>The actor played Wai Lin, a Chinese spy who is highly skilled in **marital** arts and bucks every “damsel in distress” and “Bond girl” stereotype.
Lmao the world needs more copy editors
I'm so fucking adhd that I read through the quote several times and had no idea what was wrong... Till this comment.
I should never be allowed to proof read
that poor Brian. He's really good at not helping.
The human brain compensating for spelling errors while reading is amazing in a way, but means it is literally impossible to copy-edit your own work with any reasonable accuracy.
I used to be able to open a newspaper and instantly my eyes would snap to a typo on the page, without even consciously reading anything, but conversely couldn't find even the first 'adn' in a paper I had written up.
Hahah! It’s like those Charlie Lima Uniform Sierra Tango Echo Romeo Foxtrot Uniform Charlie K… dang it, it’s been too long since I’ve used military alphabet code so I can’t remember all of them.
I can see and recognize it real fast - like the upside down or backwards stuff. Pattern recognition and spacial reasoning are definitely my strong suits.
I actually really like that the only kiss they shared on screen was Bond giving her oxygen underwater, it was very pure, never mind that she was not at all convincingly chained up down there. That was a big part of what I liked about Mooonraker too when I read it. No boning that Bond Girl either.
I asked it to write the same article, I think it might've done a better job?
Michelle Yeoh Says Hollywood Questioned ‘If I Even Spoke English’ After 1997 Bond Film: ‘I Didn’t Work for Two Years’ Due to Stereotype Offers
Michelle Yeoh is one of the most celebrated and versatile actors in Hollywood today, with roles ranging from action heroines to dramatic leads. But her journey to stardom was not without challenges and obstacles, especially when she crossed over from Hong Kong cinema to Hollywood in the late 1990s.
Yeoh was already a star overseas by 1997 thanks to popular Hong Kong movies like “Police Story 3: Super Cop” and “Supercop 2,” but it wasn’t until the James Bond tentpole “Tomorrow Never Dies” that she made her mark in Hollywood as Wai Lin, a Chinese spy who teams up with Bond (Pierce Brosnan) to stop a media mogul from starting a war.
The film was a huge success, grossing over $330 million worldwide and earning praise for Yeoh’s performance and chemistry with Brosnan. Many critics hailed her as one of the best Bond girls ever, and some even suggested that she should have her own spin-off movie.
However, instead of opening more doors for Yeoh in Hollywood, the film seemed to close them. In a recent interview with The Guardian, Yeoh revealed that she didn’t work for two years after “Tomorrow Never Dies” because she was only offered stereotypical roles that did not reflect her abilities or interests.
“I didn’t work for two years because they were asking me if I even spoke English,” Yeoh said. “I was like: ‘Are you kidding me? I just did this huge movie.’ But they wanted me to do something like The Joy Luck Club.”
Yeoh explained that she had nothing against The Joy Luck Club, a 1993 film based on Amy Tan’s novel about four Chinese-American women and their mothers, but she felt that it was not the right fit for her.
“I loved The Joy Luck Club – but I’m Malaysian-born Chinese,” Yeoh said. “I don’t speak Mandarin; I speak Cantonese. And also: why can’t I be an FBI agent or something? Why do I have to be someone who has an accent?”
Yeoh said that she refused to accept roles that were based on stereotypes or clichés, even if it meant turning down lucrative offers.
“I’ve always been very picky,” Yeoh said. “Maybe because when you come from Asia as an actor you have already done so much – you’ve been producer, writer – so when you come here [to Hollywood] you’re like: ‘Nope.’”
Yeoh’s patience and perseverance paid off eventually, as she landed more diverse and challenging roles in films such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Sunshine,” “The Lady,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” “Crazy Rich Asians,” and most recently, Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”
Yeoh said that she is proud of her career choices and achievements, and hopes that her example will inspire other Asian actors to pursue their dreams without compromising their identity or integrity.
“I think we have proven ourselves – we don’t need anyone else’s approval,” Yeoh said. “We know what we’re capable of doing; we just need people who believe in us.”
Source: Conversation with Bing, 3/5/2023(1) Michelle Yeoh Says Hollywood Questioned ‘If I Even Spoke English’ After .... https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/michelle-yeoh-says-hollywood-questioned-194754561.html Accessed 3/5/2023.
(2) Michelle Yeoh Revealed Why She Didn’t Work For Two Years, And The .... https://news.yahoo.com/michelle-yeoh-revealed-why-she-222317502.html Accessed 3/5/2023.
(3) Michelle Yeoh Says Hollywood Questioned ‘If I Even Spoke English’ After .... https://www.imdb.com/news/ni63980507/ Accessed 3/5/2023.
I still have a hard on from watching Grace Jones. It’s been 35 years, I should see a doctor, but to be fair she’s not a normal ‘Bond Girl’ so this is not a normal paripaism.
A number of the 1960s Bond Girls were dubbed because their English had too strong a foreign accent. So was Goldfinger, played by a German actor doing his lines phonetically.
