Michelle Yeoh said that Jackie Chan texted her after she was nominated for an Oscar for her role in the film “Everything Everywhere and at Once.”
In this madcap comedy, Yeoh plays Evelyn Quan, a laundromat owner who discovers she can access the memory and skills of alternate versions of herself in the multiverse.
The role of Yeoh, however, was originally written for a man, and the film’s directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, collectively known as Daniels, imagined Chan in the role with Yeo as his wife. However, Chan said he was unavailable, so the main role was rewritten for Yeo.
“The roles have completely changed. I remember Jackie texting me and saying: “Congratulations! You know your boys were the first to come to me,” Yeoh said in an interview with CNN. “I was like, ‘Thanks, bro, you did me a huge favor,'” she said.
The actress also suggested that Chan’s decision to turn down the role was “mutual.” Although the actor had a “very busy” work schedule, she said the Daniels had already “retreated” and were already considering rewriting the lead role for a woman.
In addition to the Yeo Award for Best Actress, the film “Everything Everywhere and at Once” was nominated for ten other Academy Awards, including Best Film and Best Director. The 95th Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 13.
NME named “Everything Everywhere and at Once” its best film of 2022. In response, Daniel Kwan said, “It’s been a really good year for cinema, especially after the last few years when the pandemic made people laugh at the releases. We watched so many movies that we fell in love with for various reasons. The fact that people put us at the top of this list is very flattering. We may disagree with you, but this is normal. We are very grateful. Thanks. I can’t believe we took the first place!”
Meanwhile, Stephanie Hsu, who played Yeoh’s daughter, Joy, in the film, recently said that she was once mistaken for the star of “All the Guys I Used to Love” Lana Condor during the red carpet.
