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Encore: Michelle Yeoh finds beauty in the ordinary in 'Everything Everywhere'

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Last night, Michelle Yeoh won her first Golden Globe for her role in the 2022 hit comedy movie "Everything Everywhere All At Once." She stars as an aging laundromat owner turned superhero named Evelyn Wang. In her acceptance speech, Yeoh noted her own feelings about getting older in Hollywood.

(SOUNDBITE OF TELECAST OF 80TH ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS CEREMONY)

MICHELLE YEOH: As the days, the years and the numbers get bigger, it seems like opportunities start to get smaller as well. Then along came the best gift.

KELLY: And if that role were not enough to remind folks of her serious action star chops, Yeoh made sure everyone knew when the ceremony cued the music to rap her speech.

(SOUNDBITE OF TELECAST OF 80TH ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS CEREMONY)

YEOH: "Everything Everywhere All At Once" - shut up, please.

(LAUGHTER)

YEOH: I can beat you up, OK? And that's...

KELLY: It's true. She famously did her own stunts and fight scenes in Hong Kong martial arts films of the 1980s. So when our co-host Ailsa Chang spoke with Michelle Yeoh last April, she asked what it was like doing physical comedy for the first time.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

YEOH: I think I had it easy in the past, where I just looked cool, you know? Right - I know exactly what I'm doing - that kind of thing (laughter). Oh, my God. Martial arts is simple. It's easy compared to physical comedy. Physical comedy is, like, timing. It's precision. It's so many things coming together at the right time. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I never did it before - because it was so hard (laughter). No, and I think it was so challenging that I really, really enjoyed it very much because you had to literally fracture your mind into knowing the moves and doing them like you're a master, but your face is completely registering shock, and then wonder, and, like, oh my God, how the hell am I doing this, like, all at the same time?

AILSA CHANG: I love that point because it was new for me to see you in a role where you did not look glamorous...

YEOH: (Laughter).

CHANG: ...Or intimidatingly beautiful or regal. I mean, how did it feel to look so intensely ordinary for this movie?

YEOH: Ah - but that was it. You know, I felt that this was such a perfect opportunity to give a voice to the very ordinary mothers and housewife who are out there, you know, doing the most mundane things and get so taken for granted...

CHANG: Yes.

YEOH: ...And then let her discover that, oh, my God, she is a superhero.

CHANG: Exactly. What was so cool for me was to see an unglamorous Chinese woman - the kind of woman who might be invisible to people on the bus or in Chinatown - to see that Chinese immigrant woman play a superhero felt so different to me, right? It was, like, almost subversive. I loved that.

YEOH: Yes. Yes. I think that was one of the main points that we were trying to bring to the surface - just, like, this ordinary Evelyn Wang, you know, at the end of the day, finding what she will never give up - that's her love for her family, her daughter. That's - you know, I think, today, we find that so relatable because communication is one of the most difficult things I find...

CHANG: Yeah.

YEOH: ...With the different generations...

CHANG: Absolutely.

YEOH: ...Especially with Chinese immigrant - any immigrant family. You're here for the American dream, and that's not an easy dream, is it? And some don't ever get it right, but they don't give up trying. I think that's one of the messages for me. It's like, whatever you do, if you give up, you've already failed. And you can't give up on family and love and kindness - you just have to keep trying.

CHANG: Well, you know, this movie - it doesn't just shift who we see as superheroes. It also kind of shifts who we see leading a Hollywood movie. Like, you have spent almost four decades in film. And now, at age 59, this is the first time that you have ever gotten top billing in a Hollywood movie. What does that feel like at this moment in your career?

YEOH: Just, like, finally.

CHANG: Yeah.

YEOH: Finally we have our moment, and thank God it didn't come a moment too soon (laughter). No, I think I've waited, and I think not just me. There's so many of us that looks like me - like you - who are waiting, who are still waiting for the opportunities. I think the tide has turned, but we also need to be responsible, good storytellers and seize the opportunities that are presented now...

CHANG: Right.

YEOH: ...For women, for diversity, but don't let it just be lip service. It has to mean something. So this movie, in particular, it's about an Asian immigrant woman - an aging Asian immigrant woman. When was the last time you saw that, right?

CHANG: Right.

YEOH: Yeah.

CHANG: Exactly - not only be in a lead role but to be the superhero. Yeah.

YEOH: But it took us a long time. I think, in the older days, you know how Asians put their heads down and say, OK, let's just get on with it.

CHANG: Yes. Right.

YEOH: Let's work hard.

CHANG: Let's not rock the boat.

YEOH: And our hard work will pay off. [Expletive]. Sorry.

CHANG: (Laughter) Amen.

YEOH: You know, sometimes we have to rock the boat.

CHANG: Absolutely.

YEOH: We just have to rock the boat and say, look at us. Give us a chance - because guess what? We exist in your society. We are part of the society and very, very much an intricate part of this whole community. This is the only way we will get more opportunities - if we fight for it and no longer be able to say, OK, I'll turn the other cheek. Dang - no more turning the other cheek.

CHANG: Absolutely. Well, speaking of taking a stand, making decisions, making choices in life, you know, your character, Evelyn, she travels back and forth between alternate universes in this story, where she catches glimpses of what her life would have been like had she made different choices. And it made me wonder if you have ever imagined what other universes would have opened up had you made different choices in life.

YEOH: Of course, there are things in life I wish I did which would have made me smarter, healthier, wiser when I was younger. But do I sit there and go, I wish I took another path? Because then I wouldn't have all the amazing things I have today and the career that I've forged over the last 30-something years. So I don't really spend time doing that, but I think in "Everything Everywhere All At Once," every choice that you make splinters into a full-blown universe of its own, with a real life, even regardless of whether you have hot dog fingers, whether you're a rock, what you have evolved to. I think the core spirit - the core emotion is very, very real in whatever universe you are in.

CHANG: Yeah. I felt like this movie was telling us, ultimately, it's not useful in life to wonder what if...

YEOH: Exactly. I think so.

CHANG: ...Because no matter what path you choose will involve some loss but also some gain - yeah?

YEOH: Yes. And I think you have to be present. This life is yours. But if you're not present, it's wasted. Time waits for no one. You know, when we're born, we age and then we die, and God forbid we die before we have lived our lives. So we have to be present in whatever universe, in whatever life. Because if you give up on being present, then you give up on your life.

CHANG: So well said. Michelle Yeoh stars in the new movie, "Everything Everywhere All At Once." Thank you so much for sharing this time with us.

YEOH: Aw, thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure speaking with you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Ailsa Chang is an award-winning journalist who hosts All Things Considered along with Ari Shapiro, Audie Cornish, and Mary Louise Kelly. She landed in public radio after practicing law for a few years.
Megan Lim
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