Chloé Zhao on Eruptions, Excavations, and Being Present

      Chloé Zhao has collaborated with actors who have no prior acting experience, such as Brady Jandreau, the Lakota rodeo star featured in her acclaimed 2017 film, The Rider, as well as some of the world’s most respected actors like Frances McDormand, who won an Oscar for her leading role in Zhao’s 2020 film, Nomadland, which also received accolades for Best Picture and Best Director for Zhao.

      In her latest film, Hamnet, Zhao draws out remarkable performances from Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, who portray Agnes and William Shakespeare as they grapple with the loss of their 11-year-old son. She has observed that both inexperienced and seasoned actors possess a shared trait.

      According to Zhao, experienced actors “know how to hit their marks. They understand the camera’s perspective and the overall process. Great actors have developed techniques and training, enabling them to convey depth in layers, as well as present paradoxes and contradictions.”

      “However, professional actors sometimes have less of an edge compared to non-professional actors, since the latter possess an innate quality that may require intensive method acting to replicate — which is a strong presence.”

      Zhao encourages her actors to remain in the present moment and discover new aspects of their characters during filming, rather than becoming overly consumed by preconceived notions of their roles. She also wants her collaborators to have the ability to release the emotional burdens of the day: she organized dance parties at the end of each shooting day on Hamnet to help her actors alleviate the story's intensity. She supports a variety of practices that can help connect them to their bodies: “dancing, dream work, tantric work, breathing exercises, running marathons, martial arts, yoga, traditional Zen meditation — all of it.”

      Her films, beginning with her 2015 debut Songs My Brothers Taught Me, embody patience, improvisation, and naturalism, utilizing elegant metaphors to pose significant questions. She struggles with small talk, which makes attending dinner parties challenging: “That’s why I avoid them, as there would just be silence. People might think, ‘Why is she discussing something so personal right away?’ I just can’t manage that.”

      In our latest installment of Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker, Chloé Zhao discussed discovery, the importance of letting go of pain, and how directing Marvel’s 2021 Eternals felt like managing a volcanic eruption.

      Chloé Zhao: Insights I've Gained as a MovieMaker

      Chloé Zhao, alongside Hamnet stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, emphasizes her aim to help actors remain “in the present moment.” Photo by Agata Grzybowska / © 2025 Focus Features – Credit: Focus Features

      1. When telling a story, or when an actor is performing, if it’s solely coming from within ourselves, it can feel constricted and limited. This doesn’t imply that it’s unachievable. However, if people ask what has aided my career, I would say that something greater has to flow through me daily in my creative process — something much larger must guide me.

      2. How does that happen? You must connect with your body, clear your mind, and be patient. While we don’t equate ourselves with great prophets, there’s much to learn from them. They ventured into the wild, enduring various hardships: starving, sitting in cold waterfalls, and subjecting their bodies to extreme conditions. This dissolution of ego allows you to become a conduit for something larger. This process should occur daily on set; otherwise, it becomes merely mine, which is too limited.

      3. I recently visited Pompeii, where I’ve been exploring an older creative process, questioning what means of creation we may have overlooked. I spoke with a woman who has worked there for two decades, and she explained that a good archaeologist approaches a site with a hypothesis and, as they excavate, if a fragment appears, they must set aside their vision and let the fragment tell its own story.

      Every day, they confront the unknown... and must allow enough freedom for the story to emerge from these fragments, moment by moment. They also need to impose some order on the chaos. Discovery is half the battle, but without a vessel to contain these findings, chaos prevails.

      Jessie Buckley as Agnes and Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet. Photo by Agata Grzybowska / © 2025 Focus Features – Credit: Focus Features

      4. I believe that anyone can be a filmmaker. I hold that everyone possesses the creative energy to tell stories. Some feel a stronger drive to express this, often stemming from their upbringing in environments where they lacked other means to connect. While there are exceptions, most of my fellow directors, particularly writer-directors, share this sentiment. Like Shakespeare in Hamnet, it becomes a matter of survival — we must create.

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