The Oscars are on the horizon and though it’s been a strange year for the movie industry, the race for the golden statue is nothing short of historic. Notably, there is not one but two women nominated for best director: Emerald Fennell, for “Promising Young Woman,” starring Carrie Mulligan, and Chloé Zhao for “Nomadland,” starring Frances McDormand. “Nomadland” was also written by Zhao who based her screenplay on the non-fictional book, “Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century,” by journalist Jessica Bruder. Frances McDormand’s Fern — a fictionalized amalgam of people in Bruder’s book — is a woman living out of her van, traveling the country working seasonal jobs and meeting a community of like-minded itinerant Americans along the way. On this special bonus episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, Katie gets to go behind the scenes of this extraordinary, beautiful and strangely prescient film in a roundtable discussion with the director Chloé Zhao as well as three producers, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher and Dan Janvey. Stream “Nomadland” on Hulu.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.