“It was the hook,” McDormand said. “It was the power to be a very shy, slightly suspicious seventh grader who could stand in front of a group of people and keep their attention.” She also loved that Shakespeare’s female characters were just as power-hungry as the men: ‘It’s like I said to Joel,’ Why don’t you write better roles for women? In fact, why not just write a role for men and then let me play it? ”
She married Coen, not long after making her debut in the 1984 noir “Blood Simple”, which he co-directed with Ethan. Twelve years later, the Coen brothers would give McDormand her distinctive role, one that could only be played by a woman: Marge, the chirping, pregnant police chief in Fargo.
That movie made her famous, a condition that McDormand considered a fire a cheater.
“I tried very consciously for 10 years not to do press and publicity in what other people would think would be a very dangerous moment in the career of a female actor, but it paid off for exactly the reasons why I wanted it, “she said. . “It gave me a mystery about who I was, and in the roles I played, I could take an audience to a place where someone selling watches or perfume and magazines could not do.”
For her, “Nomadland” is the culmination of the effort to keep herself intact in the public eye. “That’s why it works,” she said. “Therefore, Chloé may consider doing it with me because of what I have created for years not only as an actor but also in my personal life.”
We walk back through the city, and as we walk up a hill covered with overgrowth and eucalyptus trees, McDormand draws one last line: ‘So I go past my house and then I’ll leave you,’ she said. . She asked if I was planning dinner, and on the way home directed me to a farm stall. “They have beautiful little jewels and some good old arugula,” she said, “but no eggs at the moment, because the chickens are cold.”