Michelle Yeoh Agreed To Star In ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ After The Directors Changed One Thing

A film’s box office total isn’t necessarily indicative of whether it was a success or not… but it’s still cool as hell that Everything Everywhere All at Once made over 100 million bucks. The A24 mind-bender is a leading contender for a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, and its star, Michelle Yeoh, is all but guaranteed to be up for Best Actress. The actress spoke to another likely nominee, Tár‘s Cate Blanchett, as part of Variety‘s Actors on Actors series, and she revealed the reason that she nearly left the project.

“With [directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert], 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 said. “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.” She added, “If you don’t change the name, I’m not coming in.”

It’s a good thing they listened to Yeoh, which is a good rule for most things in life.

(Via Variety)