Time Editorial Office | Stealth drinking
Heal life with movies.
At the 80th Golden Globe Awards that ended yesterday, Michelle Yeoh won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy category with "Instantaneous Universe", which is highly anticipated.
She became the second Chinese actress to win this award after Awkwafina.
There was an interesting little tidbit at the award ceremony, and when she gave her acceptance speech, she was only halfway through the speech when she was prompted by the piano accompaniment.
Michelle Yeoh responded domineeringly, "Please shut up!" I can really beat you up! ”
As soon as this joke came out, the audience applauded.
Her charm is not only beautiful and elegant, outstanding kung fu, but also has a relaxed and calm and strong sense of humor.
Michelle Yeoh's Golden Globe Award acceptance speech (Video source: NBC)
This "shut up" also seems to be shouted to those who have questioned her.
As she said at the ceremony, "I'm 60 years old, and I'm sure the women in this room understand that as you get older, opportunities become less and less, and Instantaneous Universe is my best gift." ”
This film is a kind of deconstruction of Michelle Yeoh's life and works, and it is also a report card that an actor has polished for a long time to hand over.
60-year-old Michelle Yeoh finally ushered in the second spring of her career and ushered in this highlight moment that belongs to her.
The birth of "beating women"
In the hearts of many fans, Michelle Yeoh is a skillful martial arts actress and an active representative of Chinese actors in Hollywood.
She is Yu Xiulian, who has mastered kung fu in the martial arts world, and is a Bond girl who gallops on the streets with 007 Pierce Brosnan.
In "Instantaneous Universe", she broke all people's usual impressions of her and starred in a frustrated middle-aged woman with gray hair - Evelyn.
This time she is just an ordinary housewife, but she did not expect that she has the ability to "cross" into parallel worlds in different life situations.
She was surprised to find that she had the responsibility of saving the entire universe.
She can call on her skills in different universes to solve crises, including the popular martial arts skills.
The mother in the play, Evelyn, is 55 years old, old and tired, and she is really touchable.
Michelle Yeoh outside the play is 60 years old, and she loosened her fists and feet in her first acting, released her heart, and acted better than she played.
"Hitting women" is the first label people remember Michelle Yeoh.
In the early years, she was on the show "Conan Show", and the host wanted to see her fists and feet, but she was almost kicked.
Michelle Yeoh's ability is indeed more than just "embroidered legs".
She was born in Ipoh, Malaysia, to a lawyer father and a "most traditional Chinese mother."
Because she studied ballet since she was a child, she has profound dance skills, and her body flexibility and coordination are very good.
In 1983, Michelle Yeoh won the beauty pageant and won the honorary title of Miss Malaysia.
Debuted with the aura of a beauty pageant champion, but did not become a vase, she chose to fight all the way in the Hong Kong film industry with the image of "beating women".
Michelle Yeoh's reasoning is, "Playing looks like dancing, I can understand".
But entering the world of martial arts films, with tough guys as the protagonists, is destined to be a difficult road.
If you want to win a place, you must endure the pain of flesh and skin that ordinary people can hardly imagine.
At the beginning of Michelle Yeoh's career, Hong Kong director Yuen Kui told her that there were two ways for girls to shoot martial arts scenes.
The first is very simple, first put on a fight pose, and then change the stand-in to do the action, which is easier for the director and crew to shoot, but the audience is also easy to see the flaws.
The second is that real people don't need to be substituted for battle, Michelle Yeoh thinks she can do it, but everyone can't help but secretly doubt, "A girl, you can't fight, right?" ”
Michelle Yeoh wants to prove to everyone that women can also shoot good martial arts scenes, which is like a big gamble.
She successively starred in "Royal Senior Sister" directed by Yuan Kui and "Royal Warrior" directed by Zhong Zhiwen, successfully leading a series of "Senior Sister" and "Policewoman" films in the Hong Kong film industry in the future.
Michelle Yeoh who does not admit defeat
With a thriving career, Michelle Yeoh paid the price of many thrilling injuries.
In 1995, while filming Xu Anhua's film "The Story of Akin", she experienced the most serious injury of her career, falling from a height while filming an action scene, and seriously injured her neck and back.
Behind the scenes of "Akin's Story"
This injury forced her to stay in bed for a long time and even fell into doubts about life.
At this time, a loyal fan of Hong Kong action movies, Quentin Tarantino director No, arrived, and he was preparing to make "Kill Bill".
Fan brother Quentin excitedly said to Michelle Yeoh, "I've seen all your movies", and then began to tell his favorite action scenes frame by frame.
Michelle Yeoh was greatly encouraged after listening to it, and then returned to the film career and starred in the box office success "007: Tomorrow's Empire", which made her shine in Hollywood.
