Michelle Yeoh Breaks Down Her Career, from 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' to 'Wicked'

Vanity Fair

Michelle Yeoh takes us through her illustrious career, including her roles in 'The Owl vs. Bombo,' 'Yes, Madam,' 'Police Story 3: Supercop,' 'Tomorrow Never Dies,' 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,' 'Memoirs of a Geisha,' 'Crazy Rich Asians,' Every Everywhere All At Once,' and 'Wicked.'   Director: Funmi Sunmonu Editor: Cory Stevens Talent: Michelle Yeoh Producer: Emebeit Beyene Line Producer: Natasha Soto-Albors Production Manager: Andressa Pelachi Associate Production Manager : Elizabeth Hymes Talent Booker: Meredith Judkins Lee; Paige Garbarini (on set) Production Assistant: Crystal Boyd; Adam Griffo Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo Additional Editor: Samantha DiVito Assistant Editor: Billy Ward Special Thanks: Glass Engine

Transcript

00:00Then I get this message from him and it was like, hi Michelle, I have two people who really,

00:05really want to talk to you. And there was like Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. And they turn

00:09around and say, hi Michelle, it's imperative that you come and join us. Imperative. How do you say

00:15no to the two most incredible creatures on the planet Earth?

00:19Hello, I'm Michelle Yeoh, and this is the timeline of my career.

00:34How did I come into acting? I want to say by accident. I was invited to do a commercial

00:40with a very famous actor in Hong Kong. 22-year-old, just graduated and thought, why not? And after

00:49I did that commercial, I was offered a film contract. Then the rest is history. The first

00:54movie that I did has this adorable title called Al vs. Dumbo. I played the damsel in distress.

01:00It was an action film, but I saw the guys, Sammo Hong, George Lam. They were doing these

01:06incredible stunts and movements and fighting. It looked acrobatic. And in fact, they looked

01:12like they were dancing. So I come from a dance background and I went up to my producers and

01:17I say, you know, how about you let me try to do some action? And I guess because D&B at

01:25that time was a fairly new production company and I was new in town and they thought, well,

01:32what have we got to lose, right? Because action comedies were the biggest sellout in the Hong

01:39Kong cinema at that time. So my very first action movie was Yes Madam, where I played a detective.

01:45It was very clear with my director and myself. I said, I did not want to look like, oh, she's

02:02a fighter. I wanted to look very normal, you know, as a detective. But the minute she chased

02:08down anyone who was threatening, her skills would come out. And the most important thing

02:14is not to be able to differentiate. It's like, oh, that's a girl fighting or that's a boy

02:18fighting. When she did what she had to do, it was like just with intensity and magic.

02:25Cynthia Rothrock, she was then world champion. So I think for her, for Cynthia, it was kind

02:31of rough because, you know, it's different when you're fighting for a movie and when you're

02:37fighting for real. Of course, she was not in like the WMMA, not the real kind of boxing kind

02:43of fighting. Hers was more performance. But when it came to actually taking the hits and

02:49giving the blows, that's a different ball game altogether. I was very fortunate because

02:55I learned my martial arts or my action beats with the sun people. So it really technically

03:02was for the camera. And so we knew how to adjust. So instead of getting really hit before you

03:10can react, you know how to dodge. So if you didn't, you would go boom and go, oh, ouch.

03:16So it was a learning curve. I went on to do a few more. And fortunately, I was invited to

03:22do Supercop. It was a crazy, crazy ass experience. The action in that particular movie. Now, when

03:34I watch back, I go, my God, you must have been insane to say yes to those stunts, you know,

03:40hanging at the side of the van and going full speed against traffic. And you're wired in,

03:47you're strapped in. There's nowhere to run. There's, if someone comes crashing at you,

03:51good luck to you. And I remember looking at the scene and see myself just being thrown

03:56from side to side. And that was one point when I suddenly go like, whoa, that was because

04:01the other car came too close to us. There was a shot I could have had broken my neck.

