Speaker 1: Look man, oh, I see you? Why why? And look
Speaker 1: over there? How is that culture? Yes? Goodness, let ding
Speaker 1: Dong c it's just me and Bow because we are
Speaker 1: we are postcoital right now, we're postcoital. We have postnut clarity.
Speaker 1: Joy we Um didn't have all the time in the
Speaker 1: world with our guests by now. You know it's Michelle Yo,
Speaker 1: you're looking at the title the app. You know she's
Speaker 1: been doing days of press for this movie, everything everywhere,
Speaker 1: all at once, which you must see if you haven't already.
Speaker 1: And in fact, we do get into some spoilers. So
Speaker 1: just if you're listening now, just know, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: hold off on listening to this episode. Please go see
Speaker 1: the movie first. Yeah, implore you, because we really get
Speaker 1: into you know, we really talked to her about what
Speaker 1: it was like to work on this and it was
Speaker 1: just such a special conversation. It's really I mean, this
Speaker 1: is when I think one of my favorite moments we've
Speaker 1: had on the podcast. Not likely because you know, she's
Speaker 1: such an incredible icon of screen and just like cinema history,
Speaker 1: but also she was a very real person and I
Speaker 1: think that she had a lot to say that like
Speaker 1: really resonated about how she prepares and how she's never
Speaker 1: stops learning when she's on set, and she just really
Speaker 1: a very grounded person and you wish that someone like
Speaker 1: her gets her do like this, you know what I
Speaker 1: really do, you really do? And it's that you know,
Speaker 1: classic thing where at this point, you know, this is
Speaker 1: something that Matt says all the time, which is can
Speaker 1: anyone else do this role? Can anyone else you know
Speaker 1: do which this actor does in any given project, And
Speaker 1: we definitely feel like that's not the case with Michelle
Speaker 1: and everything everywhere all once, like the role was written
Speaker 1: for her. There there there aren't that many Asian female
Speaker 1: actresses who can pull off action in a sci fi comedy,
Speaker 1: who can pull off physical comedy as well as martial
Speaker 1: arts like that is like she's I've listened to her
Speaker 1: talk about the nuance and the difference between physical comedy,
Speaker 1: which he's never done before and martial arts, which she has,
Speaker 1: and like how much fun it was for her anyway,
Speaker 1: We're really just like soaring from this interview. It was
Speaker 1: so fun. It's a little bit tighter than usual because
Speaker 1: of the time constraints we had, but so much fun.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just unreal because I've seen the movie
Speaker 1: now twice as as you'll hear, and I'm so overwhelmed
Speaker 1: because it's that thing bo you know, way back when
Speaker 1: we first met the people that we we all met,
Speaker 1: and like you had a feeling about certain people and
Speaker 1: then coming to find out it happened to be true.
Speaker 1: So Stephanie Shoe is like our old friend from college.
Speaker 1: Like I think we probably all met when we were
Speaker 1: like nineteen nineteen, I was probably I was eighteen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so but when his famously a little bit younger than us,
Speaker 1: what she just mentioned, um, which was which was? Which
Speaker 1: was not rude um at all to mention his young age.
Speaker 1: But Stephanie is literally one of those people that you
Speaker 1: meet and it's just yeah, she's truly limitless in terms
Speaker 1: of what she's able to do. I'm also really happy
Speaker 1: that she got to show off her beautiful voice in
Speaker 1: this movie. Um. So it's everything I mean, and it
Speaker 1: really bowled me over bow because more and more I'm
Speaker 1: realizing that, like those people that we had a good
Speaker 1: feeling about from way back, actually that was true, you know,
Speaker 1: And how how lucky to be in the orbit of
Speaker 1: some of these people. I Mean, this is such a
Speaker 1: incredible performance, and all the performances are amazing, but I
Speaker 1: have to like sit here and tally as well, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like you gotta see it to
Speaker 1: believe it. I texted you right after I saw it
Speaker 1: the first time. I was like, Steff is gonna blow
Speaker 1: your fucking mind. And you know what's funny, It's like,
Speaker 1: first of all, this is like the most Steph movie
Speaker 1: of all time, like from everything from like from like
Speaker 1: the Chaos of It to like the Bagel. I was like,
Speaker 1: Steph found the step Shoe movie to do. And maybe
Speaker 1: you know step from Marvelous Mrs masl or you've seen
Speaker 1: her on Broadway. She was in SpongeBob and be More Chilled,
Speaker 1: so people are aware of her, but now they're going
Speaker 1: to become super aware of her. Just watching my friend.
Speaker 1: It's crazy because she was there, like she does all
Speaker 1: these different things, but she was there the whole time,
Speaker 1: and I was like in this in this amazing way,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, And I was just like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, that's step I know. You know, she
Speaker 1: always says like, oh I gave up on comedy because
Speaker 1: the hours were crazy and she had other things going on.
Speaker 1: But like she was doing political subversities. It was the
Speaker 1: show in New York City, like at the same theater
Speaker 1: that pap Roulette did. Shows out like step Is, which
Speaker 1: is one of those people that you would like kind
Speaker 1: of run into all the time and be like, oh,
Speaker 1: what are you working on? And to see her do
Speaker 1: this is really incredible and I just were so so
Speaker 1: so thrilled. We must have her on the podcast and
Speaker 1: I'll sort of mention some stuff to her then, But
Speaker 1: I'm just thinking back to the conversations we had in
Speaker 1: college and truly like such a like a great friend,
Speaker 1: and I just like I'm sitting around like emotional. I'm
Speaker 1: so emotional about the movie because of the messages in it,
Speaker 1: but also it's just really special to see someone that
Speaker 1: you care about who's so talented, I know, just and
Speaker 1: and so full of love and always was supportive of us,
Speaker 1: which she would. We we shared a couple of days
Speaker 1: on set together at Nora. This was right before she
Speaker 1: was about to start. Daniels directed that episode of Nora.
Speaker 1: The Daniels directed the flashback episode of Nora from Queens
Speaker 1: where you know at all like it's Grandma telling Nora
Speaker 1: like her story and it all kind of gets shot
Speaker 1: in the style of like a seed drama or a
Speaker 1: K drama, and you know, and that's where the Daniels
Speaker 1: like met like Harry shrom Jr. Who's who's in the movie.
Speaker 1: She's so funny, so great. I've never been more excited
Speaker 1: to support a project that, like I had nothing to
Speaker 1: do with, which sounds so disgustingly vain, But it is
Speaker 1: weird when someone's like so hype for something that, like
Speaker 1: in our business at least, like it's someone's hype for
Speaker 1: something that like they hadn't no part of. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: we need more of that. I totally agree, I I
Speaker 1: because I always feel like that's how we get interesting. Yes,
Speaker 1: I don't, I don't. I don't even know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: It's just like, I mean, that's really what I want
Speaker 1: this podcast to be anyway as I would I would
Speaker 1: love you know, that's so interesting talking about likesodes in
Speaker 1: like what we wanted to be. But I guess that's
Speaker 1: a good sign that, like, you know, now that we're
Speaker 1: able to have access to someone like Michelle Yo, like,
Speaker 1: it's so mind blowing. But I do think that, like,
Speaker 1: especially nowadays, when people aren't necessarily going out to the theater,
Speaker 1: Like I'm happy like that that, like there's things out
Speaker 1: there that are there's really challenging things out there available
Speaker 1: to us that we can go see. Like I'm going
Speaker 1: to New York um next week and I'm gonna see
Speaker 1: five Broadway shows and I haven't done that in years.
Speaker 1: But I think there's like there's like a renewed interest
Speaker 1: in me and like seeing things and absorbing things, and
Speaker 1: I think that that's that's like a really important thing
Speaker 1: now that the world is opening back up, as I
Speaker 1: knock fucking would, but um, like gotta get out there
Speaker 1: and see stuff and then share what you loved about
Speaker 1: it with people. I mean, I know that's like a simple,
Speaker 1: maybe like you know, sort of stupid thing to say,
Speaker 1: but like tell people what you like, I mean like,
Speaker 1: and I guess that's what is. So that's like this
Speaker 1: podcast and that's what I want it to be. And
Speaker 1: that's why I feel like, while this feels like a
Speaker 1: crazy episode for us, because I never in a million
Speaker 1: years bo that we started this on fucking Mercer Street
Speaker 1: in New York thought that we would get to the
Speaker 1: point where we could have Michelle Yo on our podcast.
Speaker 1: But now that we can. It's like I'm so excited
Speaker 1: because I genuinely feel like I can't express enough how
Speaker 1: this movie enriched me um likewise, and like there aren't
Speaker 1: that many movies that I can like rattle off that
Speaker 1: have had such an effect on me like you have.
