'The Interview': Chloé Zhao Is Yearning to Know How to Love

Overview

This episode features an in-depth conversation with acclaimed filmmaker Chloé Zhao, exploring her creative process, personal struggles, and philosophical musings. Zhao reflects on her approach to filmmaking, her journey through a midlife crisis, her fears surrounding death and impermanence, and her quest for connection and self-understanding.

Notable Quotes

- Filmmaking is quite a lonely process. You're like a Ronin... you create this family and then you have to leave again. – Chloé Zhao, on the transient nature of directing.

- We must be designed to know how to die. It shouldn't be this terrifying that I can't even live. – Chloé Zhao, on her fear of death and the human condition.

- You make the work that you aspire to be. – Chloé Zhao, on how her art reflects her personal journey.

🎥 The Art and Chaos of Filmmaking

- Zhao describes her directing style as embracing chaos, allowing for organic moments of truth to emerge on set.

- She contrasts her approach with traditional alpha director archetypes, likening herself to a priestess who balances surrender and control.

- On the set of Hamnet, Zhao fostered an environment of collective energy, using music and improvisation to create authentic emotional moments, such as a raw, unplanned scream of grief from actress Jessie Buckley.

🌀 Navigating Midlife Crisis and Personal Transformation

- Zhao candidly shares her experience of a midlife crisis, describing it as a chrysalis period of personal deconstruction and rebirth.

- She reflects on the difficulty of letting go of past identities and the struggle to find meaning and connection.

- Zhao credits the making of Hamnet with helping her navigate this challenging period, providing a creative outlet for her emotions.

💔 Fear of Death and the Search for Connection

- Zhao reveals her lifelong fear of death and impermanence, which she believes has hindered her ability to live fully and love openly.

- Her training as a death doula is part of her effort to confront and understand her fear of mortality.

- She discusses how modern society's detachment from nature and spirituality has exacerbated the fear of death, creating a soul-level hunger for connection and meaning.

🌌 Enchantment, Mystery, and the Role of Art

- Zhao laments the loss of enchantment in modern life, attributing it to the dominance of rationality over mystery in Western thought.

- She emphasizes the importance of art and storytelling in reconnecting people with a sense of awe and the oneness of existence.

- Films like Happy Together and The Thin Red Line profoundly influenced Zhao, helping her understand her own yearning for connection and love.

🌱 Embracing Failure and the Compost of Life

- Zhao reflects on the paradox of professional success and personal satisfaction, acknowledging the emotional highs and lows of her career.

- She likens life's challenges to compost, emphasizing the importance of learning to sit with discomfort and transform it into growth.

- Zhao aspires to find joy and meaning even in failure, viewing it as an integral part of the human experience.