Nomadland’s illustrious journey down the road ended on the Oscars stage, with Chloé Zhao’s drama winning Best Picture during Sunday’s 93rd Academy Awards.
Taking the stage with Nomadland team — including the real-life nomads cast in the film — Zhao paid thanks to “all the people we met on the road, thank you for teaching us the power of resilience and hope and reminding us what true kindness looks like.”
The win makes Oscars history, as Nomadland becomes only the second ever Best Picture winner directed by a woman. Zhao marked her own first, as the first woman of color to win Best Director, and only the second female director to do so.
Frances McDormand, who produced and stars in the film, took the mic after Zhao to advocate for a return to cinemas. “One day very, very soon take someone you know into a theater, shoulder-to-shoulder in that dark space, and watch every film recognized here tonight,” she said.
“We give this one to our Wolf,” she concluded with a howl.
ET’s Kevin Frazier spoke with Zhao after the show, and she opened up after the ceremony and explained the touching significance of McDormand’s howl.
“The howling is for our production sound mixer, Wolf, who you saw out in the memorial,” Zhao shared, referring to Michael Wolf Snyder, whom she’s worked with on several past projects. “We unfortunately lost him recently… [but] he’s part of the family.”
Zhao also heaped praise on McDormand — who took home the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Nomadland.
“Lots of people might not know what she had done out there as a producer, as an actress, and how open and vulnerable she’s been,” Zhao shared, “how much she has helped me to make this movie and helped all the Nomads to feel comfortable on set.”
“She really is Nomadland, so I’m just so happy she got that award,” Zhao addded.
Nomadland was nominated for six Oscars in total and won three. (McDormand also won Best Actress, becoming the first actress recognized for acting and producing for the same film.)
The film became an Oscars frontrunner upon its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2020, where it won the top prize, the Golden Lion Award. It simultaneously screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the coveted People’s Choice Award, becoming the first film to win both prizes. And that was ahead of its awards season haul.
The past few months have seen Nomadland win Best Picture at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, Producers Guild Awards, BAFTAs and Independent Spirit Awards, among others. Zhao likewise made history with those voting bodies, also the second female director to win the Globe and BAFTA.
It all happened within a truly unprecedented awards season. “I will never know what it was like before, because I’ve never been out on the award circuit before,” Zhao told ET. “This is my reality. If there is another chance in the future where there isn’t a pandemic to this one, I will compare it to this one. I do think that the pandemic’s slowing everything down and making us appreciate films that we might not notice before. It’s an interesting landscape, and I’m very grateful to be part of it.”
