This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.

This is The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.

Chloe Zhao was only the second woman to win an Oscar for Best Director.

And that, of course, was for Nomad Land, a 2020 film starring Francis McDormand

as an itinerant worker, living out of a camper, and searching for work all over America.

Zhao is up for Best Director yet again.

And the film Hamnet on the surface is very different from her previous

work. It takes place in England in the 16th century, where a young William Shakespeare and his

wife Anne have to cope with the loss of their son. The film is based on a novel by Maggie O'Farrell,

and Hamnet is nominated for Best Picture, along the Best Actress for Jesse Buckley and

five other awards. Chloe Zhao talked about Hamnet when the film first came out with staff

writer Michael Shulman.

So how did this book and how of this project make its way to you?

I was driving through New Mexico to Taylor Ride Film Festival,

and then there's when Amblin called me and told me about this project.

Amblin, meaning...

Ambleen, Spielberg's production company.

And when they said it over the phone, you know, the reception,

if you haven't been to the four corners, not great.

So it's in and out, and they're saying, you know,

it's about Shakespeare's wife and the death of their son.

And I just thought there's so many things in that sentence

...