One of Uma Thurman’s inspirations for playing The Bride in Kill Bill: Vol 1. and Vol. 2 was Michelle Yeoh‘s performance in Supercop, the third film in Jackie Chan’s Police Story series. So, why didn’t Quentin Tarantino cast the Everything Everywhere All at Once great in either of the movies? Because no one would believe that she could lose a fight.
“I asked Quentin the same question,” she told Town and Country about not being in Kill Bill. “He’s very smart.” Tarantino’s answer: “Who would believe that Uma Thurman could kick your ass?” Fair enough!
Yeoh (who went by Michelle Khan at the time) credits Tarantino with inspiring her to continue acting after she fractured her vertebrae while filming 1996’s The Stunt Woman. “I must say, Quentin, he’s persistent. He is who he is today because he’s full of passion and love, so he wore me down,” she said. “Suddenly we became animated. So then I thought, Maybe I’m not ready to give up on this.”
Tarantino’s admiration encouraged Yeoh to once again get back to work… She signed on to her first English language lead, in the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies, and in 1997, the world was officially introduced to Michelle Yeoh, her actual last name.
Three years later, she starred in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the first foreign-language film to make over $100 million in the United States. Yeoh wasn’t nominated for an Oscar, but hopefully the Academy doesn’t make the same mistake with Everything Everywhere All at Once.
(Via Town and Country)
