Yahoo Movies Michelle Yeoh almost quit Everything Everywhere All at Once over her character's name
Michelle Yeoh says she was nearly nowhere to be found in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Yeoh, a front-runner for a Best Actress Oscar nomination for the movie, revealed that her character's original name in Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's sci-fi epic almost prevented her from starring in the sleeper hit.
"The only thing I said to them was, 'The character cannot be called Michelle Wang,'" she said during her conversation with fellow Oscars hopeful Cate Blanchett in a new story for Variety. "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.'"
Allyson Riggs/A24 Michelle Yeoh in 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'
The character's name was changed to Evelyn Wang for the final film, in which Yeoh portrays a laundromat owner who travels through space and time while struggling to reconnect with her family and keep her business afloat. A representative for distributor A24 confirmed to EW that Yeoh requested the change.
In addition to Yeoh, supporting actor Ke Huy Quan has been hailed as a standout on the awards trail, scoring accolades from the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Board of Review — key Oscars precursor prizes — in recent weeks.
Everything Everywhere received critical praise upon its release and went on to become A24's highest-grossing film to date, pulling in $103 million at the global box office.
Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.
Related content:
