Congratulations, Michelle Yeoh!
On March 13, 2023, at the 95th Academy Awards ceremony, Michelle Yeoh won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role as Evelyn Wang in "Instantaneous Universe".
This is also the first Asian actress in the history of the Academy Awards to win this award.
Previously, Michelle Yeoh had won a number of awards with this film, breaking the record of Asian actresses in the North American film and television industry. This time, it directly refreshed the global record of Asian actresses.
At the award ceremony, looking back on her sad experience as a Chinese woman in the global film industry, Michelle Yeoh said emotionally: "This award is not only given to me, but also to every girl like me. Thank you for giving us a place, we need to be seen, we need to be heard. ”
The reason why I say this is because from Miss Malaysia to martial arts actresses to Oscar actresses, Michelle Yeoh's road of "being seen" has been extremely difficult.
40 years of hard work, half a lifetime of waiting, what kind of complex can make her persistent all the way?
01
Jackie Chan's absence
Achieved Michelle Yeoh's best actress
"Instantaneous Universe" is co-directed by ghost directors Kwan Jiayong and Danny Schner.
At the beginning, the protagonist in the film, "Asian husband who saved the world", was definitely played by Jackie Chan, and Michelle Yeoh played the protagonist's wife.
Unfortunately, Jackie Chan schedule conflict.
The directors were defeated, but they quickly adjusted their thinking, why not replace the husband who saved the world with a wife?
In this way, Michelle Yeoh, who can do kung fu, has acting skills, and has worked hard in the European and American film industry for many years, is very suitable.
The only thing to do is to change the script, but if Michelle Yeoh does not accept it, the script is scrapped.
I never thought that the director's bold attempt to move wisely became an opportunity for Michelle Yeoh to change her life.
In this film, Michelle Yeoh changed her usual image of "beating women" and played Evelyn Wang, an Asian woman living in the United States.
Like most middle-aged Asian women in the United States, Evelyn Wang had a not-so-wonderful family.
With a cowardly husband, a rebellious daughter, and an elderly father with mobility problems to support, the family is supported by running a community laundry.
In the day-to-day work, Evelyn Wang has greasy hair, a sallow complexion, and loose skin, but she has long lost the heart to take care of herself. Wearing the simplest clothes every day, he shuttles between home and laundromat with his back, worrying about all kinds of trivial matters.
The sudden arrival of an IRS ticket became a prelude to the arrival of this family storm.
Immediately afterwards, because the daughter liked the same sex, the war between the mother and daughter was about to break out, the husband was out of control and divorced, and the old father in the wheelchair was still talking next to him...
All this stirred Evelyn Wang's long-tense nerves, and just when she was on the verge of collapse, a family upheaval came.
That cowardly husband is possessed by "Alpha Webmon" from a parallel time and space, and he travels through time and space, just to warn his wife: because of the existence of the big devil, the world is in danger, and only you are the savior of this parallel universe.
This big devil is a variant of her daughter Joy. And all Evelyn Wang has to do is use all her skills to stop her daughter from destroying the world.
She travels through each different self, experiences a variety of lives, explores the meaning of being loved and alive, reconciles with her daughter, and finally succeeds in saving the world and finding herself.
After reading the script of "Instantaneous Universe", Michelle Yeoh was excited:
"That's the role I've always dreamed of, all the things I want to try, everything I want to express."
More importantly, there is no previous fight and killing in the play, all literary dramas, and this is what Michelle Yeoh likes the most.
"It's rare that they trust me in my literary and artistic parts. I will definitely repay this trust. ”
In order to make this movie well, she appeared completely without makeup, stopped the fitness that she had maintained for many years, and let her skin loosen and fall, her hair became greasy, and her eyes were tired.
However, such a seemingly ordinary character, Michelle Yeoh claimed: I have been preparing for this for 60 years, and now I can finally prove that I can be funny, sincere, and sad. I was finally seen.
As the brightest actor of Asian descent, why did she respond like this?
02
Accidentally hit and entered the entertainment industry
Michelle Yeoh was born in a Malaysian Chinese family and came from a privileged family, and began to study piano, painting, dance and other courses at the age of 4, and was admitted to the Royal Academy of Dance at the age of 15.
Because of a spinal injury, Michelle Yeoh's dance dream was forced to stop, but the artistic flame in her heart was not extinguished.
At the age of 18, she signed up for a local beauty pageant with her family's arrangement.
The kind of behavior of scratching her head in front of everyone, Michelle Yeoh felt very bored, but she couldn't resist her mother's insistence and went anyway.
Unexpectedly, Michelle Yeoh won the championship in one fell swoop, and was elected Miss Moomba of Melbourne, which also opened the door to the entertainment industry.
The first time I shot an advertisement, I cooperated with Jackie Chan, who was on fire at the time, to endorse the watches of Hong Kong jeweler Pan Disheng's family.
After the advertisement was broadcast, it was well received by the public.
Immediately afterwards, Michelle Yeoh took on a second advertisement, and the object of cooperation was the big coffee Chow Yun-fat.
It is lucky to encounter such a good resource as soon as he debuted, and it is also due to Michelle Yeoh's own superior conditions.
