No one felt that more than McDormand, who optioned journalist Jessica Bruder’s 2017 nonfiction book, “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century,” and produced the film.
“Linda May and Swankie and Bob were already kind of the iconic figures in my mind before I actually met them,” McDormand says. “I think what I was most intimidated by and impressed with was the commitment that people like them made to the life they live, and the joy that they find in gathering together and sharing their experiences and how much they enjoy being on their own. ... I think Swankie was just under the impression that I was another woman on the road. She was really mentoring me in a certain way.”