04:08Stanley Tong, the director said to me, you are on top of this moving van. The antagonists

04:14are inside the van and they realize you're up there and they're going to start shooting

04:18at you through the roof. So what happens is you are dodging the bullets, you roll. And

04:23when you roll off the van, Jackie is going to come up with his convertible and pick you

04:29up. So the concept was when I rolled off the van and I land on Jackie's car, the glass pane,

04:38the front glass pane would break and which would help Jackie and myself to hold on to the bonnet

04:45of the car. Well, you know, things go wrong. So, and I remember so clearly the only rehearsal

04:51that I had was the van was parked. Jackie's car was at the bottom and you stand up there

04:56and you go like, oh, okay, this is not so bad. It's like a four feet drop. You just go like

05:01this, you get up to the van and it starts moving. And you go like, wait a minute. This

05:06is not what I, it's already going. And you think, eh, what the heck? Let's try. And so

05:13I take the roll. Of course, the window doesn't break. And as I hit, I start to slide. And I

05:20think everybody was in such a shock. They didn't know to stop the van or stop the car. Poor

05:26Jackie, he was panicking. And I was just like trying to like hold on to myself. And he managed

05:32to grab a little, my shirt. And I, I believe that also helped. The one person who ended

05:37up in hospital in that scene was my, one of my stunt boys, because his instinct was whatever

05:42I do, I have to save Michelle. So he jumped down and he goes double back and he had a

05:49concussion. Poor guy. In all the action movies that I did while I was in Hong Kong, basically

05:54you get all dressed up. You go onto the set, your stunt coordinator, they've just been working

05:58out the whole action sequence. And then they teach you on the spot. You shoot it and then

06:04move on to the next action sequence.

06:14Pierce Brosnan is a dream to work with. He's not just good looking. He's a really, truly

06:20wonderful friend. And when we were on it, he has, he's confident. I mean, he's James

06:26Bond, right? So he doesn't see any threat. I was very grateful to be able to play opposite

06:32Bond as an equal because my character, Wei Lin, she comes from China and they are in equal

06:38positions. They both like, I don't need you. And well, you're here. So we might as well

06:43work together. So that, that kind of chemistry was fun and brought us very close. I remember

06:49the first advice I was given, this is a Bond movie. Have a good time. In the end we did.

06:54We had such a great time.

07:07Oh, Ang Lee. I believe Ang is a person who plans ahead what he would like to do. The first

07:14thing he said was like, well, you're so big and famous now. I didn't know if you would

07:18have time for me. And I'm like, you're the Oscar winning director, one of my biggest

07:23idols. I will always have time for you. So he started to say that he wanted to make sense

07:29and sensibility with martial arts. And we're like, why didn't anybody think of that before?

07:34Doing a martial arts film had always been a childhood dream of his. And that's one thing

07:40I love is to be able to be part of someone else's dream. Because when you have a dream,

07:46that urge to make it the best and the most beautiful is very powerful. I said, yes. I

07:52waited two years and I didn't do anything for the two years. I didn't, I didn't find another

07:57role that was as interesting. And I also, I think at that time, especially here, it was

08:04all very stereotyped about, especially for Asian women. I couldn't understand it. It was like you

08:10here in Hollywood, you are supposed to be the four most filmmakers in the world. How can that be

08:17possible? Why do you have to find an excuse just to be able to put an Asian face in that role? So

08:24Crouching Tiger will always have a very special place in my heart. And it was one of the most painful

08:29movies to do as well. Because I had surgery right in the middle, right at the beginning

08:34of the movie. It was like that incredible action, first action sequence with the drum.

08:45Peter Powell, the DP and my son coordinator says, okay, you're going to run across, jump up on the

08:51wall, go down the wall sideways and then pick a foot and you throw it at this intruder. I do the jump

08:57kicks. And suddenly, we don't know what happened when I landed, it felt like someone had taken a

09:02bat to my knee and whacked it and I fell down and go like, who kicked me? Memoirs of a geisha. I loved

09:12the book. Who would have guessed it was a white dude that wrote it. You cannot call yourself a true

09:20geisha until you can stop a man in his tracks with a single look. No one can do that.

09:27Choose someone for me.

09:28I've always been fascinated by the culture of Japan. You know, when you enter into this world,

09:35you learn. You learn how to put on a kimono. You learn how to walk. You learn how to have those

09:42gestures that normally when you look at the angle, how do they do it with such grace and finesse.

09:47So making that movie gave me this amazing opportunity to do all that.

09:52The boy on the bike. There's one look.

09:57It wasn't an audition. It was a meet. And I will never forget. Rob Marshall is sitting

10:10and just like looking at me. And then he says, um, what passport do you hold? Huh? How did

10:16that come a plane to play? So I think it was because, uh, it's, you know, casting the three

10:22girls, Hatsumomo, Sayuri, and Mameha was a very challenging task. And Rob had gone all around

10:32the world, uh, to, to find his dream goals. He's really funny. He was like, you all are

10:37my supermodels because the costume designs, the kimonos and nobody wears a corset under

10:44a kimono, but we did because we needed to have that poise. And I can, it translates so

10:50well on film. When you look at it, this guy's a visionary.

