Chloé Zhao
Chloé Zhao (born Zhao Ting;[a] 31 March 1982) is a Chinese-born[b] filmmaker. She is known primarily for her work on independent films.
Chloé Zhao
- Mount Holyoke College (Bachelor of Arts)
- New York University (Master of Fine Arts)
- Film director
- screenwriter
- film producer
- film editor
2008–present
赵婷
趙婷
Zhào Tíng
Zhào Tíng
Chao4 T'ing2
Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015), her debut feature film, premiered at Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim and earned a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. The Rider (2017) was critically acclaimed and received nominations for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film and Best Director.
Zhao garnered international recognition with the western film Nomadland (2020), which won numerous accolades, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Earning four Academy Award nominations for the film, Zhao won Best Picture and Best Director, becoming the second woman and first woman of color to win the latter.[3][4][5] She also won awards for directing at the Directors Guild of America Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and British Academy Film Awards, becoming the second female winner of each of them.[6][7]
Zhao's latest film is the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Eternals (2021), which she co-wrote and directed.[8]
Early life and education[edit]
Zhao Ting (赵婷; Zhào Tíng) was born on 31 March 1982 in Beijing. Her father Zhao Yuji (赵玉吉; Zhào Yùjí) was an executive at Shougang Group, one of the country's largest state-owned steel companies. After amassing significant personal wealth, he later moved on to real-estate development and equity investment.[9]
In an interview with Vogue, Zhao described herself as "a rebellious teen, lazy at school" who drew manga-influenced comics and wrote fan fiction. She loved films growing up, especially Happy Together by Wong Kar-wai.[10][11] From an early age, Zhao was drawn to influences from Western pop culture.[12] After her parents separated, her father married comic actress Song Dandan, whom Zhao had grown up watching on television.[9]
Although Zhao was still learning English at the time, her parents sent her to Brighton College at the age of 15.[10][11] She later moved to Los Angeles by herself, living in a Koreatown apartment in 2000, and attended Los Angeles High School.[13] She next attended Mount Holyoke College, where she majored in politics and minored in film studies, graduating in 2005.[14][15][16] Bartending and working odd jobs after graduating helped her realize that she enjoyed meeting people and hearing about their lives and histories, giving her the push to attend film school.[17] A Vulture article reported that "Four years was enough to turn her off of politics...she found herself drawn more to people than to policy".[18] Following up on her undergraduate film minor, she next joined the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television Graduate Film Program[19] at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.[20] While attending Tisch, Zhao studied under director Spike Lee.[21] She told USA Today that she appreciated Lee not sugarcoating anything, saying that "he will just tell you as it is", something that she claims she needed.[22] After enrolling in the Graduate Studies film program at New York University in 2010 she made her first short film Daughters.[18]
Styles and themes[edit]
Throughout her filmography, Zhao carries relatively the same styles and techniques. Frances McDormand told Rolling Stone about Zhao's process, saying "she's basically like a journalist...she gets to know your story, and she creates a character from that" and that she "draws a razor-sharp line between sentiment and sentimentality".[71] A Filmmaker article quoted Zhao as saying "I want to find new ways to place the camera to evoke more of a feeling. My goal is to put the camera inside of [the character]".[28] An example of her process can be found in Eternals when she saw the connection between actors Lauren Ridloff and Barry Keoghan who play Makkari and Druig in the film.[72] The article wrote Zhao saw them interacting and thought "Okay, we've got to write more moments", stating "It's the same as I did with Nomadland and The Rider. I would see how they interact and I would write that into the film".[72] She believes that everyone wants to feel a connection, that filmmakers tell their stories because they don't want to feel alone, which is why she focuses on the themes of authenticity and places an emphasis on real stories.[73] In an interview with Brut America, Zhao touched upon her feeling on the importance of directing from the perspective of the female gaze. "For me, there is a yin and yang in all of us, feminine and masculine strength and I think often in our society in our industry, the masculine strength is being celebrated, and that's a painful way to exist both for women and men."[74] Zhao, known primarily for her feature films which depict the lives and struggles of real people from diverse backgrounds, such as The Rider, Songs My Brother Taught Me, and Nomadland, is now taking on projects that depict various characters from broader universes, for instance the Marvel film, Eternals. On directing this myriad of characters from the female perspective she says "I always try to find a way to give them a chance to be in touch with their feminine side" "We must also allow our male characters to access their softer side, I think that's the true female gaze."
Influences[edit]
Zhao cites Wong Kar-wai's romance Happy Together as the "film that made me want to make films". She was also influenced by Spike Lee, who was her film professor while she studied at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.[75][76] She cited Ang Lee as an influence as well, saying, "Ang Lee's career has been very inspiring to me — how he's able to bring where he comes from to all the films that he makes". She also has mentioned Werner Herzog and Terrence Malick as key influences.[77][78]
Zhao stated her early introductions to American cinema were The Terminator, Ghost and Sister Act.[75]
Censorship in China[edit]
After Zhao became the second woman to win a Golden Globe Award for Best Director (for Nomadland), many Chinese viewers, as well as state media in China, celebrated her win and "sought to claim Zhao's glory for China".[79] Shortly afterward, however, some Chinese internet users began to question Zhao's citizenship and debated "whether it is appropriate to claim Zhao's victory as China's", with Variety calling the claim "a common move by state-backed outlets to drum up nationalism".[79] Much of the controversy hinged around two sets of remarks: a 2013 Filmmaker magazine interview in which Zhao described China as "a place where there are lies everywhere",[80] and a late 2020 interview in which Zhao was mis-quoted as saying "The US is now my country" (she had actually said "The US is not my country," and the error was corrected about two months later).[81][79][82] References to Zhao in Chinese media were censored following her Oscar win.[83][84]
Personal life[edit]
Zhao now resides in Ojai, California with her partner and cinematographer Joshua James Richards.[9] [85] Richards and Zhao met while Zhao was researching for her first feature film Songs My Brother Taught Me and Richards was still a film student at New York University. He has been her cinematographer for her next two films and served as camera operator on Eternals.[86] In an Elle article, Richards stated that Zhao was "gnarly and extreme", someone he wanted to find at film school.[18]