Speaker 1: I didn't even get to say this to her. I
Speaker 1: watched that movie. All I can think about is my mom.
Speaker 1: And that's what that's what, that's what I that's what
Speaker 1: I think about. I think by my mom all the time.
Speaker 1: When I see Michelle Young movies. I remember going to
Speaker 1: Crouching Tiger with my mom being like, wait, she kind
Speaker 1: of talks like my mom does, and like she has
Speaker 1: this same sort of like warmth and energy and strengthen whatever. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I'm just talking about my mom now. But with everything
Speaker 1: ever where everyone at all at once is literally the
Speaker 1: story of this woman who's like, what if I had
Speaker 1: done things differently? My mom in her loving way. She's
Speaker 1: not saying this in like a way to like give
Speaker 1: me an existential crisis or like throttle me into that
Speaker 1: kind of crisis, but she always is, like you know,
Speaker 1: I think about all the time if I had stayed
Speaker 1: in China, like I would have been this very successful doctor,
Speaker 1: I would have not had you because you're the second child,
Speaker 1: because you know, back then it was one child only,
Speaker 1: Like in Cheap it's a very common thing in the
Speaker 1: immigrant experience, at least, not to make specifically about that,
Speaker 1: to be like what if it's very much about that though,
Speaker 1: no it and but it's a universal thing, like everybody
Speaker 1: walks this going what if I had done things differently?
Speaker 1: What if things were different enough that we're out of
Speaker 1: my control? You know, like everyone is in that space
Speaker 1: all the time, And it's the perfect concept to bring
Speaker 1: into a multiverse movie. It's just so I loved this
Speaker 1: movie so much. It's so smart on so many different levels.
Speaker 1: And it's also fun and it's moving, and it's because
Speaker 1: and it's because the thing about this film is and
Speaker 1: we should just say, it's also wild. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: it's a truly crazy movie. And you will be asked
Speaker 1: asking yourself, what the hell is going on? You've never
Speaker 1: seen anything like this, and then it becomes clear. But
Speaker 1: the thing is, while it is so expensive and so
Speaker 1: ambitious and so audacious, it's also very simple in terms
Speaker 1: of the story. It's actually just about a family trying
Speaker 1: to come back together, and it's about realizing what you have,
Speaker 1: and it's about understanding possibility but embracing reality. And it's
Speaker 1: just it's just so it's about accepting whatever reality you're in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and noticing, noticing it was so good and also especially
Speaker 1: and blah blah blah. But in a time when everything
Speaker 1: is a sequel or you know, a franchise movie, like
Speaker 1: you gotta go out and support this movie. What we
Speaker 1: say in the episode, like put on a mask if
Speaker 1: that makes you feel better, if you haven't been out
Speaker 1: to the theaters, like this is the movie to go see.
Speaker 1: You won't regret it. You really won't regret it. It's
Speaker 1: not the kind of movie that you will be like whatever, no, no,
Speaker 1: no, no no, no no. At the very least, you'll have
Speaker 1: a strong reaction. Yes, yes, yes, yes yeah. And isn't
Speaker 1: it fun to go to a movie and potentially hate it.
Speaker 1: I don't think you will, you won't. But but also
Speaker 1: like I don't know, like it made me feel all
Speaker 1: the feelings. I mean, I just I did not just
Speaker 1: say yeah, but that's like it's just I don't know,
Speaker 1: it really transported me back to like I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe even feeling like that childlike thing of like going
Speaker 1: to the movies and something just is completely new. It's
Speaker 1: movie magic. And she she not just not just spoil
Speaker 1: the interview. And you know, if you haven't skipped all
Speaker 1: the way to when Michelle Yo starts talking god Less,
Speaker 1: you think you're listening to us talk, but she gets
Speaker 1: into that, like, yeah, movie magic. Like it's this thing
Speaker 1: that's kind of hard to come by. Especially I felt
Speaker 1: this way before I saw the movie, Like I feel
Speaker 1: like I've been a little desensitized, just a little bit
Speaker 1: desensitized to like the viewing experience or the intake or
Speaker 1: consumption of something that I'm watching because I'm like in
Speaker 1: bed watching it like from a TV or an iPad
Speaker 1: or like it's sedentary, it's passive. Like there's something so
Speaker 1: literally activating about this movie that you watch it and
Speaker 1: you cannot help but go, oh my god. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's sensory overload that happens in that atmosphere. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: that is not replicable at home. It really isn't unless
Speaker 1: you have, like, you know, a crazy Dolby set up
Speaker 1: or something. Unless you have a crazy Dolby set up, honey, experience,
Speaker 1: it's it's really culture number four. You're not going to
Speaker 1: get that experience, honey anyway, as do we have any
Speaker 1: anything else to say? It's a bit of nothing else say.
Speaker 1: I'm like so tapped from this conversation, Like I'm just excited.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited. She was so generous with us, just
Speaker 1: was so honest. She was giving ponytail through a white
Speaker 1: baseball cap. Girl, can we talk about I guess people
Speaker 1: know this already, but a hard reminder needs to be
Speaker 1: set that, like this is a fucking style legend, glamour icon,
Speaker 1: glamour icon. She just came out with her interview magazine
Speaker 1: photos where she looks fucking amazing. Um, the Ring and
Speaker 1: crazy rich Asians is her ring? Oh wow, did you
Speaker 1: hear that? Have you heard the story? I think I
Speaker 1: actually do like like like the props, like like like
Speaker 1: because the ring is like a plot point. It's like
Speaker 1: the like the Young Ring, and it's like the eleanor
Speaker 1: Young Ring, and it's like they like did like a
Speaker 1: pretty generic looking but still like you know, like something
Speaker 1: that communicates wealth or whatever that this family has. But
Speaker 1: she came on to set or she saw the ring
Speaker 1: for the first time, she was like, no, one better,
Speaker 1: I have a collection she has. This woman is like
Speaker 1: very unassuming and a lot of ways. But also I'm
Speaker 1: just reminded of the fact that she is married to
Speaker 1: the former CEO of Ferrari. Oh Jesus, Like, this woman
Speaker 1: knows fucking lavishness and luxury and yet she still is
Speaker 1: like such an artist in her way, and like it
Speaker 1: doesn't like would never let that show, like, doesn't let
Speaker 1: that inform anything about her in her work. That brings up.
Speaker 1: But I just I'm obsessed with that, Like she's a
Speaker 1: fucking glamour she's like it's it feels old Hollywood. It
Speaker 1: feels like so fucking Oh. I love it. It's so locks.
Speaker 1: But anyway, it's her ring that giant fucking emerald. I
Speaker 1: don't know what cut of diamond that is, but so beautiful. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this was I mean, we're we're doing the fluffing of
Speaker 1: the century here, this four player that we're doing with
Speaker 1: the readers. I say, let's just play the episode. You're
Speaker 1: gonna hear us ding dong again. The intro is very
Speaker 1: short with her. I swear to god, we're getting to
Speaker 1: MICHELLEO very very very soon. This feels like when you're
Speaker 1: about to get on the roller coaster, but like there's
Speaker 1: like a technical problem. It's like you waited for an
Speaker 1: hour and then you get there and they're like, we're
Speaker 1: experiencing technical difficulties and you're like, fuck off. Um, but
Speaker 1: with no with no further ado bo, that's welcome, Michelle,
Speaker 1: fucking come on, lost culture, racist calling oh boh, and
Speaker 1: it's a moment in time. Man, again, what was the
Speaker 1: last movie you saw multiple times in theaters? Besides everything everywhere,
Speaker 1: all at once. I would have to go back, but
Speaker 1: I can't remember, like sometimes a movie that I was
Speaker 1: immediately excited to see again, you know, like that's how
Speaker 1: it happened, especially in the theater, especially like pursuing the
Speaker 1: IMAX experience of it. I was like, I have to
Speaker 1: see this on a giant screen with a bunch of people.
Speaker 1: I will say this, The last time I saw a
Speaker 1: movie repeatedly, again and again and again was A Star
Speaker 1: Was Born with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, which I
Speaker 1: famously did see four times opening weekend. Now that does
Speaker 1: not mean that I wasn't equally moved by this new
Speaker 1: film Every Everywhere, all at once, which I've seen twice
Speaker 1: this week in the theaters and I know Bowen has
Speaker 1: as well, and I have to implore all of the
Speaker 1: readers of this podcast, everyone out there, to get to
Speaker 1: the theaters to see this. Bowen, I know you were
Speaker 1: as just as excited as I was. I was. It's
Speaker 1: it's the superlatives are are there? Aren't enough? Do you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. I think I told you immediately.
