Michelle Yeoh figures ‘Crazy’ could stir up Oscars history
LOS ANGELES: Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh figures Crazy Rich
Asians, the surprise blockbuster of the year, could shake up Oscars history.
Michelle herself is being tipped for a nomination as Best Supporting Actress.
If she gets nominated, she’d be only the sixth actress of Asian descent ever to be nominated in the history of the Academy.
In Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s bestselling book about the internal struggles of an affluent—or ‘crazy rich’— Singaporean family, Michelle shines as the prickly-but-complex matriarch Eleanor Young, who can’t accept her son’s choice to marry the ‘ABC’ (American-born Chinese) Rachel Chu (Constance Wu).
“It is very, very empowering,” Michelle says of the film’s success, but she admits to being on the edge of her seat opening weekend, with so much resting on the reception for this mainstream studio film with an all-Asian cast. “The fear of it not having had that kind of success was very, very prevalent. It would have set us back another 25 years,” she says, referring to the 25 years it’s been since that other studio all-Asian cast film, The Joy Luck Club.
The industry has certainly not been generous in the past. Despite more than proving her acting chops in the Best Picturenominated Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon back in 2000, Michelle was overlooked for a nomination. In fact, only one actor of Asian descent has been nominated in this entire decade – Dev Patel for Lion in 2017 – there’s been just one female Asian winner ever–Miyoshi Umeki in 1957–and Merle Oberon’s nom for The Dark Angel in 1935 is the only time an Asian woman has ever made it into the lead actress category (she hid her Indian heritage throughout her career to avoid racism).
Michelle is also dismayed by the lack of Asian films making the leap from the foreign language category to Best Picture. “You make all the excuses, like, ‘Oh OK, it’s because they only want American movies,’” she says. “But then you look at Life is Beautiful. It’s not an American movie and it was nominated (for Best Picture), and won for Best Actor. Why is that different? It’s like when I looked back at Zhang Yimou’s film Raise the Red Lantern, it was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, but why was it not even a consideration? I mean for Crouching Tiger, yes we were considered, but somehow… I didn’t quite understand.”
Now though, she’s hopeful that change is here. “Perhaps it really took this movement,” she says. “This new generation stood up and said, ‘OK, that’s enough. Let’s not take this sitting down anymore.’ I’m glad when I look at the young generation. They’re so vocal and they’re not afraid. I’m so proud of them. I’m so glad I get to see it in my lifetime, and I’m very happy that I’ve been part of that movement as well, because we have been fighting to get to today.”
This new generation stood up and said, ‘OK, that’s enough. Let’s not take this sitting down anymore.’ I’m glad when I look at the young generation. They’re so vocal and they’re not afraid. I’m so proud of them. I’m so glad I get to see it in my lifetime, and I’m very happy that I’ve been part of that movement as well, because we have been fighting to get to today. – Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh, actress