Michelle Yeoh recently spoke to Cate Blanchett as part of Variety’s Actors on Actors series where she shared how she told directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert to make a change in EEAAO. “With the Daniels, I had to see if they were certifiably insane, in the best possible way. It’s very important that I feel the director is a visionary and I’m one of their tools. The only thing I said to them was, ‘The character cannot be called Michelle Wang.’ 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.’ That was the only thing. I’m like, ‘If you don’t change the name, I’m not coming in,’” Yeoh said.
While this was the major change that Michelle Yeoh asked for, the Daniels themselves changed their script to accommodate the Crazy Rich Asians actor. “They initially wrote it for a man,” Yeoh revealed. “I think it’s the norm, because it would be easier to finance. It would be easier to understand that a guy would multiverse jump. But then they changed it into a mother role, which actually suits the Daniels so much more, because they’re surrounded by very strong, smart women.” We’re glad that the Daniels made the changes and gave Michelle Yeoh a truly amazing role. With that in mind, we’re hoping the film gets more awesome awards in the future. Everything Everywhere All At Once received six nominations at the 80th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy and Best Director.
