'Nomadland': The True Story Behind the Hulu Movie On 2/19/21 at 7:30 AM EST Nomadland has spent the last few months racking up awards, with the central performance of Frances McDormand as a woman who goes out on the road after her husband died. Apart from McDormand, however, nearly everyone in the film (which is streaming now on Hulu) is a real person, playing a fictionalized version of themselves. This is one of the many layers of true stories that combine to make the fictional Nomadland. As well as featuring people playing themselves, the film is also based on a non-fiction book by author Jessica Bruder, which depicts a group of mostly older people who have taken to the road to take up seasonal jobs following the Great Recession of the late 2000s.