Speaker 1: Our friends Stephanie Shoe is in it. We went to
Speaker 1: college with her. I can't we can't wait to get
Speaker 1: into this, can't wait to talk about it with our guests. So, um,
Speaker 1: there's really no need to introduce her. I mean way,
Speaker 1: She's truly a legend in cinema in so many ways. Um,
Speaker 1: just we're so inspired and privileged to have her. So
Speaker 1: please welcome Michelle Yo. Hello, Oh my god. What an
Speaker 1: introduction to everything everywhere, all at once. I love you
Speaker 1: boys already well, especially because you have friends with my
Speaker 1: baby girls. Stephanie Shoe went to college with her. I
Speaker 1: did sketch comedy with Stephanie Schue. I first met her
Speaker 1: as you know, the hilarious, funny girl who could do anything,
Speaker 1: and then as I got to know her, I realized
Speaker 1: how she's so good with drama, musical. She's in completely
Speaker 1: insane person. She's everything everywhere all at once. Absolutely yes,
Speaker 1: I mean she is amazing in this She's amazing both
Speaker 1: stop anything. So you are very lucky to have met
Speaker 1: her at the early age and I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see all the amazing things that she will continue to
Speaker 1: do and the opportunity to do what was it like
Speaker 1: to what was like to set up that relationship and
Speaker 1: to sort of ground that into something that was very
Speaker 1: very convincing because by the end, I mean, Matt and
Speaker 1: I've talked about this, I I never cry at movies,
Speaker 1: and I did. I did cry multiple times both times
Speaker 1: I've seen it, especially in that last thing we won't spoil,
Speaker 1: but there's the last moment with you and Stephanie's character Joy,
Speaker 1: between Evalent and Joy, like, how how did you? What
Speaker 1: was the process like just getting into that relationship? Okay,
Speaker 1: but first of all, I really want I want to
Speaker 1: say thank you for you too having given the shout
Speaker 1: out about going to the cinemas this movie. It's shared
Speaker 1: experience and hello, Matt, if you don't watch it more
Speaker 1: than four times, I'm coming. Okay, Okay, it's the Lady Yaga.
Speaker 1: Step aside. Okay, he's going to say to Bratt, out
Speaker 1: of my way. That movie. This one is unique. It's different,
Speaker 1: right and right. It is like the primal way of
Speaker 1: our ancestors, where you sit under the stars and you
Speaker 1: have a great story telling. You have to see it
Speaker 1: in the cinema because that's when you devote yourself to
Speaker 1: that magic of filmmaking. And it's like you don't want
Speaker 1: to go on a roller coaster right by yourself. Never.
Speaker 1: This is like the most incredible roller coaster ride that
Speaker 1: you're going to have in the cinema, and you're doing it.
Speaker 1: You have to do it with people. You have to
Speaker 1: do it with your friends, your family and strangers. And
Speaker 1: the most important thing is like having conversations afterwards all
Speaker 1: the different issues, whether it's the mother and daughter, the
Speaker 1: father and daughter, the husband and wife, just a relationship.
Speaker 1: Look at the two antagonists, because you know the auditor,
Speaker 1: the tax auditor, who is like that you think the
Speaker 1: scariest person, but who is a real human being? And
Speaker 1: you need and you don't want to be left out
Speaker 1: of the conversation, do you When everybody's going have you
Speaker 1: seen this movie? Do you know what we're talking about?
Speaker 1: And God forbid, You're like, no, uh, it is that though.
Speaker 1: It is a cultural moment, and I really do believe
Speaker 1: that this movie is going to be something that as
Speaker 1: more people see it, as more people talk about it,
Speaker 1: is going to become a cultural conversation because it's unlike anything.
Speaker 1: It's unlike anything. It is. The Daniels are just I
Speaker 1: call them my evil geniuses because he had the audacity
Speaker 1: the courage to put it all on paper. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like five genres of filming in one movie. And
Speaker 1: they took a very ordinary, totally unsuccessful immigrant Asian aging woman,
Speaker 1: immigrant who is trying to pursue the American dream with
Speaker 1: the love of her life, came here to the complete
Speaker 1: disagreement and disapproval of her parents, especially of her horrible father.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry to have to say that. It's almost like
Speaker 1: a vicious circle. It's like, that's how you are. You.
Speaker 1: You understand that your parents want the best for you.
Speaker 1: They tell you what to do and you should do that,
Speaker 1: and God forbid you disobey them. And it's like when
Speaker 1: she sees her daughter, that is the one of the
Speaker 1: core of the movies is this mother daughter relationship. And
Speaker 1: you're right, Stephanie and I found the bond. We didn't
Speaker 1: we didn't have you know, we are an independent film.
Speaker 1: I only arrived in January. We had eight weeks to
Speaker 1: shoot this, thirty seven days. Because you know, there is
Speaker 1: a union. We can work like constantly, like twenty four seven. Right.
Speaker 1: So we but every character from Stephanie, myself, Kei Kwan,
Speaker 1: Jamie Lee, Curtis, James Hang, Peter Daniels, every character was
Speaker 1: completely invested and knew who they were. I saw, I
Speaker 1: see this woman on this we've passed by this Evelyn Wall,
Speaker 1: the supermarket, or when we are if we're in Chinatown,
Speaker 1: we see the mothers, the aunties, the grandmother's where they
Speaker 1: are weighed down by the responsibility of keeping the family together,
Speaker 1: keep being a business alive, you know, doing what is
Speaker 1: right and helping the fact the family survived. And she,
Speaker 1: you know, she doesn't walk straight. She literally waddles her
Speaker 1: way through. She's waiting through all these like problems and things.
Speaker 1: So what is the American dream? It is tough, It
Speaker 1: is oh so tough. But the Daniels have given her
Speaker 1: such a strong voice to highlight and to tell her
Speaker 1: story and give her an opportunity to be a superhero
Speaker 1: because at the end of the day, we believe in love,
Speaker 1: we believe in our family, and we will never give
Speaker 1: up on that, and that journey needed to be told
Speaker 1: in this way. This is something I've observed, and I
Speaker 1: don't know if this is what maybe jumped out at
Speaker 1: you when you first read the script, but I feel
Speaker 1: like in your career you portrayed power in such a
Speaker 1: such a wonderful way through so many ranges, through such
Speaker 1: a wide range of things, whether it's you know, eleanor
Speaker 1: Young or you know Star Trek with uh, you know Philip,
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, but it's like I mean, you know, or
Speaker 1: or even in Never Dies, Like I feel like the
Speaker 1: Michelle Yo in her roles up to this point has
Speaker 1: been about portraying a woman in power, which is wonderful.
Speaker 1: But this is someone you look at, Evelyn, and this
Speaker 1: is someone who is vulnerable at every level socially, economically, emotionally, physically.
Speaker 1: Did you recognize that to be something unique and different immediately,
Speaker 1: because you're right, like, this is a woman who've passed
Speaker 1: on the street, who was basically invisible to a lot
Speaker 1: of people. Like how how did you dive into that vulnerability?
Speaker 1: That's a great question. Thank you for that. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's very i think at the beginning of my
Speaker 1: career to show because we were all the ming boss
Speaker 1: the Asian woman is like the fragile you know, needs
Speaker 1: to be carefully catered too, and all those kind of
Speaker 1: like what her the very stereotypical indication of what it
Speaker 1: is to be an Asian woman, And for me it
Speaker 1: was very important spell no, no, no, no, we're not that.
Speaker 1: We are a mother. We are strong, where independent, we
Speaker 1: are in control of our lives. And it was it's
Speaker 1: a choice to portray and give a voice to that
Speaker 1: because we cannot be seen as the victims only. But
Speaker 1: with Evelyn Wong, she's not a victim. She is trying
Speaker 1: to be the strong, the successful and all that, but
Speaker 1: life has beaten her down in every turn of the way.