Look at the rivalry between her and Brosnan back then, and the aura is not lost to each other at all.
Different from the vase image of the previous Bond girl, Michelle Yeoh has created the "most fightable" Bond girl ever.
The play even became a milestone in the entire 007 film series: Bond Girls also began to have more and more action scenes.
Just after playing Bond Girl, Michelle Yeoh received "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" that made her famous overseas.
Director Ang Lee has great enthusiasm for martial arts movies and has studied all kinds of swords and weapons very thoroughly.
When it came time to film the decisive battle scene between Yu Xiulian and Yu Jiaolong, Li An pointed to these weapons and said, "I want you to use every one." ”
Michelle Yeoh also thought that the director was joking, but Ang Lee never joked about filming.
That's right, all the viewers who have watched "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" remember this wonderful fight that is enough to go down in film history.
Eighteen martial arts in the sword light and shadow took turns, and the complex emotional conflict between the two women was vividly reflected.
Speaking of Michelle Yeoh's career turning point, there is also a "Police Story 3: Super Police" with Jackie Chan.
This play is her first play after four years of divorce and return to the film industry, and she is eager to prove to the audience, "I'm back!" I can still fight! ”
In the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, in order to pursue higher efficiency, many action scenes were played on the spot and were not rehearsed in advance.
There is a scene where she needs to jump from a height and shatter the windshield. There was a mistake during the shooting, and if it weren't for Jackie Chan's pull, Michelle Yeoh almost hit the ground on the head and was seriously injured.
There was also a scene where she hung in the car with her bare hands and was thrown around, which was also an unrehearsed "accident" because someone turned in the wrong direction while driving.
Michelle Yeoh contributed a lot of quite thrilling car chase scenes and action scenes, and her desperate spirit made Jackie Chan feel pressure.
Jackie Chan even complained, "Are you trying to kill me?" If you do a little more, then what will I rely on to eat? ”
With this "Police Story 3", Michelle Yeoh, who dares to fight and dares, has successfully made a comeback and has once again become the most important female star of Hong Kong's action movies.
At the age of 60, he has accumulated hair
After many years in Hollywood and cross-strait and three places, Michelle Yeoh has opened the market with action films and honed her acting skills with literary films.
Memoirs of a Geisha
She has made many attempts outside of martial arts dramas, such as "Memoirs of a Geisha" with Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li, "Children of Huangshi" with Chow Yun-fat, and starring in "Aung San Suu Kyi".
In recent years, Michelle Yeoh's most famous role is the mother-in-law who is not angry in "Crazy Rich Asians".
"Crazy Rich Asians"
This role is not a traditional villain, and everything she says and does is out of love for her family and son.
The collision and integration of Chinese and Western cultures in her body is also the reason why Michelle Yeoh was attracted to star.
Compared with the few contemporary Hong Kong martial arts actresses left on the screen today, Michelle Yeoh's experience is full of hardships, but also lucky.
As an actress, her image of "beating women" is deeply rooted in people's hearts.
In 1997, Michelle Yeoh hangs on an airplane for a photo and flies over the Hollywood sign
However, she seems to have always lacked a chance, a heavyweight actress award, so that everyone can see that she is a good enough actor.
There is something that confuses Michelle Yeoh, "Every time I make a literary film, someone asks me, are you no longer fighting?" Every time I shoot an action scene, people will say, don't you like filming? ”
She always wants to surprise the audience differently. Most importantly, let them not see "Michelle Yeoh playing Michelle Yeoh." ”
"Shangqi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"
She has also published a number of works in the past few years.
But whether it is the mother-in-law in "Crazy Rich Asians" or the aunt in "Shangqi and the Legend of the Ten Rings", it is the characters of "mother-in-law" who find her, and even grandmothers.
Acting can't just look at age, 60 years old for her, just a number, not a bondage.
Finally, Michelle Yeoh met this "Instantaneous Universe".
"I'm so fortunate to have this opportunity to have such a woman become a superhero, and that's what touches me the most."
When Michelle Yeoh mentioned this in an interview with "GQ", she couldn't help but burst into tears with excitement.
"It's been a script I've been waiting for for a long time, and it's been too long to get the chance to show my fans and family and viewers what I'm capable of."
"I can be funny, I can be sincere, I can be sad, and finally someone understands that I can do it all."
"Instantaneous Universe" concept poster
Only in a fantastical and brainy movie like "Instantaneous Universe" can Michelle Yeoh break free from all the shackles of reality.
Let her burst out all the energy she has accumulated as an actress for 40 years with a crazy energy that does not care.
This thick and thin character is indeed her.
For her, 60 may just be a new beginning.
In the future, look forward to her small universe and continue to erupt.