Do you ever feel like you’re being told to retire from something you love doing? Well, Michelle Yeoh, the star of the multiverse family adventure ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, certainly did. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the inspiring story of how Michelle Yeoh defied industry expectations and earned her first Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
When Michelle Yeoh was offered the lead role in ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, she was already being told to retire from acting. But Yeoh refused to accept the industry’s expectations and decided to take a chance on the movie. The gamble paid off; the film has become a cultural phenomenon with over $100 million at the worldwide box office, and Yeoh won the Golden Globe for Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.
Yeoh expressed her joy at being given the opportunity to showcase her talent. “The first thing is you feel like, ‘Finally, thank you. You guys see me, you guys really see, and you’re giving me the opportunity to show that I’m capable of doing all this,” she said.
What’s even more inspiring is that the role was originally written for a man. It was Jackie Chan who the Daniels first wanted to hire before they changed the script to make the lead character a woman. Even then, Yeoh had reasonable demands regarding her character’s name. “The only thing I said to them was, ‘The character cannot be called Michelle Wang,’” Yoeh said. “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.”
The character’s name was ultimately changed to Evelyn Wang, and the rest is history. Michelle Yeoh’s story is an inspiring one and a reminder that you should always be in control of your own destiny. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can and can’t do. With hard work and determination, you can achieve anything you set your mind to.
Source: variety.com