Speaker 1: And that's the reality that surround us. It's not that
Speaker 1: everybody gets to be successful, even though they give it
Speaker 1: their hundred and two percent, right, Unfortunately, that's the reality
Speaker 1: of life. But to be able to say, yes, she
Speaker 1: is a failure as so many things that she she does,
Speaker 1: but every failure becomes it's an impact on our lives
Speaker 1: and we have to learn to be, to learn from
Speaker 1: that and be stronger with that. And I think for
Speaker 1: Evelyn wrong, if she was not open to be always
Speaker 1: trying to be better or do something, she would not
Speaker 1: be able to go into these multiverses and tap into
Speaker 1: that and have an open mind. And I think that
Speaker 1: was what that really attracted, Yes, because we are all
Speaker 1: flawed characters, We are all flawed human beings. And in
Speaker 1: the beginning of my career playing the Strong, you know,
Speaker 1: more and more dynamic characters were important because it empowers
Speaker 1: you to believe that you can do this. And now
Speaker 1: it comes to a stage where it's like, I want
Speaker 1: to give the people who are not seen right the
Speaker 1: chance to have a voice and say they can have
Speaker 1: a different life too. And the Daniels have given us
Speaker 1: a perfect opportunity to say, well, guess what, in a
Speaker 1: science fiction world, we can you know, because you're going
Speaker 1: to be able to go into all these kind of
Speaker 1: worlds and see what could have happened. But what you choose,
Speaker 1: that's very that is I think, and I'm actually emotional
Speaker 1: even thinking about this um but what what moved me
Speaker 1: so much about the film was the message of choosing
Speaker 1: each other. And you know, even in seeing the vast
Speaker 1: possibility in choosing the love in your life and in
Speaker 1: noticing the things in your life that have actually given
Speaker 1: you the strength that you didn't know. Because even though
Speaker 1: Evelyn acquires skills, she uh and she's able to tap
Speaker 1: into these different universes, it is her the whole time,
Speaker 1: and she is the soul that we're with and and
Speaker 1: she is the person at the end of the film
Speaker 1: who makes the decision that she makes. And I cannot
Speaker 1: remember being more moved than um towards the end of
Speaker 1: the film when there is a specific montage with Keys
Speaker 1: character and you are and I just want to say, Michelle, like,
Speaker 1: there is so much power in the way that you
Speaker 1: receive that you are outstanding in this movie. I mean,
Speaker 1: it is an outstanding I will say it Oscar worthy performance.
Speaker 1: I know it's whatever, but this is the kind of
Speaker 1: thing where I just don't think there is another person
Speaker 1: in the world that could do this. And when I
Speaker 1: tell you how moved I was, it had so much
Speaker 1: to do with keys performance, but also the way you
Speaker 1: receive that and you can see the character realizing so
Speaker 1: much about her life, her reality and what she wants
Speaker 1: in that moment, so just that message I think is
Speaker 1: so important, you know, in showing the beauty and the
Speaker 1: love in a life that's big, but also a life
Speaker 1: that feels quote unquote small. And so I just was
Speaker 1: that something that jumped out to you in the script
Speaker 1: and maybe maybe made you say like absolutely is it?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, now you're making me emotional by the movie. No,
Speaker 1: I think what it is. It's like because when you
Speaker 1: read it, it resonates, you know, like you say with
Speaker 1: the husband and wife relationship, any relationship is continuous work.
Speaker 1: And sometimes we get sid swept, bobbed down by the things,
Speaker 1: problems and all those kind of things that we start
Speaker 1: looking at the other person like why couldn't you be
Speaker 1: better at this? But then we forget why did you
Speaker 1: fall in love with this person to change him? Right?
Speaker 1: You love him because he's a little dorky. He knows
Speaker 1: how to find like joy and beauty in the most
Speaker 1: horrible places, and he's trying to instill happiness, and that
Speaker 1: was why you loved him in the first place. And
Speaker 1: you were ready to have you abandon your family, your
Speaker 1: your parents, to go in search of a new life
Speaker 1: because you love this man. And I think some sense
Speaker 1: we get lost along the way, and I think what
Speaker 1: happened was like it didn't hit her until when she
Speaker 1: saw the divorce papers. They were like, what the f
Speaker 1: are you talking? It real? And then it was right.
Speaker 1: But that was his point. It was like, I don't
Speaker 1: really want a divorce, but I think this will force
Speaker 1: you to stop. Because it happened to somebody else. It
Speaker 1: stopped them to think. It's like, do you really value
Speaker 1: this relationship? And if you have lost complete respect and
Speaker 1: for the man or the woman and the relationship, then yes,
Speaker 1: maybe it's time to step away. Because you don't want
Speaker 1: to hate each other because it's it's a very fine line.
Speaker 1: But if there is real love, then you have to
Speaker 1: fight for it. You have to fight for each other
Speaker 1: and you have to continue to do that. I think
Speaker 1: where the Daniels were very, very clever when they wrote
Speaker 1: this is the emotional thread between each character with even
Speaker 1: like the simple you know and job pack. Then when
Speaker 1: he comes out with all these like amazing costumes and
Speaker 1: costable but I looked into her eyes and I see
Speaker 1: the longing of I'm looking for my mother, not you know.
Speaker 1: Even though my mouth says nothing matters, your eyes don't
Speaker 1: say that. And that's what I see from from that
Speaker 1: what bonds us together, because that's what Evelyn is seeing. Right.
Speaker 1: It's like you know how sometimes children they say the
Speaker 1: worst things. They're like, I wish you're dead or your
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. Would say it too because I wish
Speaker 1: we never had you, Like what, don't be so ridiculous, Okay,
Speaker 1: but you say things you think to hurt each other
Speaker 1: because you want them to feel the hurt you are feeling.
Speaker 1: And then you just take like sell things at each other.
Speaker 1: But that's where you know when you're working with someone
Speaker 1: like Key and Stephanie, who we look at each other
Speaker 1: and we see lot and we know this is where
Speaker 1: we have to go because if you don't believe that
Speaker 1: you love me, nobody else is going to. You know,
Speaker 1: your eyes are as an actor, the eyes had the
Speaker 1: windows to someone's soul. And I believe the Evilyn Wong
Speaker 1: as Stephanie believed enjoy and two parking. So you know
Speaker 1: when we walk into and that even though she's like
Speaker 1: clinging those adult toys around, what the hell? And that's
Speaker 1: where the geniuses of the Daniels are. They put you
Speaker 1: in the most unapologetic raunchiness silliness or whatever because you
Speaker 1: are thrown off Alan's your head is getting like messed
Speaker 1: up like Evelyn watch and then they pulled the rug
Speaker 1: from under you and they watch you fall going as genius.
Speaker 1: But this is something, This is like the opposite end
Speaker 1: of what you've always said that you know martial arts
Speaker 1: scenes are, which is there's always drama and emotional sticks
Speaker 1: to any fight scene you done. And even with even
Speaker 1: between these characters, even though there are all these insane
Speaker 1: visuals going on, there's still that dramatic core, that thread
Speaker 1: between these two characters that like makes you and you
Speaker 1: can't take your eyes off me because you understand what's
Speaker 1: going on on some different emotional, different level, the emotional
Speaker 1: curve for these two women they're fighting. You know, if
Speaker 1: it's like with Joebutupaki, she she thinks she's trying to
Speaker 1: kill this woman that's her mother, right, but she she's
Speaker 1: testing her to the limits is how much do you
Speaker 1: actually want me? Right? It's like our children test us
Speaker 1: all the time. From the minute they know how to crawl,
Speaker 1: they test you to see, right. That's what we do
Speaker 1: and that we do that with our friends, we do
Speaker 1: that with our the people that we love, right, You
Speaker 1: don't do that to people that you don't know because
Speaker 1: the reason time right. But you you test your limits,
Speaker 1: you test each other's limits constantly. But does that mean
Speaker 1: that you don't you love that person? That's why you're
Speaker 1: testing the boundaries. That's why you're you know, how much
Speaker 1: more than I can I achieve from this? And even
Speaker 1: with the fight sequences with like the Late lay Brothers,
Speaker 1: you know, with the mud clouds and all this kind
Speaker 1: of thing, it's all about survival. It's all about that
Speaker 1: and what I loved right at the end, you know,
Speaker 1: when I was doing it was like I opened my
Speaker 1: arms and I find love. At first, I was really like,
Speaker 1: what the hell are you two boys trying to do?
Speaker 1: It's like, how do you fight for love? That's a
Speaker 1: very interesting thing. How do you say I I'm going
Speaker 1: to now not fight you with the physical like you
Speaker 1: know you're coming with at me, with knives, at bombs,
Speaker 1: you know, the whole staircase. Yes, the other Alpha's is like,
Speaker 1: are they are ready to kill me? And ready to
Speaker 1: kill Evelyn? Wrong? And she has the google eyes and
Speaker 1: she suddenly realized all the googly eyes it is all
Speaker 1: about love and joy and this, but how do you
Speaker 1: present to them? It's like, I'm not gonna fight you
Speaker 1: with my face. I'm gonna embrace you and fight you
Speaker 1: with love. So we were standing that, going like, how
Speaker 1: do you do that? How do you present that? Well?
