Longtime actor Michelle Yeoh initially gained notoriety in the late 90s for starring in Hong Kong action films where she did her own stunt work. Since then, the star's lengthy acting resume has only continued to grow. More recently, Yeoh sat down with Cate Blanchett for Variety's Actors on Actors series, where the stars discussed two of their recent iconic characters that were originally written for men. While Blanchett talked about Lydia Tár in the Todd Field-directed film, Yeoh spoke about playing Evelyn Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once and revealed an unexpected detail about her character's name. According to the Crazy Rich Asians star, she was dissatisfied with the character's original moniker and felt it lacked originality.
Initially discussing her character's origins, Yeoh told Blanchett, "It started with these two crazy guys — they had the courage, the audacity, to say, 'We love movies, and we want to do this.' They initially wrote it for a man. 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."
Yeoh then added, "I've been in the business for a while now, and the opportunities get a little narrower and narrower with time because you're getting past your prime time. I turned 60 this year, and it's been a while since I was offered the lead role."
Yeoh also talked about her experience working with directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. Yeoh said to Blanchett, "I always want to work with younger directors. Because they throw challenges at you that don't come your way often. I was very gratified that finally I was getting a script with a very nondescript woman, immigrant woman, and she's been around us for the longest time, trying to live the American dream — and so have I. And to make such an ordinary woman be extraordinary, it's very fulfilling, because I think that is all of us."
Michelle Yeoh Didn’t Want Her Character to Be Named Michelle
Still, despite the positives, the Tomorrow Never Dies actor stated that there was one thing Yeoh was dissatisfied with, her character's name, which was initially Michelle Wang. Yeoh said, "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."
Thankfully, after the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star stated her concerns, the character's name was switched to Evelyn Wang, and Yeoh went on to give a captivating performance that earned the star plenty of positive reviews. TIME even named her the 2022 Icon of the Year. Yeoh can next be seen in the upcoming Netflix series, The Witcher: Blood Origin arriving to the streaming giant on Dec. 25.