""I grew up in Beijing, and we didn't have a lot of western films, at least not in my family," she said. "At some point, we started to have one western film every Sunday on the television channel, and the very first one I saw was 'Terminator,' [which is] about what it means to be human... I remember seeing the film, and I couldn't even process what I was watching,""
""I bawled both times, multiple times in the film," he said. "Your superpower is your empathy. So what the hell are you doing in Hollywood? How do you navigate that and still be able to keep your heart open? Is there a trick to that? I'd like to personally know. It seems like your connection with nature is the core of everything.""
""First and foremost, we're storytellers," said Zhao, "and storytelling is an alchemical process, and so the things that I'm curious about, or I feel empathetic to [are what] I don't know how to deal with in life. I don't have any other skills." "No," said Cameron, "movie directing, screenwriting, editing.""
James Cameron interviewed Chloé Zhao onstage about Hamnet, which is contending in eight Oscar categories including Best Picture and Director. Zhao grew up in Beijing where western films were rare and remembers a single weekly western; The Terminator was the first she saw and left her emotionally overwhelmed and unable to sleep. Cameron reported crying multiple times during Hamnet and praised Zhao's empathy and connection with nature. Zhao described storytelling as an alchemical process driven by curiosity and empathy and indicated that storytelling is the primary way she processes and responds to life.
Read at IndieWire
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