Speaker 1: I guess I would just go love your mama. This
Speaker 1: is something you know. We are in the industry, so
Speaker 1: we know this, but these films are shot out of
Speaker 1: sequence and so and so. So that must be a
Speaker 1: real mind f for you to sort of like, you know,
Speaker 1: have the script and you're reading the script and then
Speaker 1: you get a shoot schedule. And that is something that
Speaker 1: is also really impressive about your performance. Is it all
Speaker 1: feels it's extremely specific, emotionally and continuous, which has to
Speaker 1: be incredibly difficult because you could be shooting one scene
Speaker 1: that leads into another at the end of the shoot,
Speaker 1: from the beginning of the shoot. So how did what
Speaker 1: was your process for keeping that line that I am
Speaker 1: going to post on my Instagram very soon my script?
Speaker 1: How I normally work a script. It's like I tag
Speaker 1: you know, when you get your script, and I tagged
Speaker 1: them which are the scenes I'm appearing in? If it
Speaker 1: was the action sequence, they get a red tag. And
Speaker 1: if it was a very heavy dramatic one, it gets
Speaker 1: like a blue So you know, you work it out.
Speaker 1: And then because you have to see as the character,
Speaker 1: you see the entirety of the script. And that was
Speaker 1: how you the emotional arc of where you're going or
Speaker 1: whatever it is. I think one movie that I had
Speaker 1: was as challenging but not quite as this was The
Speaker 1: Lady where it's spanned like twenty years of her life.
Speaker 1: And like you said, we don't do it. Uh, you
Speaker 1: know in order that you never do. I mean for
Speaker 1: for so many reasons. So you have to know that
Speaker 1: if you go into the eighties or then the twent
Speaker 1: two thousand's, what is the mindset? Where are you going
Speaker 1: from your hair, your wardrobe or whatever that helps you
Speaker 1: recreate this this moment. But with everything everywhere all at once,
Speaker 1: it is everything everywhere all at once, yourself then you're like, well,
Speaker 1: what okay, I'm like back to this universe and then
Speaker 1: I'm jumping into the jail whatever. You know. You but
Speaker 1: when you see how I have tagged I am literally
Speaker 1: every scene of the emotional art goes wook, work, work
Speaker 1: go sideways, up and down and everything. It really is
Speaker 1: insane and The amazing thing is like, even though she
Speaker 1: goes into the other multiverse, Evelyn is still Evelyn Warm, right.
Speaker 1: She sees what this multiverse is about. She doesn't live
Speaker 1: that multiverse. It's not like Key his character Wayman when
Speaker 1: he is travel right, but in at universe he is
Speaker 1: who he is, like the CEO. He doesn't know about
Speaker 1: the other universes, so he is very contained with who
Speaker 1: Wayman is in that universe. But with her, it's like
Speaker 1: she sees, this is like why am I here? And
Speaker 1: can you imagine when she went into the hot Dog
Speaker 1: duteiverse Nightmare and agonists Jamie Lee Curtis whose dear dread
Speaker 1: whatever her name is like, and it's suddenly her lover
Speaker 1: and coming at her with these like hot dog fingers
Speaker 1: and wanting to hug her and kiss, said like, don't
Speaker 1: touch me, you know. And that was the amazing thing
Speaker 1: about the whole thing. It's like, first you have to
Speaker 1: know your spirit. I am like Stephanie. She is brilliant
Speaker 1: with ad living and you know she is quick to
Speaker 1: change and do And I said, I don't do that
Speaker 1: to me. Okay, I'm not I'm not gonna make up
Speaker 1: not not. We have to a certain guidelines that we're
Speaker 1: gonna do this the point. So then it's like when
Speaker 1: you get into all these things. One thing I always
Speaker 1: say to my dinos, you are my You're my anchors,
Speaker 1: right because we are going to be jumping from here
Speaker 1: to there all these kind of times. I'm gonna look
Speaker 1: to you and say, okay, and we passed out? We
Speaker 1: rock are we? I mean earlier? It's like and because
Speaker 1: it's into cutting the whole time. Yeah, the two geniuses
Speaker 1: know exactly where they're going with Lockin our DP, and
Speaker 1: I think at the end of the day with Paul
Speaker 1: our editor, oh my god, they had it down to
Speaker 1: the tea. Like the action sequences, we don't have much
Speaker 1: time to shoot it, right, We have like a day
Speaker 1: and a half or two days maximum for the entire
Speaker 1: sequence of you know, the thing and the dad and
Speaker 1: the butt plugs and all those kind of things. They
Speaker 1: have to know what they need and that time they
Speaker 1: can get attle bit more, but they first have to
Speaker 1: shoot what they need. I can't believe from like an
Speaker 1: art direction and set decoration standpoint that this was shot
Speaker 1: in eight weeks. That is crazy. That must have been
Speaker 1: like stepping into a completely different film every day. I
Speaker 1: think what grounded us was the I R. S Building.
Speaker 1: You're very fortunate, you know, when you're you're an n
Speaker 1: D film, you have to be creative. You have to
Speaker 1: know where you can save the money and you know
Speaker 1: put it where you need to spend it. And so
Speaker 1: with this abandoned I R S Building, it grounded us
Speaker 1: because we shot six weeks there in this place. You
Speaker 1: could build little sets and things like that in there,
Speaker 1: so we had a place to go to which we
Speaker 1: were familiar with. I mean, it was a huge place,
Speaker 1: but it us to to sort of have it centralized
Speaker 1: in some way. And I heard this great story from
Speaker 1: Keithway sharing having his dressing room next to Jamie Lee's,
Speaker 1: but Jamie Lee never being there. And then he finally
Speaker 1: was like, why are you ever in your dressing him?
Speaker 1: And she was like, even with her career that spans decades,
Speaker 1: she goes, I never learned anything in the dressing room.
Speaker 1: I always learned everything when while I'm on set, she is.
Speaker 1: She's not just an amazing talent, She's not just an
Speaker 1: amazing actress. She's an amazing human being. Thoughtful, she's generous,
Speaker 1: she's always giving, and she's always learning and that's what
Speaker 1: we all need to do, is that you wake up
Speaker 1: in the morning and not think I know everything, So
Speaker 1: why don't you just go back to sleep? That right?
Speaker 1: The whole process of being alive is about learning and
Speaker 1: experiencing and being there. And Jamie is going to it's
Speaker 1: it wants to direct her whole movie. She she will,
Speaker 1: you know that she will. I mean has children's books,
Speaker 1: she has her own podcast, she has so many things
Speaker 1: she's ever ever inventing and creating and things like that.
Speaker 1: So the next step for her is to tell her
Speaker 1: own story or direct her own film. Right, He's right,
Speaker 1: what is she going to live sitting in the you
Speaker 1: know she has she's and she's always out there because
Speaker 1: she loves people, always watching, and it's sometimes it's not fun.
Speaker 1: It's like the legendary Jamie is watching your performance? Why
Speaker 1: did you just go back have a cup of coffee? Break?
Speaker 1: But our our friend Tally Metal is as plays Stephanie's girl.
Speaker 1: She's so wonderful in this brob oh my god. Really
Speaker 1: that relationship that she has very very little lines, But
Speaker 1: it's not how much screen time you have, is what
Speaker 1: do impact? And she does such a beautiful presence that
Speaker 1: expressive eyes and face. She didn't have to say a word,
Speaker 1: but you can, you know. So that's exactly it was
Speaker 1: so well cast in that way she gave brilliant She
Speaker 1: was saying that you were so so kind to her.
Speaker 1: You were so just curious about her life. You made
Speaker 1: her feel so at ease, and I just I I
Speaker 1: read that she you know, she posted this to her Instagram,
Speaker 1: and I just got so emotional. I wasn't surprised that
Speaker 1: you were gracious, but I was like, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: like you're the star. You're setting the tone and the
Speaker 1: environment for that kind of project that is so ambitious,
Speaker 1: and um, I don't know, I just I just I
Speaker 1: just think that's so special that you and Jamie Lee
Speaker 1: and Kihi Kwan just being like these three people who
Speaker 1: have seen various signs to this business all coming together
Speaker 1: kind of like handing it down to another generation of people,
Speaker 1: not handing it down, not handing it down, being sharing.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, you know, like but but teaching and not yet,
Speaker 1: not yet, not yet, I'm so sorry, but teaching it
Speaker 1: in a way, you know, like I you know, I
Speaker 1: don't think I am good enough. All we don't try
Speaker 1: to teach. We try to share. And I think what
Speaker 1: it is just like when you see someone young and talented,
Speaker 1: you have to tell them that they are talented, but
Speaker 1: making them understand. Don't just take it for granted. I
Speaker 1: don't think I'm entitled. There is no entitlement. We have
Speaker 1: been in the business so long and you look at
Speaker 1: us and say, oh god, you guys are successful, legendary,
Speaker 1: la la la la. But every day we learn, we
Speaker 1: find things to learn. We don't just sit back and
Speaker 1: go well, you know, abow down to know. And I
Speaker 1: want them to already begin their incredible journey understanding. It's like,
Speaker 1: as long as you are grounded, you will fly to
Speaker 1: a lot of places, but you always feel the earth.
