Frances McDormand is playing «Frances McDormand.»It's the result of working with writer-director Chloé Zhao, who up until had largely cast nonprofessional actors and built characters for them inspired by their own lives. is adapted from a nonfiction book of the same name and does, in fact, feature a number of real-life nomads playing versions of themselves onscreen.Which is how McDormand ended up playing a version of herself, too, though the character goes by the nickname Fern.