10:53I'm happy. I finally met Rachel. She is very impressive.

10:57I think so too. I thought you might be excited that the first girl that I bring home is a

11:04Chinese professor.

11:05Chinese American.

11:08I mean, we did Crazy Rich Asians. We ticked all the boxes because romantic comedies were like a

11:16no-no and all Asian cast hadn't been since Joy Luck Club. And that's like talking 20 something

11:23years ago. But then I met John Chu and he, in a few words, convinced me this is the director I

11:32really wanted to work with. Uh, cause when I read the script, I felt the mother and son

11:37didn't quite sit well with me. The mother was, was not the kind of mother that I wanted to see

11:44in, you know, a film that showed Chinese mothers as being just mean and cruel. I said to him, oh,

11:51what kind of a movie are you making? You know, is it like a hangover? And if he said yes,

11:57it would be perfectly okay because look at hangover one, two, three. I mean, they're very successful

12:02commercial films and Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan's books were very commercially successful

12:07in that way. And he said, oh, if I did that, my mother would kill me. Ding. Right on. I was in

12:14his corner. I said, okay, John Chu, I'm coming over to you. It was contemporary. It was today.

12:22You see the people that you see normally in life in America, in New York, in LA, you see a lot of your

12:28Chinese friends who are like that. And you know, you laugh with them, you laugh at them, but

12:32they're all around you. And then he took you to a very exotic place, you know, to Malaysia,

12:37to Singapore and showed you how the rich people lived over on the other side. So he made it

12:43interesting and exciting and very, very relatable. I can't imagine the number of times people would

12:49walk up to me and say, you know, my mother-in-law is very much like you and I'm terrified of her.

12:55Don't make me fight you. I'm good. I don't believe you.

13:04When I read the script, Everything Everywhere All At Once, I went, either these two guys are

13:09clinically insane or they're geniuses. The script is what it was. There was only one major change

13:17that they had to do. You have to change the name, Michelle, because they had written Michelle

13:22Wong. And they go like, but no, we wrote this for you. You know, this is, it's, I'm like, no,

13:29Evelyn deserves her life to be told. I'm not a laundromat owner. Michelle Yeo is never going to be that,

13:35right? So if you keep calling the character Michelle, every time that name comes, you is set out,

13:42people will start thinking, oh, that's Michelle Yeo playing Michelle. What's her name?

13:46So they changed the name.

14:03Every time she made a decision, it went into another universe and we don't know how many universes

14:09are out there, but it was all very concise. It's like effect, consequence, right? So that allowed

14:16me to step into different shoes. The interesting thing was like, she knew who she was, right? The

14:23mother, a wife, and then suddenly she was in a, in a universe where she had hearted out fingers and a

14:30lover who was her nemesis in her life. So all that gave way to being an actor who was challenged,

14:39constantly. And the Daniels did that very, very well. Every department, everybody was in.

14:46We shot it in 37 days and we covered so many universes. So the Daniels were geniuses. They were

14:53not insane. My dear, I'll write at once to the wizard. Tell him of you in advance. With a talent like yours,

15:04dear, there is a definite chance. I'm not a singer. If I wanted to be a singer, I could have when I was in

15:12Hong Kong and I never did. So then when John asked me to read the script, I got him back to him and say,

15:20hey, she sings, right? Madame Marable sings. And I don't sing. And typical John. Ah, it's nothing.

15:28And he is one guy, one director that can inspire you to believe you can do anything. That's where John is

15:35always very clever and a few steps ahead. Then I get this message from him and it was attached to a

15:41video. So I played it. He was like, hi, Michelle. I have two people who really, really want to talk

15:46to you. And there was like Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. And they turn around and say, hi, Michelle.

15:51It's imperative that you come and join us. Imperative. How do you say no to the two most incredible

15:59creatures on the planet Earth who had voices like an angel? I mean, that's terrifying already to start off

16:05with. John said the right thing. You're always up for a challenge, aren't you? And I'm like, you're

16:20right. And I'm so glad he called me because then Mark Platt, our producer said, from the word go,

16:26you were Madame Marable. I'm a little nostalgic. Very happy that I did those crazy action sequences

16:34then appreciative of all the different experiences that I've had, which leads me also to understand

16:42that there's still so much to look forward to and to learn and to grow.

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