Speaker 1: But can you imagine if you fly and you don't
Speaker 1: know where to land, it's a long way down. You
Speaker 1: want that, Yeah, And it's it's interesting to hear you acknowledge, um,
Speaker 1: you know, people coming to you with this this verbiage
Speaker 1: of legend like you know, and even the movie is
Speaker 1: aware of that because when when you need to acquire
Speaker 1: the skill of martial arts, you know, there's a funny
Speaker 1: montage that cuts to essentially be roll of your life,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't in form that. But I wonder, like,
Speaker 1: what has it been that has kept you grounded and
Speaker 1: kept that mind mindset? I mean, you've worked with some
Speaker 1: incredible legendary people. I was looking at the list of
Speaker 1: directors you've worked with. I mean Angley, Rob Marshall, you know, upcoming,
Speaker 1: James Cameron. I mean, like, I'm gonna be asking about that,
Speaker 1: but I just I bet I'm sure I can ask
Speaker 1: and you will give me nothing you right now, But
Speaker 1: is it that is that the people you've worked with
Speaker 1: that have kept that instilled in you? What? What has
Speaker 1: what has anchored you? My family and friends, my real friends?
Speaker 1: You know, it's like I remember at the beginning, very start,
Speaker 1: and someone says, you have to remember every time, don't
Speaker 1: let every flash bulb like make you go. Always appreciate
Speaker 1: your your opportunities that you are given. I love what
Speaker 1: you do, because the data you don't love to do it.
Speaker 1: That means maybe it's time to find move on to
Speaker 1: something else that you find joy it. And yes, when
Speaker 1: you meet it's very interesting. The more successful they really are,
Speaker 1: the more grounded they are, they are not taken them
Speaker 1: back by the bs of you know, glitz and whatever
Speaker 1: it is. Yes, we love that, you know, when we
Speaker 1: walk down the red carpet and all this, because this
Speaker 1: is part and parcel of the allure, the magic the
Speaker 1: movies or you know, TV, and that gives our audience,
Speaker 1: our fans that Ah, it's not great. Yes, it's part
Speaker 1: of the whole thing. I mean, you don't really want
Speaker 1: to see your stars coming out in their sweatpants and
Speaker 1: go like yeah whatever, you know, yes, and for a
Speaker 1: night or two to dress up and have fun and
Speaker 1: you know, look fabulous. Why not. It's it's nice, it's fun.
Speaker 1: But do I want to do it every night now?
Speaker 1: Absolutely not. But I think what it is is like
Speaker 1: your real friends, your family, and it's not a lot
Speaker 1: of times you make real friends in this world as well. Right,
Speaker 1: They ground you because they remind you who you are.
Speaker 1: You're not some character in a movie or a TV series.
Speaker 1: You are who you are and you should never ever
Speaker 1: forget that and be present, you know, appreciate what you have.
Speaker 1: That's that's the thing that really grounds me. Wow, thank you.
Speaker 1: I mean, just going back to your script being tagged
Speaker 1: in all these ways, I mean, how did you develop
Speaker 1: the sense of for lack of a better word, I'm
Speaker 1: using this word again development, like because I feel like
Speaker 1: it's always so finely tuned that you always matched the
Speaker 1: tone of the project. But then this is just so
Speaker 1: you know, to go from like wild West Hong Kong
Speaker 1: beginning of Hong Kong cinema days where like no scripts,
Speaker 1: you just go in, they tell you what to say
Speaker 1: on the day and then you do it where you
Speaker 1: know you you don't have to think about it, like
Speaker 1: you know, on those sort of macro conceptual terms. But
Speaker 1: now you I be hearing you talk. I could hear
Speaker 1: you talk forever about the way you prepared for this roll,
Speaker 1: Like what what was the process like for what was
Speaker 1: your journey like to sort of get that instinct. It's
Speaker 1: learning along the way. It's like from No Squids and
Speaker 1: learning to shoot from the hip, you like whatever is
Speaker 1: thrown at me. I mean when we started, we don't
Speaker 1: have time for rehearsals. We have no rehearsals. You get there,
Speaker 1: you get on the set, you're all dressed in your
Speaker 1: your costume, and they will choreograph the action sequence. You
Speaker 1: learn it, you shoot it, and you do something else.
Speaker 1: And like you say, sometimes the lines are not given
Speaker 1: and you're going like well in two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,
Speaker 1: n oh, yeah, many of many times. And then finally
Speaker 1: when you see the final cut of New Oh, that
Speaker 1: is what's going on in that because they edit and
Speaker 1: they filmed so fast. I mean for the longest of time.
Speaker 1: Even Jackie chand we didn't have we didn't use we
Speaker 1: didn't dub our own movies, right, somebody else did it
Speaker 1: for us. It was only from when I did the
Speaker 1: song Sisters. That was the first time I actually it
Speaker 1: was I think it was recorded on the set prior
Speaker 1: to that, never because you know that it we didn't
Speaker 1: have that kind of technology. It wasn't done and it
Speaker 1: was much faster, easier after they edit and get someone
Speaker 1: to do it as you know, some altanious while we're
Speaker 1: filming the editor there someone is recording it. So that
Speaker 1: process didn't really come into play because there was no
Speaker 1: none of that time for it. But what you did
Speaker 1: learn was that you watched and you listen and it
Speaker 1: was like how these I was very fortunate to work
Speaker 1: with some of the best actors in Hong Kong as well,
Speaker 1: so I watched how they did it. It was like,
Speaker 1: I was fascinating, how the hell do you cry on?
Speaker 1: Like h Yeah, So what do you do? Where is
Speaker 1: that coming from? Right? And I think that's the time
Speaker 1: when you're young and you have to be like, I
Speaker 1: am a ding dong, I have no I am I
Speaker 1: am learning. And if I am so proud and say
Speaker 1: then you look nothing, I would go into like Deanie
Speaker 1: Yep and say please teach me. Wow. And you know,
Speaker 1: then you work with like Jungen or you know, all
Speaker 1: the amazing Maggie Chung and yeah, oh my god, we
Speaker 1: were best friends. But you know, I'm not afraid to
Speaker 1: ask my best friend. I have no clue what I'm doing. Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe I can do martial arts better than you, but
Speaker 1: when it comes to the performances, you guys, and Maggie
Speaker 1: is like an award winning actress is to have a
Speaker 1: conversation with her and like, so tell me how do
Speaker 1: you do this? But I must say it's also the directors,
Speaker 1: starting with you know, with Tomorrow That Never Dies really
Speaker 1: was my first international sure, and we have a bond
Speaker 1: girl in the zoom everyone, Okay, I have some respect
Speaker 1: to this is our first bond girl ever. On last culture,
Speaker 1: that's it's a huge moment. And I remember Rogers bodies
Speaker 1: were turning to me, and he says, do you know
Speaker 1: I can double you when it comes to the action.
Speaker 1: Don't need uh the martial artists or whatever it is.
