn The film premiered at Cannes Film Festival as part of the Directors’ Fortnight selection and won the Art Cinema Award The film was released on April 13, 2018 by Sony Pictures Classics and was critically acclaimed In 2020, Zhao directed her third feature film Nomadland The film was shot over four months traveling the American West in an RV with real-life nomadic workers The film premiered at Venice Film Festival where it received critical acclaim and won the Golden Lion award The film was released on February 19, 2021 by Searchlight Pictures On February 15, 2021, Variety reported that “with 34 awards season trophies for directing, 13 for screenplay and nine for editing, Chloe Zhao has surpassed Alexander Payne (“Sideways”) as the most awarded person in a single awards season in the modern era” In April 2018, it was announced that Amazon Studios greenlit Zhao’s upcoming untitled Bass Reeves biopic, a historical Western about the first black U.S. Deputy Marshal Zhao is set to direct the film and write the screenplay In 2013, Zhao was preparing to film “Songs My Brothers Taught Me” and told the magazine Filmmaker that the premise of a closed environment with a high teen suicide rate reminded her of her Chinese upbringing Zhao said in 2018 that while growing up in China, she felt constricted “an ancient culture where I was expected to be a certain way” and was drawn to Western culture In 2020, while promoting her US film Nomadland, she told News.com.au that she had felt like an outsider in the United States in not having “the weight of history” on her The newspaper initially reported her statement, “The US is now my country, ultimately, but maybe it is easier for me than how I see my friends are
