Chloé Zhao on showing all the seasons of life in her work
The Treatment
KCRW
4.6 • 656 Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 2021, Chloé Zhao made history as the first woman of color to win the Best Director Oscar for her film Nomadland. Now, her latest film Hamnet is up for eight Oscar nominations including her second nod for Best Director. The film, an adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel of the same name, stars Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley as William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes as they navigate the death of their child. Zhao spoke with Elvis at this year’s Sundance Film Festival where she was the recipient of the 2026 Trailblazer Award. Zhao talks about getting her start at Sundance, collaborating with Farrell on the screenplay, and how she uses her body in the writing process.
Do you love listening to The Treatment? We want to hear from you! Please take a moment to share your feedback in this survey so we can make your listening experience better. Thank you!
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | From KCRW Santa Monica and KCRW.com, it's The Treatment. |
| 0:13.4 | Welcome to The Treatment. I'm Elvis Mitchell. This year Sundance Film Festival was the last to take place at Barclay, Utah. |
| 0:23.3 | And it was there I spoke with award-winning writer-director Chloe Zhao, the first woman of color to win the best director Oscar for her film Nomad Land. |
| 0:34.0 | Her adaptation of the novel Hamlet has been nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture. |
| 0:43.0 | Here's that conversation. |
| 0:45.0 | One of the reasons you're back in, we should talk about this too, before we get into talking about what you've done with your incredible career, is you're really here to keep alive the spirit of Sundance that |
| 0:55.8 | you brought you here, aren't you? Absolutely, yes. And especially this is the last year in Park City. |
| 1:01.7 | What was your memory of your first time coming here? Well, I came here in 2012, and it was the |
| 1:07.9 | Sundance Screenwriters Lab, and it was right before the festival |
| 1:12.2 | there was the labs |
| 1:13.2 | and I remember lots of snow |
| 1:16.0 | and I was in the same year |
| 1:19.6 | with Cougler and David Lowry, |
| 1:22.4 | Mario Heiler and Jonas Capagnano |
| 1:25.1 | and we all remain really good friends until today. |
| 1:28.8 | And so last night seeing them and seeing Michelle's back here over a decade later. |
| 1:37.7 | It was really emotional experience. |
| 1:40.8 | Your work is about people kind of finding the way into feeling comfortable with their own bodies and getting past that feeling of loneliness, of separation, and connecting with something so that you had to have that experience yourself coming here. |
| 1:55.7 | It really makes sense why so many of your films deal with that. |
| 1:59.3 | Well, also, like, you know, look around. |
| 2:02.1 | Bob Redford, he chose this place for a reason, these mountains, |
| 2:07.2 | and especially the labs at the resort. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KCRW, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of KCRW and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.