Speaker 1: You are here because you demonstrated in your auditions that
Speaker 1: you can carry the role of playing Willie Lynn. You
Speaker 1: don't need us, uh, someone who can fight, because I
Speaker 1: can't double you when it comes to the emotion emotional time. Right,
Speaker 1: So that's where you learned that how you have to
Speaker 1: be invested in the character. And every director gives you
Speaker 1: something and taught me tremendously about giving the character a
Speaker 1: full background. Yeah, that's very clear when you we watched
Speaker 1: the film again last night, Crouching Tiger in preparation, in
Speaker 1: preparation for this, and even when you first come in
Speaker 1: and you see Chow Unfat for the first time, there
Speaker 1: is so much history on your film and it is
Speaker 1: very lived in and he's obviously an incredible director. Yes,
Speaker 1: because I've had the privilege of working with like Danny Boyle,
Speaker 1: like Rob Marshall and all these kinds of people. They
Speaker 1: it's a learning process. But if you are ding dong
Speaker 1: enough not to open your heart and mind to that,
Speaker 1: then you've lost great opportunities to learn and so you know,
Speaker 1: you gather all these kind of things and you learn
Speaker 1: how important the script is, how important the director is,
Speaker 1: how important your co stars are are because you know
Speaker 1: that making a movie or TV series is not a
Speaker 1: one person thing. It's true collaboration on all the different
Speaker 1: levels and all the people behind the scenes. And um,
Speaker 1: you know the crew that whether it's the gaff or
Speaker 1: the DP. You know the set designer, the costume designer,
Speaker 1: your hair and makeup. They help. They're the accessories that
Speaker 1: make this character, that help build this character and make
Speaker 1: a real They could really really, like you say, have
Speaker 1: a life. And and I, just because I know you're
Speaker 1: not gonna be able to tell us anything about the
Speaker 1: plot of the Avatar sequels which you are here, this
Speaker 1: is the question I will ask you. What did you
Speaker 1: learn working with James Cameron on these films? If that's
Speaker 1: something you can answer. He's a breaking genius. He is
Speaker 1: so creative, He multitased like madness. He he's a writer,
Speaker 1: he's the creator. He dreams of all these universes that
Speaker 1: we can't even begin to fat Okay, the one thing
Speaker 1: I said to him, can't you turn me blue? I
Speaker 1: don't want to like hope belise. So I also learned
Speaker 1: that he is also very resolute in his decisions. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he seems to be a capital D director. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: know what it is you have to be. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: how you have to be. You lead. It's a discipline,
Speaker 1: is a determination, the discipline, you know, the do you
Speaker 1: have to be the door. You have to be the
Speaker 1: one that says yes no. I imagine I have to
Speaker 1: visualize this. I have to fight for what I believe in,
Speaker 1: and it's the director, like here in the Daniels cases
Speaker 1: with them so, oh my god. Before but before I forget,
Speaker 1: you mentioned Maggie Chung. I just I just think it's incredible.
Speaker 1: It's it's an incredible everything everywhere all at once. It's
Speaker 1: incredible for movie lovers just because you you can't believe
Speaker 1: you're watching like snippets of a Wonk car Y film
Speaker 1: like you doing Maggie Chung. You know, I was gonna say,
Speaker 1: is doing Tony Long Like it's just so incredible, And
Speaker 1: I just think back to you in this movie, like
Speaker 1: for any after this would be so so so it's
Speaker 1: steeping yourself in so much work on a technical love obviously,
Speaker 1: it's just a masterclass. So Michelle, I'm just just congratulations.
Speaker 1: We do do a thing on the podcast where we
Speaker 1: brought this up to at the top, and I know
Speaker 1: you can answer it. We asked the good question what
Speaker 1: was the culture that made you say culture was for you?
Speaker 1: And I just want to know what was it When
Speaker 1: you can think back to your childhood or maybe when
Speaker 1: you were, you know, a teenager, how did you decide
Speaker 1: to go along this path of becoming you? Like, what
Speaker 1: was that thing you saw or received from the universe
Speaker 1: that made you say I'm gonna do this okay? As
Speaker 1: a child, I think it was very open to the
Speaker 1: world of music, dance, and my mom used to say,
Speaker 1: you know, you could dance before you walked and so.
Speaker 1: But I think one I never dreamed that I would
Speaker 1: be an actish. I did not have that dream. I
Speaker 1: was always like the ballet, so watching ballets and you know,
Speaker 1: seeing these ethereal creatures on the stage. But one thing
Speaker 1: that always fascinated me was the cinema. My mom was
Speaker 1: an avid cinema goal so human. As small child, we
Speaker 1: would go as a family to watch all these like
Speaker 1: whether it was Indian movies, comedies, love stories, Dracula, you
Speaker 1: imagine and my dad was like the nature of us
Speaker 1: so documentaries Tarzan ben Her, But that that feeling of
Speaker 1: the magic of cinema sitting there and I still see myself,
Speaker 1: you know, like watching like the Sound of Music, Wizard
Speaker 1: of Oz. It was like all the all the things
Speaker 1: that I love into that. But I did not understand
Speaker 1: at that point the magic of cinema, you know, telling
Speaker 1: a story, true cinema. It was just enjoying it and
Speaker 1: taking in that whole experience. Did it lead me to this?
Speaker 1: I I think when I was given the opportunity to
Speaker 1: join it, when I was went to Hong Kong to
Speaker 1: do the commercial to watch commercial with the Jackie Chan
Speaker 1: and I was given the opportunity to partake in this
Speaker 1: war old and you go like, oh my god, I
Speaker 1: remember the magic of it. Maybe I can be part
Speaker 1: of that. Maybe that was the culture thing that drew
Speaker 1: in And I had to say it sounds like it
Speaker 1: was yeah, right, So I said yes. And today I
Speaker 1: still recognize that as a fact. And I think when
Speaker 1: we went to watch everything everywhere all at once in
Speaker 1: south By Southwest, and I think for so many people
Speaker 1: it was the first time they had gone to the
Speaker 1: cinemas in two years. I think these last two years
Speaker 1: has been such an impact on people's lives and so
Speaker 1: many different levels. And you know, with our industry on
Speaker 1: how it's been you know, touch and go and opening
Speaker 1: up more like streaming and different platforms for creative people,
Speaker 1: which is good. And sometimes you please don't just rush
Speaker 1: into it and turn it all out, because good things
Speaker 1: does take time, and time is something like we feel
Speaker 1: that we're always think, oh, come on, come on, I
Speaker 1: need more of but sitting in that cinema and watching
Speaker 1: not just our our love on there, but sharing that experience, yeah,
Speaker 1: with with everybody. Yeah, I was like, when you hear
Speaker 1: them laugh and yeah, they actually find me funny. You
Speaker 1: were like, you know what's funny? You were so funny,
Speaker 1: and you were talking about how it's that communal experience.
Speaker 1: The first time I saw it, I did go by myself,
Speaker 1: but it was in a packed theater and during the
Speaker 1: end of the movie, I truly cried during the last
Speaker 1: thirty minutes, and I looked over at the guy next
Speaker 1: to me and we were having the same experience, and
Speaker 1: it was really fun because even though I didn't know him,
Speaker 1: it was that community. It was community and connection and
Speaker 1: that and I don't know anything about him, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about his life. I don't know
Speaker 1: anything about the woman he was sitting next to. But
Speaker 1: we knew that we were receiving the same messages and
Speaker 1: we were internalizing them. And maybe it meant something different
Speaker 1: to him when he was thinking about his relationships in
Speaker 1: relation to the movie than it was for me. But
Speaker 1: we were both moved, And when I went back with
Speaker 1: my friends um last night, it was the same situation
Speaker 1: where I was just excited to share it. And so
Speaker 1: I would say to every everyone listening, if you've been
Speaker 1: hesitant about going to the movies, now is the time
Speaker 1: put the mask on. If it's gonna make you feel better, go,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just it's a movie that, especially you
Speaker 1: know in the sequences where your reality is breaking, and
Speaker 1: they have those incredible montages, and kudos to the editor.
Speaker 1: Just watching that in the theater, it was breathtaking. It
Speaker 1: was just simply breathtaking. Nice. And with our last five
Speaker 1: minutes with you, we are gonna do I don't think so, honey.
Speaker 1: So this, Michelle, is our one minute segment on Lost Cultures.
Speaker 1: This this very podcast where we take something in pop
Speaker 1: culture or in our lives that are bothering us, and
Speaker 1: we do a rant for one minute about it, using
Speaker 1: the phrase I don't think so, honey. In the demonstration,
Speaker 1: first you're gonna get to one from Matt, one from me,
Speaker 1: and then you'll be all set to go. So for now,
Speaker 1: let's have Matt Rodgers go. This is Matt Rodgers. I
Speaker 1: don't think so many as time starts now, I don't
Speaker 1: think so, honey, Stephanie Shoe as a Texter girl, it
Speaker 1: takes you a day to get back to me, and
Speaker 1: I know you can text your old girl from college
Speaker 1: back sooner than that. I know you're in a worldwide
Speaker 1: press tour, mama. I know all of a sudden we're
Speaker 1: at International Film Star suddenly and about to pop all
Speaker 1: the way off into another stratosphere. But you can text
Speaker 1: me back because you listen. We have a sole connection,
Speaker 1: Stephanie Shoe and I connect. I remember when you were
Speaker 1: Flarge as a sketch character in college. This is just
Speaker 1: for me and you right now and people in hammers.
Speaker 1: But I remember all the trips we took. I've seen
Speaker 1: you get drunk on college campus as girl. I have
Speaker 1: photos of you. You do not want released so text
Speaker 1: paper within eighteen hours. Let's say I'll give you a
Speaker 1: day texting back with an eighteen You always get back
Speaker 1: and it's always very warm and happy. Don't forget about
Speaker 1: Matt Rogers. We used to have lunch and downstream we
Speaker 1: shared emotional connections. Stephanie Shoe as a texter, I don't
Speaker 1: think so, honey, step Issue as a person. I do
Speaker 1: think so honey. You're the most lovely person in the role.
