60-year-old Michelle Yeoh
Create the history of Chinese filmmakers
Last night, the 95th Oscars in 2023 announced the list of nominees, and there is no suspense, Michelle Yeoh was shortlisted for Best Actress with "Instantaneous Universe", becoming the first Chinese actor to be nominated for an Oscar.
Since winning the Golden Globes on January 10, the 60-year-old Michelle Yeoh has almost become the biggest media focus of this awards season.
Immediately, another Oscar weather vane Screen Actors Guild Awards also gave a nomination affirmation, Michelle Yeoh's Oscar statuette is getting closer and closer.
Frankly speaking, no matter what era, a crazy movie like "Instantaneous Universe" is difficult to win the favor of the Oscar, and according to the taste of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the film can now make history with 11 nominations.
For Michelle Yeoh, the hours of waiting before the nomination is released must have been sleepless nights.
She would never say self-hypnotic empty words such as "it doesn't matter if we win an award, we are already successful".
From the end of last year to the present, every award affirmation, every media appearance, you can feel that Michelle Yeoh is really excited.
She would laugh like a little girl, and she would always cry with excitement at the end.
"I've been waiting for this moment for 40 years, and I'm definitely not going to let go."
01
Make peace with 60 years old
Michelle Yeoh, 60, is still the invincible beater — she sticks to her morning classes every day before work, basics, stretching, core exercises, tai chi, and roundhouse kicks, blocks and backkicks again and again.
When interviewed by the media in loose home clothes at home, she was also happy to show a brief paragraph, easily exhaling and kicking her feet above her head, often frightening the old American reporter to stagger backwards, calling out "WOW".
Every day when she wakes up, she closes her eyes and says to herself, "Please forgive me, I'm sorry, thank you, I love you".
This passage is about his own body, "This body has experienced too many bumps, countless bruises... So, here's my way of saying thank you to it. ”
Michelle Yeoh said that she can now clearly see time slipping through her fingers, and she is no longer the infinite energy of her prime.
"What's worse is that some people will say, look, she's not in her 20s anymore, so she can't do those difficult movements." Miss by a mile! These people don't understand that I've learned a lot over the years, how to stay physically fit and healthy, and I know better how to take care of myself than I did when I was younger. ”
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Schinert, the directors of "Instantaneous Universe", are among the few people who know her. They firmly believe that if anyone in the industry can finish this film, it must be Michelle Yeoh.
This criterion is not just because of their age and skill, but because they understand Michelle Yeoh's desire for crazy adventure.
So we saw this 60-year-old Asian mother, running a corner laundry, grappling with a table of tax forms, taking care of her mentally retarded father, her cowardly husband carrying a divorce agreement, and her daughter who came out ready to run away from home at any time.
When she was exhausted by life, this mother was suddenly given the mission of saving the world, and her spirit traveled through countless parallel universes, and her combat effectiveness exploded...
Michelle Yeoh seems to have fallen into the MV of "Turn Down for What" (also made by these two Daniels, you can search for it if you are interested, it's crazy), and before that, you can't imagine her in the same frame as a wall full of SM props.
Like an aunt who was pranked by her nephew, she yelled at the two smiling Daniel directors countless times, "You boys are crazy! What do I do? ”
And she did it, and it was fantastic, and if you've seen the NG footage of Instantaneous Universe, you'll see how happy she is mingling with young people.
02
"I'm finally getting cool!"
Back in March last year, at the premiere of the South-Southwest Film Festival of "Instantaneous Universe", Michelle Yeoh sat at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, she has not been so nervous in many years.
She has played countless roles in this movie alone, worried about how the audience will react to this weird performance, will the audience laugh in the right place? Will you find her funny?
Michelle Yeoh said that at that moment she remembered the premiere of her first starring movie.
In 1985's "Royal Senior Sister", she was also anxious in Hong Kong theaters watching the every move of hundreds of people around her, her heart was ready for booing, and finally cheers broke out, she was ecstatic.
This time was the same, when she heard people laughing for the first time by "Instantaneous Universe", it was difficult to suppress the excitement in her heart, "Oh my God, what a day!" They really think I'm funny! ”
After this, Michelle Yeoh would often meet young fans outside, and the children would tell her how much she liked the crazy gimmicks and share with her about her experiences with her parents.
"They'll ask me in the supermarket if you're super cool and can you take a picture. On the surface I would smile and nod, but inside I was already shaking my fists and screaming, 'YES! I'm finally getting cool! ’”
The two Daniel directors were very frank and told the outside world early that the script was originally tailored for Jackie Chan. After being rejected by him, they reversed the gender of the role and found Michelle Yeoh.
After the film's success, Jackie Chan texted Michelle Yeoh: "Hey, congratulations on your new film, did you know that your director came to me first?" Michelle Yeoh replied, "Yes brother, I know!" You're losing a lot, brother, thank you!"
Her relationship with Jackie Chan is indeed very good, the two have been happy wrongdoers for 40 years, and they worked together in Hong Kong in the 80s.
