Nomadland author Jessica Bruder has revealed she was ‘always ready for disaster’ when writing the book that would be adapted into the epic film.
From travelling across the US and delving into the lives of nomads to seeing Chloe Zhao and Frances McDormand come on board, and the film going in to the Oscars with six nominations, Jessica has had quite the journey with Nomadland.
Starring many of the nomads she met on her travels as themselves, the film follows Fern (Frances) as she embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
While the film has seen huge success and reached people across the globe, in the early days, Jessica was left praying that things wouldn’t go wrong.
‘I was always ready for disaster,’ she told Metro.co.uk. ‘I remember I was in Los Angeles picking up a friend at the airport and I spent the whole night taking photographs of my journalists’ notepads.
‘I was really worried – what if something happened to the van? I didn’t want to see years of reporting go up in smoke in an instant. Thankfully there was nothing we had to backtrack on and no major disasters, but I tried to prepare for one.’
One disaster Jessica couldn’t have forseen was the Covid-19 pandemic, something which affected the nomad community in a unique way.
‘I know one woman who actually convalesced from Covid in a van, which is really, really not fun,’ she recalled.
‘In the beginning, in the community at large, a lot of people were freaking out because you couldn’t tell what national parks were open and which were closed, what jobs were going to be available and which ones wouldn’t.’
‘I also heard people talking about the fact that they could move around, which meant if they were in a place that was a hotspot for the virus, they could go somewhere else,’ she continued. ‘[But] by the same token, when the government tells you to shelter in place and your place is a mobile place, it’s challenging.’
Jessica spent years working on Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century before Chloe and Jessica came on board for the film. While she was nervous about giving up control of her project, she trusted them implicitly.
‘Letting go of something you spent so much time on, and worked on so deeply, is challenging, but I think I see it more as sharing,’ she explained. ‘The best thing I could do was put it in hands I felt comfortable with. I met Chloe and that was great, but to really understand what she’s about, I watched her films.
‘For me, knowing Frances’ work and knowing Chloe’s work, and intimately knowing the material they were working with, I figured if anybody could bring this to the screen in a way that felt true and also compelling, it was those two women.’
‘They wanted all the research I could give them,’ she continued. ‘I basically just uploaded everything I could, including some audio recordings so they could get a feel for people’s voices, including some video.
‘They wanted everything, even photos of stuff I found trivial, for example, there’s a scene where we see all these notes on a bulletin board. It’s actually a reconstruction of a bulletin board that I’d taken a picture of at the Desert Rose [RV Park].
‘It was really neat to see some of those details so faithfully adapted.’
As for what Jessica wants people to take from the book and film, it’s pretty much the same thing she did.
‘After the book came out, I started getting a couple of emails, the ones I was most excited were from people who said, “I used to walk by somebody living in a van and make assumptions about that person and possibly be somewhat dismissive and now, when I’m in that situation, I wonder what the person’s story is. I know that reality is more complicated.”
‘For me, if the book and the film complicate people’s reality a bit more, make people a bit more open to each other’s stories, that’s fantastic.’
Nomadland is set for release on Disney+ Star on April 30 and in cinemas on May 17.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
MORE : Minari bosses scrapped ‘sexually motivated’ scenes from final cut: ‘It’s for the greater good’
MORE : Star-studded list of Oscar presenters announced with Zendaya and Brad Pitt taking to the stage
