Fox Searchlight acquires Chloé Zhao’s ‘Nomadland’ with Frances McDormand

Fox Searchlight Pictures Chairmen Nancy Utley and Stephen Gilula together with Presidents of Production Matthew Greenfield and David Greenbaum announced today that the company has acquired worldwide rights to writer-director Chloé Zhao’s (The Rider) third feature Nomandland. The film stars Frances McDormand in her first role since winning the Oscar for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, David Strathairn (Lincoln), Linda May and Charlene Swankie. A Highwayman Films, Hear/Say Productions and Cor Cordium Production, the film is produced by Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloé Zhao.

“We are thrilled to work with visionary filmmaker Chloé Zhao on Nomadland. Her unique voice, combined with the extraordinary talent of Frances McDormand, makes it an important and compelling story,” said Gilula and Utley.

Nomadland is a road movie following Fern (McDormand), a woman in her sixties, who after losing everything in the Great Recession embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad. A signature of Zhao’s, the film includes real people turned actors including Linda May and Charlene Swankie.

“As I fell in love with the American west, it was impossible not to become fascinated with the roads that lead to the many adventures beyond the horizon. I’m very fortunate to be able to hit the road with a talented team and collaborate with a cast of professional and non-professional actors who are deeply giving and inspiring. I can’t wait to share their stories and what we’ve discovered along the way,” said Zhao.

No release date has been set.

The deal was brokered by Fox Searchlight’s Executive Vice President of Business Affairs Megan O’Brien with WME, UTA and Lichter Grossman on behalf of the talent and filmmakers. The movie is based on the non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder, which McDormand and Spears (Call Me By Your Name) optioned soon after it was published in 2017.

Fox Searchlight Pictures is a specialty film company that both finances and acquires motion pictures. It has its own marketing and distribution operations, and its films are distributed internationally by Twentieth Century Fox. Fox Searchlight Pictures is a unit of Twentieth Century Fox Film, soon to be under Disney.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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