When "Police Story 3" was filmed in 1992, these two super stunt stars were like turn-based games, you jump a car and I jump a roof, you jump on the roof I jump a helicopter, no one admits.
In the end, Jackie Chan stepped on the brakes, "Don't make it difficult, we will both die." ”
After moving to Hollywood, Michelle Yeoh would unabashedly refer to Jackie Chan as "Male Chauvinist Pig" in an interview with David Letterman's talk show.
"I said that to his face because I was one of the few people who could convince him and he knew I was going to kick him in the ass."
03
A role that has been waiting for a lifetime
In Malaysia, Michelle Yeoh is a real rich lady. His grandfather, Yeo Kam Kun, founded the Kinta Bus Company in the 1930s and is known as the "father of Malaysian transport", and his father Yeo Kin Tak later became a nationally renowned barrister.
Michelle Yeoh followed her parents to England to study ballet when she was a girl, and later suffered a spinal injury, but her dream of stardom did not stop.
In 1983, she won the title of Miss Malaysia and Miss Melbourne, and then went to Hong Kong to shoot advertisements and films, Cantonese, Mandarin and Kung Fu were all learned from scratch, following the Hung family class to learn martial arts, practicing sandbags every day.
Michelle Yeoh conquered Asia and Hollywood with real kung fu, and for the first time in "007: Tomorrow's Empire", she raised the Bond girl to the height of beating women, which made foreigners change their views of Asian women, but this is far from enough for her.
For many years after that, she struggled to break through this established Asian stereotype, but she grew older, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Memoirs of a Geisha", "Children of Yellowstone", and then in recent years "Crazy Rich Asians" and "Shang Qi", from her sister to her mother.
Things are getting better, especially after the success of Crazy Rich Asians, Michelle Yeoh discovers that times have changed.
"In Hollywood, everyone is talking about inclusivity, diversity, and it's no longer just a tick in the cast, 'Oh, there's Chinese, it's diverse enough.'"
In Michelle Yeoh's view, the way to break the ethnic ceiling is to learn to tell stories, so that stories belonging to Asian immigrants begin to enter the field of view of more people.
"This is also the attraction of "Instantaneous Universe", she gives a very ordinary woman the opportunity to speak out, an elderly immigrant housewife who has been silent all her life."
On the other hand, this role also gives Michelle Yeoh the opportunity to show more of herself.
In the past, she was always as strong as steel, or to maintain absolute elegance. People value her skills more, "acting" is not important, a poker face is enough.
Michelle Yeoh's current experience is actually very inspiring to young people - 60 years old, has acted in so many good movies, there is no shortage of anything, why is she so attached to one role, pinning all the "unfinished" on this "Asian mother"?
Now we see a more vivid Michelle Yeoh, funny, real, sad, and she has almost never had the opportunity to be so silly on the big screen before, relying on wearing the wrong shoes to achieve crossing.
"This role, with everything I want to achieve as an actor, I've been waiting for it all my life."
【List of partial nominees for the 95th Academy Awards】
Best Film:
"No War on the Western Front"
Avatar: The Way of Water
"The Banshee of Inisherin"
Elvis Presley
"Instantaneous Universe"
"Dream House"
"Tar"
Top Gun: The Lone Ranger
"Triangle of Pathos"
"Women's Conversation"
Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett, "Thal"
Ana de Armas, The Blonde
Michelle Williams, The House of Dreamers
Andrea Riceborough "To Leslie"
Michelle Yeoh "Instantaneous Universe"
Best Actor:
Austin Butler, Elvis Presley
Brandon Fisher "Whale"
Bill Nye "Lust for Life"
Colin Farrell, The Banshee of Inisherin's Annunciation
Paul Mescal "After-the-Sun Holiday"
Best Supporting Actress:
Angela Besett Black Panther 2
Zhou Hong, "Whale"
Kerry Condon "The Banshee of Inischelin"
Jamie Lee Curtis "Instantaneous Universe"
Xu Weilun "Instantaneous Universe"
Best Supporting Actor:
Brendan Gleason The Banshee of Inischelin
Judd Hirsch, "The House of Dreams"
Guan Jiwei "Instantaneous Universe"
Barry Keorn "The Banshee of Inisherin"
Brian Terry Henry The Other Side of the Bridge
Best Director:
Todd Field "Thal"
Kwan Jiayong and Daniel Schnatter "Instantaneous Universe"
Martin MacDonald, The Banshee of Inischelin
Steven Spielberg, "The House of Dreamers"
Ruben Osterlund "Triangle of Pathos"
Best Original Screenplay:
"Instantaneous Universe"
"The Banshee of Inisherin"
"Dream House"
"Tar"
"Triangle of Pathos"
Best Adapted Screenplay:
"No War on the Western Front"
"Blade Out of the Sheath 2"
"Lust for Life"
Top Gun: The Lone Ranger
"Women's Conversation"
Best International Film:
Argentina, 1985 (Argentina)
Intimate (Belgium)
No War on the Western Front (Germany)
Summer Whispers (Ireland)
"Donkey Call" (Poland)
Text, Editor/Cardi C
Source: Los Angeles Times, CBS News
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