Crazy Rich Asians star Michelle Yeoh talks Star Trek, James Bond and the need for more diversity
ONE-time warrior Michelle Yeoh is thrilled to star in Crazy Rich Asians. Now the trailblazing actress is hoping her new project will lead to more diversity at the box office.
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MICHELLE Yeoh was in for a rude shock when she started out in Hollywood.
The Malaysian born, England-educated former dancer and Miss World contestant began her career in Hong Kong with a string of kick-ass action and martial arts roles in which she performed many of her own stunts and fight scenes.
The success of those films landed her a part opposite Pierce Brosnan’s 007 in the 1997 adventure Tomorrow Never Dies and her portrayal of the feisty, self-sufficient Chinese agent Wei Lin rewrote the book on what a Bond girl could be.
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Yeoh then helped bring the Chinese swordfighting fantasy genre known as “wuxia” to the mainstream as a formidable warrior in Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which made more than $250 million at the box office. She also showed her dramatic chops in the critical and box office hit movie adaptation of Memoirs Of A Geisha.
But she says she also found a Western movie industry in which Asian characters had to be given an explanation for their ethnicity — either they worked in a restaurant or laundromat, or were members of a Chinese gang. She also speaks of the culture shock in being told she was now part of a minority. How could someone of ethnic Chinese background — from the most populous nation on the planet — possibly be a minority?
Times are changing, but Yeoh still believes that Asian faces are criminally under-represented in Hollywood. She hopes that her role in new romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians more accurately reflects the world she sees around her.
It’s astonishing to think that the eagerly anticipated movie — based on Kevin Kwan’s bestseller of the same name — is the first contemporary-set major studio film with a predominantly Asian cast since The Joy Luck Club a quarter of a century ago.
“It’s time to embrace diversity,” says Yeoh firmly. “And it’s not just diversification, it’s representation and understanding that we Asians exist and we don’t only represent martial arts movies. This is us. So it’s very important at this point in time and in fact it should have come a long time ago, to be honest.”
Crazy Rich Asians tells the story of young American-Asian woman Rachel (Constance Yu from Fresh Off the Boat) who travels to Singapore with her boyfriend Nick (newcomer Henry Golding) for a wedding, only to discover he’s part of an obscenely wealthy, traditional Chinese family — and they don’t much approve of the newcomer.
Yeoh plays Nick’s hard-to-please mother Eleanor alongside a global Asian cast including US rapper Akwafina, Hong Kong born Silicon Valley star Jimmy O. Yang, Aussies Chris Pang and Remy Hii and adopted Aussie Ronny Chieng.
Yeoh was delighted to find a current, socially relevant story — as opposed to a fantastical period piece with swords and dragons — and thinks that Asian-heritage audiences around the world will feel the same way.
“They will be proud of the fact that it’s being made and we are being recognised for who we are and that everyone is going to embrace us and do more,” she says. “It’s just the beginning, so no more stereotypical images of what they think we should be. Embrace the fact that this is how we are.”
After years of action and drama (she also played Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in The Lady), Yeoh leapt at the chance to appear in a comedy — even if most of the funny business happens around her fearsome presence.
“She walks into the room and you can see the other characters go ‘oh my God, she’s here’ and it becomes funny,” says Yeoh with a laugh. “It’s like Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. You have great respect, but at the same time you are in awe and in fear of this woman. So I had a good time playing her. It’s one of those things — if looks could kill you would have fallen down the stairs.”
Before moving to the UK at the age of 15 to finish her education, Yeoh grew up in an ethnic Chinese family in Malaysia, but she says she never felt constrained by what can be a male-dominated society, thanks to progressive parents who insisted she be given every opportunity to succeed, first in dancing, then acting.
“In Asian society, the male, the son, they always have the edge,” she says. “But fortunately in my family, my mum and especially my father were not preferential. We were given equal opportunities to decide what we wanted to do with our future and our education and how far we wanted to push the envelope. So in that way I was always very blessed to feel that I am an equal and I will get equal opportunities.”
Yeoh found herself front and centre in one of the most trailblazing franchises in Hollywood history when she was cast as Philippa Georgiou, the first Asian female starship captain, in Star Trek: Discovery. In true Trek style, her deputy was played by an African-American woman, Sonequa Martin-Green.
“When we started with the first episode, we were like ‘Did somebody send out the wrong memo — are you sure this is how it is?’ But it was empowering, because you know what? Star Trek has always broken boundaries. They have always embraced diversity and they walk the talk.”
Despite Georgiou being killed off in heroic fashion, Yeoh returned as a megalomaniac version of the character in a mirror universe and is hopeful, if coy, about her chances of returning for a second season.
“I certainly hope so because I had so much fun and the character of the Terran Emperor is so exciting and the response to her has been phenomenal,” says Yeoh. “I am so blessed that the writers have given me such a great character to play. So I can see her coming back. She was written with a lot of wit and charm … and scariness.”
Yeoh also reflects positively on her legacy as a Bond girl and believes that the long-running spy franchise has to constantly adapt to stay relevant. Her character was well and truly the equal of 007 and Yeoh thinks that the damsel-in-distress is dull, dated and doesn’t reflect the world at large.
“The producers, the writers and directors understand what’s coming and they understand that the audience don’t want to see the cliche — they want to see what is around them,” she says. “In the Bond world, everything is heightened, fun and exotic and there is still a certain formula to it — but you still have to be up to date. Bond cannot just be the guy with the martini, he needs to be a man with an equal woman or he’s no longer fun.”
— Crazy Rich Asians opens on August 30.
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