Soon after, jewelers Dison Pan and Sammo Hung jointly established the "Debao" film and television company, and Dison Pan admired Michelle Yeoh for a long time, and the first person the company signed was Michelle Yeoh.
It's just that what develops first than the career is love.
Not long after Michelle Yeoh joined the company, she fell in love with Pan Disheng. The company's resources are naturally tilted towards Michelle Yeoh.
In 1984, she received her first role, the female teacher in the action comedy "Owl and Dumbo", a weak, delicate "vase" who only cries when encountering difficulties.
At that time, this was the general definition of women in mainstream society.
However, Michelle Yeoh is not satisfied with such a "vase" role.
Why can't you save yourself? Why do she have to rely on others, she decided to break the limits of the rules and take a path that is very different from the mainstream.
At that time, martial arts action movies were all the rage in Hong Kong, and the protagonists in the film showed their skills and fought for themselves, and Michelle Yeoh was very moved.
She herself studied ballet, and her movements are very similar to martial arts, as long as she is trained.
However, her idea was opposed by Sammo Hung: "There are very few women filming, very tired and bitter." ”
But Michelle Yeoh doesn't care, she just wants to break through people's stereotypes of women.
At her repeated insistence, Sammo Hung allowed her to study in Hong's class.
After half a year of training, Michelle Yeoh cut off her long hair, took off her gorgeous clothes, and kicked and ran for 5 or 6 hours a day, without stopping. It is also necessary to complete the difficult hanging Weiya, fall from a height, and after training every day, the body is often blue and purple.
In order to persuade her, Sammo Hung did not allow her to rest when she was injured, and often added difficult movements to her.
However, what Michelle Yeoh decided is difficult and will never look back.
After half a year of hard training, Michelle Yeoh made a stunning appearance in the action movie "Royal Senior Sister".
Beautiful backflips, sharp fighting moves, stunned everyone. Michelle Yeoh was also nominated for the Best Newcomer Award at that year's Academy Awards.
03
"Beating women" is a difficult road to growth
However, the glamorous screen image is "a wound".
The first time a martial arts film was filmed, many actions were inevitably wrong, and Michelle Yeoh had to reshoot it over and over again. As a result, after filming, I found that my wrists and arms were full of large bruises, and it was difficult to even turn over when sleeping.
But she did not stop, and successively filmed many action films such as "Royal Warrior", "Chinese Warrior", "Babel Thief" and so on, with her wonderful performance, Michelle Yeoh soon became the "woman" in the audience's mouth.
The career map has just opened, but she made a decision that stunned the surroundings: temporarily stop shadowing and get married.
Influenced by her mother, Michelle Yeoh feels that a woman's life is complete only if she gets married and has children. So when the handsome and golden Pan Disheng came to the door to propose, Michelle Yeoh agreed without hesitation.
After marriage, Michelle Yeoh tried her best to be a good wife, she stopped filming, stayed at home with peace of mind, served her husband, and took care of her 6-year-old stepdaughter.
However, within 3 years, she was tired of this selfless life.
She then realized that she was not a traditional woman, and that being married and teaching children was not her goal in life.
Soon, her husband had an affair, Michelle Yeoh's values of marrying and having children completely collapsed, and she resolutely divorced her husband and devoted herself to her career again.
Michelle Yeoh's strength that she has held for 3 years seems to explode in an instant, and she has successively filmed many martial arts films such as "Police Story 3: Super Police" and "Akin", and every fight is like giving her all.
During the filming of "Super Police", difficult stunt scenes such as riding a motorcycle to the top of a train and picking up a truck with bare hands were all completed without protective gear and without a stand-in.
In one of the scenes, Michelle Yeoh broke three ribs, and if Jackie Chan hadn't pulled her, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
When the movie was released, the film party specially added subtitles at the end to greet her.
During the filming of "Akin's Story", she jumped from a 5-meter-tall building, because the protection facilities were not perfect, her head was just stuck between two mattresses, her body was folded in half, and she was almost paralyzed.
With the blessing of one action movie after another, Michelle Yeoh has become a well-deserved "beating girl".
A large number of international production teams have invited her to collaborate, including the film "007: Tomorrow's Empire".
In the film, the female agent Lin Hui, played by Michelle Yeoh, was born and died together with the male protagonist Bond. The smooth, sturdy movements shocked everyone.
The American "Entertainment Weekly" commented on Michelle Yeoh: "She is an irreplaceable Bond girl, with her beautiful skills, she has laid down her career in Hollywood." ”
However, in the past roles, Michelle Yeoh had too many fighting moves and few language lines, leaving the impression that she was only good at dancing and playing with her fists and feet.
These action films have accumulated audience popularity for Michelle Yeoh, but they have also limited her development.
Lu Yu once said: Those who have achieved Michelle Yeoh are also limiting her in some way.
This deeply disturbed Michelle Yeoh, who wanted not a tool person who could only fight, but a real actor with real emotions.
Until Ang Lee came to the door with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".
04
The metamorphosis from "beating women" to "shadow queens"
She was finally seen
Ang Lee once said that looking at the role of Yu Xiulian, I feel that it was written on the basis of Michelle Yeoh.