Speaker 1: And I can't wait to hug you and squeeze you.
Speaker 1: We love you crazy Wow? We are we gonna be?
Speaker 1: Are we going to be the project that scares Michelle Yo?
Speaker 1: After so much project that Michelle your walks away from
Speaker 1: I can see where you You guys definitely went to
Speaker 1: the same college. Two crazy rents, just like that. I
Speaker 1: mean you should see. I mean, I think Stephanie Shoe
Speaker 1: and I think I've been in more situations with Steph
Speaker 1: Shoe and Bowen Yang than I can remember. But um, anyway,
Speaker 1: I love Steph. I just love I want to be
Speaker 1: texted back. She's got a text back. She is very busy, right,
Speaker 1: Maybe she did say, Stephanie, if you don't texting back,
Speaker 1: god knows what the nixt to be about. She has
Speaker 1: always been a flaky text r. I will say that
Speaker 1: some people are not good at texting. Are you a
Speaker 1: good texter, Michelle? I am the worst, the worst. I've
Speaker 1: gotten worse. Yeah, Boon has gotten way worse. Sorry, and
Speaker 1: again it's when it's when they get famous. I'm telling
Speaker 1: you were having other things to do. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: say important things to do, but other other All right,
Speaker 1: Bowen Yang, Are you ready to do your I don't
Speaker 1: think so already. Boys, I don't think so, honey. His
Speaker 1: time starts now. I don't think so, honey. I Love
Speaker 1: Before Time by Coko Lee and the Crouching Tiger Hidden
Speaker 1: Dragon movie not winning Best Original Song at the Oscars
Speaker 1: in two thousand. Tell you can you guess which song
Speaker 1: one that year? I bet you can't. It was two thousand.
Speaker 1: It was Things Have Changed by Bob Dylan from Wonder Boys.
Speaker 1: Who cares All due respect to Bob Dylan. We love
Speaker 1: Bob Dylan on this podcast, but A Love Before Time
Speaker 1: is one of the most iconic Mandarin to English translations
Speaker 1: international hits seconds. Can you think of an international hit
Speaker 1: from that time? Like for a movie to cross over
Speaker 1: that way? And for the song to be nominated for
Speaker 1: the OSCAR and to impact nations, communities all around the world,
Speaker 1: and to not receive it to do is abominable to me.
Speaker 1: Song is auditory memory to me, it's sense memory to me.
Speaker 1: When I think about Crouch and take Your Hit and Dragon,
Speaker 1: I think about Michelle, I think about and Fat, I
Speaker 1: think about things z I think about everybody. But that
Speaker 1: song deserves more. I can't believe we as a culture
Speaker 1: have forgotten about a Love before Time by Coco Lee.
Speaker 1: That's one and that's one minute. Wow, absolutely correct, Bo,
Speaker 1: look at the show right now. You can do it.
Speaker 1: You can do it. I know there's something in pop
Speaker 1: culture that grinds your gears. Can you bring me a
Speaker 1: bottle of whiskey? Plea whatever, hell, you do it for
Speaker 1: as long as you want. We won't. It won't be
Speaker 1: the full minute. It's something that's like on your mind,
Speaker 1: maybe from this press tour. Perhaps, Okay, you know what
Speaker 1: I think. One thing that I would say is I
Speaker 1: don't think so, honey, and put your phone down and
Speaker 1: have dinner with your most adorable cuckoo. And all of
Speaker 1: you are still on the freaking phone. What are you
Speaker 1: affecting someone on the table that's next to you, and
Speaker 1: you can't have a real conversation. And when we go
Speaker 1: to the cinemas, you freaking put your phone down, sweet,
Speaker 1: and don't try and receive messages in the middle of
Speaker 1: a movie when your life sture so bright and you're
Speaker 1: taking me away from this amazing movie. Everything everywhere all
Speaker 1: at once, and if you don't look at it and
Speaker 1: watch your phone for two seconds, grip on what is happening.
Speaker 1: So I don't think so, honey that you can't put
Speaker 1: your phone down. You have to put your phone down
Speaker 1: because you want to have a gorgeous dinner with your
Speaker 1: adorable godmother or auntie or whatever it is, and you
Speaker 1: phone down, And if you're in the cinemas, if I
Speaker 1: see you one more time, I don't think so honey,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get away with it, because let the hell
Speaker 1: out of you that phone eat you? Okay that Michelle,
Speaker 1: you really very delete on that one. You were great.
Speaker 1: That was perfect? Oh my god, did that You know
Speaker 1: the Alamo Drafthouse where I saw the first time I
Speaker 1: saw um everything everyone all at once. I love they
Speaker 1: really they make it funny to like they're like seriously
Speaker 1: put the phone away, seriously put the phone away, and
Speaker 1: you do. But it's crazy that we have to get
Speaker 1: to this point where we're like threatening the audience because
Speaker 1: they really can't put the phone down. No, it's so crazy.
Speaker 1: And then they answered the phone. It's like, yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: watching a movie. Okay, yeah, yeah, the cinema. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm in the cinema watching a movie. You're like, what
Speaker 1: the hell, Yeah, I know you're not on the movie
Speaker 1: anymore if you're on the phone. Wow, this was so
Speaker 1: so special. Thank you so much for taking the time
Speaker 1: to talk to us, Michelle, Thank thank you both of you.
Speaker 1: And the movie is everything everywhere, all at once, and
Speaker 1: luckily for you, it's now playing nationwide everyone, lucky audiences everywhere. Um,
Speaker 1: and you have to go. You have to go, and
Speaker 1: you you're gonna be moved by it. You're gonna be
Speaker 1: surprised by it. You will laugh, scream, cry, feel all
Speaker 1: the emotions. And isn't that why we go? It's why
Speaker 1: we go. Thank you so much, Michelle, Thanks, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you Paul, and thank you Matt. It
Speaker 1: was a real pleasure talking to both. Thank you for
Speaker 1: saking the time of course. Well well, well there was
Speaker 1: um yeah, just really fantastic. This is I won't get
Speaker 1: over this. This is a highlight of my year. You
Speaker 1: texted me right after Cloud nine, Cloud nine, Cloud nine
Speaker 1: and thank you for bearing with this structurally different kind
Speaker 1: of episode. You know. She this opportunity to talk to
Speaker 1: her came in a little last minute and we were like, yes,
Speaker 1: let's we've got to make it work in under what
Speaker 1: I texted people like, you know, producers at work. I
Speaker 1: was like, I need this hour blocked off. I'm It's
Speaker 1: a very important thing that I have to do, so
Speaker 1: please don't schedule anything around it. I've never pulled that before.
Speaker 1: I was like, you need to leave this open so
Speaker 1: um completely worth it. I think, Yeah, this is amazing.
Speaker 1: And we only jumped on because we want to give
Speaker 1: the readers a full episode. Um well, you see we
Speaker 1: jammed in the culture question. We jammed in I don't
Speaker 1: think so, honey, and we're gonna jam in the fact
Speaker 1: that we finished every episode of the song great, Hi,
Speaker 1: I would still fun bye bye see in your eyes
Speaker 1: the world. I know they do tire. It's an amazing
Speaker 1: I love that. That was good. Listen to it. It's
Speaker 1: like it's like an R and B song mixed with
Speaker 1: a traditional Chinese like gujang bob like it's it's says
Speaker 1: and I agree, he did get quiet. We really like
Speaker 1: my gain is? My gain is off? Yeah, something happened.
Speaker 1: I thought you did it on purpose? No, no, did
Speaker 1: you touch the mic cons of saying um? I don't
Speaker 1: think so. How's how's it now? Is it better? Better? Yeah? Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: I think you have to sing it again. Really, I
Speaker 1: got quiet in the song very okay, and we're keeping
Speaker 1: this whole thing. You have to sing it again. I
Speaker 1: would do my by in your world. I no fades
Speaker 1: away before time time. I butchered the last little melody,
Speaker 1: but I think it was one of the most stunning
Speaker 1: vocal performances of the of the decade. I think Coco
Speaker 1: her name is Coco Lee. Can you think of a
Speaker 1: better pop star name? I can't, and I know names
Speaker 1: like Camila Cabe and I still think this name is better.
Speaker 1: Thank you well, goodbye bye. Do you hear the rest
Speaker 1: of that song? Listen to a love before Time Bye
Speaker 1: Coco Lee on the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon sound track.
Speaker 1: I'm putting it on a checklist for today, Bye Bye,