Everything Everywhere All at Once leading lady Michelle Yeoh has revealed that she almost walked away from the career-defining role over a character’s name at the beginning of her time on set. The star spoke on this and more in a recent interview. Written and directed by the duo of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known together as the Daniels) with production help from the Russo brothers, Everything Everywhere All At Once is an absurdist comedic drama that aggressively blends together several genres and sub-genres to deliver an incredible and unique film.
The plot centers on Michelle Yeoh’s Evelyn Quan Wang, a Chinese immigrant and laundromat owner with a complex family life who inexplicably goes from a tax audit to a battle of epic proportions spanning the entirety of a vast multiverse to stop an evil of her own (alternate universe counterpart’s) creation. Despite the ambitious, over-the-top nature of the film plot, it was a massive success, with several people considering it the best film of the year up to that point, with a focus on Yeoh’s performance.
In a recent interview for Variety’s Actors on Actors series, Yeoh revealed that her stellar performance, which made the film the highest-rated movie on Letterboxd, almost didn't happen at all because of her character’s name in the original pitch. This was despite the star being very comfortable with the role and creative leads in every other aspect. “This is like a roller coaster, right?” Yeoh said during the interview. “Put away your phones, put on your safety belts. With the Daniels, I had to see if they were certifiably insane, in the best possible way. It’s very important that I feel the director is a visionary and I’m one of their tools.”
Yeoh, despite having an emotional reaction to her first reading of the script, still had one change she insisted on. “The only thing I said to them was, ‘The character cannot be called Michelle Wang.’ They’re like, ‘But why? It’s so you.’ I’m like, ‘No, I’m not an Asian immigrant mother who’s running a laundromat. She needs her own voice.’ That was the only thing. I’m like, ‘If you don’t change the name, I’m not coming in.'” The decision was a make or break for her, and fortunately for all involved, the filmmakers agreed to her terms, changing the character’s name to Evelyn Quan in lieu of Michelle.
While it may seem like a small concession, fans of the film will agree that the Daniels’ decision to grant it gave us one of the best performances in recent memory. In addition to Teoh’s notable performance, the film also benefitted from stellar work from everyone else involved, including co-star Ke Huy Quan, who has been announced as part of the cast of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Loki, joining the Disney Plus project for its second season.
While the directing duo have signed a multi-year deal at Universal, in no small part due to the success of Everything Everywhere All at Once, the two have taken to their shared Twitter account to assure fans that a sequel isn’t in the works at this time, despite jestful statements made earlier in the year. While the movie did come to a satisfying conclusion, fans can’t be blamed for hoping that the wind blows the other way on that sequel decision soon enough.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is available via Lionsgate Home Entertainment on digital streaming platforms and home media.
Source: Variety