"She has a foundation in martial arts and acting skills, but she lacks a good role, and Yu Xiulian is customized for her."
Different from previous roles, Yu Xiulian in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", this role must not only be able to fight, but also act.
After reading the script, Michelle Yeoh was very happy, isn't this what she has been waiting for for a long time? She signed immediately.
"No matter how beautiful the action is, it will be boring to watch too much, and the real emotions will endure, and if you want to go further, you can't just fight."
During the filming process, Michelle Yeoh suffered a lot.
In the first part of the fight, she was injured because of excessive force, her ligaments were ruptured, and the pain was unbearable.
Michelle Yeoh anxiously asked the director: "Will you lower your requirements because of this?" Ang Lee replied: No, Michelle Yeoh is relieved.
In Li An's vision, the heroine Yu Xiulian is good at various weapons and martial arts of various schools. To this end, a row of weapons was prepared on the set, including common knives, guns, hooks, shovels, whips, swords, etc.
And Michelle Yeoh did not disappoint Li An, and all kinds of weapons made it easy to move through the clouds and waters. This scene is almost a summary and report performance of her nearly 20 years of experience in action dramas.
When she is not filming, she ponders the part of the literary drama and strives to show the real side.
Facts have proved that Michelle Yeoh not only has excellent martial arts skills, but also has quite outstanding literary drama.
When Li Mubai's life was in danger, she held the other party's head, her hands trembled, and her tears did not fall, restraining the pain of about to burst.
The superb interpretation not only moved Ang Lee in front of the camera to tears, but also moved the audience outside the play.
After the filming of the film, a foreign writer said: "Yu Xiulian interpreted everything with just one look. ”
Ang Lee himself also gave Michelle Yeoh a high evaluation: "She is not a martial arts star, she is a very good actor, and she has very good skills." ”
38-year-old Michelle Yeoh, in addition to the name of "beating women", finally has the label of "acting".
But unfortunately, with this role, Michelle Yeoh was only nominated for Best Actress at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards, Hong Kong Film Awards and BAFTA Awards, and did not win.
A few years after "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Michelle Yeoh did not make any good movies, and her life fell into a trough.
She has been in love for two times, and both men have asked her to return to the family and teach her husband and son, but Michelle Yeoh flatly refuses.
Two films were planned, and the box office was all broken.
In desperation, Michelle Yeoh decided to return to Hollywood to find opportunities.
She said: "Although I don't mind hitting the label of a woman, I don't want to stop there, Michelle Yeoh should have more possibilities." ”
05
Half a life of perseverance, hard work
In those years, Michelle Yeoh took on 6 Hollywood blockbusters, such as "Memoirs of a Geisha", "Crazy Rich Asians", "Aung San Suu Kyi" and so on.
The performance of almost every work is remarkable.
"Memoirs of a Geisha", her lines and scenes are very few, but she uses subtle expressions and body movements, walking between Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi, and it is still difficult to hide her brilliance.
In "Crazy Rich Asians", she plays the traditional mother of the Chinese male protagonist, with a powerful aura that can be terrifying with one look. Without saying a word, she could feel the change in her state of mind with just a small movement.
Director Zhu Haowei ranked her on the same level as Meryl Streep.
These films have received a good box office, "Crazy Rich Asians" has a box office of more than 100 million, Michelle Yeoh was invited to walk the Oscar red carpet, but it still didn't receive anything.
As some professional film critics put it: "The arrogance and prejudice of Western mainstream aesthetics against Eastern culture is still there, which is the sadness and bitterness that every Chinese actor who tries to break into Hollywood has had." ”
No one feels this more deeply than Michelle Yeoh.
The first time I went to Hollywood to make a movie, someone told her: In a world dominated by white people, you and black people can only choose one protagonist.
The first time she went to a meeting, she was the focus and was asked many times: "Oh my God, you actually speak English?" ”
Most of the job offers stuffed over are stereotypical roles of discrimination against Asians, and Michelle Yeoh bluntly said that she could not accept them.
It's just that she never gave up, and within the range of options, she kept trying to prove herself and make herself seen.
"It shouldn't have been related to the color of my skin, but this fight has always existed, at least let me try."
Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" gave Michelle Yeoh her first chance to fully show it, and now the movie "Instantaneous Universe" has finally allowed her to prove herself again.
She is not only martial arts, but also funny, sincere, or sad.
The Oscar statuette is not only an affirmation of Michelle Yeoh's acting skills, but also an opportunity to break the prejudice of mainstream Western culture.
As Michelle Yeoh said in her testimonial: "It's not just about me personally, it's about every Asian girl like me." We want the world to see us and hear us. ”
Fortunately, she never gave up.
Evelyn Wang went from superhousewife to superman who saved the world in 139 minutes;
Michelle Yeoh has spent half her life from Miss Chinese Malaysia to Oscar winner.
But what does that matter? Race, color, gender, age, have never been qualifiers for pursuing dreams.
As long as you want, the possibilities are endless for everyone.
——end——
Text | Xuanjie
Editor-in-charge|To the evening
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