Do not tell Michelle Yeoh what to do, says Michelle Yeoh
The Oscar-nominee said some fools told her to retire before Everything Everywhere All At Once
Aux News Michelle Yeoh
People love to boss others around. But why they think they can tell Michaelle Yeoh what to do is beyond us. The Oscar-nominee is currently riding high on the road to the Academy Awards, where her high-energy postmodern kung fu epic, Everything Everywhere All At Once, is nominated for 11 little gold men. It’s the perfect capper to a career that continues to defy the generally sexist expectations about female actors and what roles they can or cannot do. And yet, despite starring in blockbuster superhero movies, animated family films, and romantic comedies, she still hears the same garbage as other actors going through the very natural experience of getting older.
“You know, as you get older, the roles get smaller,” Yeoh said on the L.A. Times awards podcast The Envelope [via Variety]. “It seems like the numbers go up, and these things go narrow, and then you start getting relegated to the side more and more. So when Everything Everywhere came—it was very emotional because this means that you are the one who’s leading this whole process, who’s telling the story.”
Yeoh’s been going strong since 1984. She kept up with Jackie Chan across several Supercops, broke the rules of gravity in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and even gave James Bond what for. In the last 20 years, her filmography grew to include a Mummy sequel, Star Trek: Discovery, and two characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not to mention, she made romantic comedies a viable genre again with Crazy Rich Asians. The woman is practically carrying Hollywood on her back; still, some moron has the gall to tell her to retire.
“As you get older, people start saying, ‘Oh yeah, you should retire. You should do this. You should…’” she said. “No, guys. Do not tell me what to do. I should be in control of what I am capable of, right?”
Despite her position as a key supporting player in so many blockbusters, the genre-bending, multiverse-hopping Everything Everywhere gave her the role she’s been waiting for.
“The first thing is you feel like, ‘Finally, thank you. You guys see me, you guys really see, and you’re giving me the opportunity to show that I’m capable of doing all this,’” Yeoh added about the movie’s breakthrough success. “As an actor, you need the opportunity. You need the role that will help you showcase what you are capable to do.”
Michelle Yeoh gets it. Now, let her do what she thinks is best.
16 Comments
She is as graceful as a lone agouti gerbil on the arid Mongolian steppe.
Someone once tried to tell Michelle Yeoh what to do. There were no survivors.
I know, right? What idiots who clearly didn’t deserve to live. I do not pity these fools either.
I formally submit my application to the internet to replace all those stupid Chuck Norris jokes from a decade ago with Michelle Yeoh because she is and always was the best
Chuck Norris once challenged Michelle Yeoh to a fight. The loser had to appear in Expendables 2.
Bwahahahahahaaa you win today
I hate to remind you of the unstoppable march of time, but the Chuck Norris Facts thing started in 2005.
No worries. My grey hairs and my knee pain remind me every morning.
They wouldn’t work with Yeoh because she’s a badass. The whole joke is that they’re about Chuck Norris, who is one of the least badass human beings to ever have existed.
I hope the list of people she’s ignoring the entreaties of includes Kurtzman and Goldman. Don’t waste your time on the inevitably terrible Section 31 spinoff, it won’t be worth it! And not just because it’s super fucking weird that your character is Space Hitler but they’re treated like a loveable rascal (but obviously, that too).
But damn if her Empress isn’t the single most fun thing in the entire series. Every minute that she’s not on the screen, all of the other characters should be asking “Hey, where’s Empress Sato?”
She’s just so deliciously evil and clearly having a hell of a lot of fun with it.
Wasn’t Empress Sato a different character from Enterprise played by Linda Park?
Oops, I mean Georgiou.
Absolutely loved that bit at some awards show when they started playing her off and she said something like “stop that, I can beat you up”. She said it good-naturedly, and it got a laugh, and I’m sure she didn’t mean she would actually beat the musician. But she could…
Do not tell Michelle Yeoh what to do, says Michelle YeohYeoh don’t tell Michelle Yeoh what to do.