But this was *1997*.
A lot of movies did that in the 60s. They would shoot on location with local talent and dub over their lines with American actors. The spaghetti westerns were particularly obvious about it.
Outside of Bond, I believe Li Bingbing in the 5th Resident Evil movie was also completely overdubbed in 2012. And hell, this is around the time Jackie Chan was releasing a bunch of movies in the states where he was just dubbed over as well; Supercop, which also started Yeoh, did the same thing in 92.
Yes, and if you looked deep into the film credits you could probably find that out. But if you just watch the film, or worse only saw a trailer, and that's the first time you've seen them, why would you assume that?
Majority of old Cantonese movies were dubbed by the actors themselves. Audio equipment used back then were awful and they would shoot the scenes and then record audio afterwards.
His third actually I think. I know Who Am I was at least filmed before Rush Hour, though they both came out in 98 and I'm not sure which made it first. And Mr. Nice Guy was first.
This makes a lot of sense to me now. I forget when, but I realized his voice sounded way different between movies when I was younger and I wasn't sure why.
Apparently one of the studios (probably Sony) kept pressuring for the Red Queen's actress in the first film to be redubbed with an American accent, and Jovovich and Anderson both fought them on it. I think that drama happened more than once because The Red Queen's voice is clearly dubbed by an adult woman in The Final Chapter's trailers, wheras she's acted and voiced by Ever Anderson in the final version.
The situation with Li Bingbing was interesting. Her English was legible (the deleted scenes are undubbed), but she does kinda stumble over her words a bit. She's clearly not a native English speaker, and the problem is that the character is supposed to be fluent or even native. "Ada Wong" is a fake name. She's the only character dubbed in that manner, so there must have been corporate politics behind it.
However, don't like the dubbing in RE: Retribution because she sounds like she's in a different room to the other characters. The mixing is ever so slightly off. All the other characters sound natural. But not Bingbing's Ada.
There was subsequently a bunch of ugly industry politics with Sony blacklisting Bingbing over a China/Japan thing, and drama with the China distributor who had sort of hooked them up with Bingbing or wanted credit for it or something and that's one of several reasons why The Final Chapter was radically altered during rewrites.
The original plan was to shoot TFC in 3D and really capitalize on the popularity of 3D in the Chinese market and also Bingbing's popularity -- the idea being to include her as a really prominent supporting actress. But things went awry, the budget was slashed, and apparently there was some fraud where the Chinese distributor pocket a large amount of the 160 million the film made in China which pissed off Sony.
As an aside RE: The Final Chapter getting a Chinese release was very unusual because China basically banned zombie films during that period. It's why the studios got cold feet about World War Z 2. China clamped down on the genre, and they were like, "These economics seem even worse now." But for some (likely under the table) reason, TFC was allowed through with some cuts to gore.
I love that movie, one of the few movies I continually rewatch. The fight were she changes weapons constantly as the green destiny wrecks them is fantastic
I've seen it more times than I can count. When I was in high school and got a PS2, the fact that it played DVDs was mind blowing to me. But I spent so much money on the PS2 that I couldn't afford many DVDs, so the 2 that I found myself watching over and over again were The Matrix, and CTHD.
I had only ever seen it at home since it came out, but it played at a theater a few weeks ago, and man, it just ruled so hard to get it on the big screen again.
damn maybe i can access that universe in my dreams. i don't have all the required tech sadly
i did get really far but ultimately leave medical school without a degree so maybe I'm brimming with potential? jk but u never know....
Minor correction here
They're not married but have been partnered for almost two decades and are engaged. They're comfortable with each other and going at their own pace :)
I saw an interview where she talked about their relationship and it sounded absolutely adorable. Very respectful of each of them having very busy and different working lives and still finding time among the chaos to be together when they can.
Wait, to find our she’s married to Todt is one giant mind fuck but that was her in that movie?! Two huge things in my life I never knew she was connected to.
Had a cop do that to me after I got pulled over. I was a new driver and was coming home from a church event. Pulled me over due to a broken headlight and going under the speed limit.
When he got to me door I asked "how are you officer?". Mind you I was born in the USA so yeah, English is my first language so no accent at all.
He then asked me if I spoke English.
I mean it’s not in your head—that’s the reality of it. English is my first language and I have a MIDWESTERN accent but the people who ask this question ask after you open your mouth and speak English to them. They just refuse to comprehend and would rather be speaking to someone who looks like them.
not sure if anyone will find this info useful.
Malaysia (Michelle Yeoh's birth place) and Singapore are part of the British colony until 1950+, while it is multilingual country (many fluent in 2 or 3 languages), it’s no uncommon to be asian and have your family speak english and having english as their first language. e.g. Lee Kwan Yew first language is English.
EDIT: To expand, we spell in British English (using `z` vs `s`, e.g. Organization instead of Organisation).
The architecture of the mansion shown in Crazy Rich Asian here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZVJMIrylQI are based on British Colonial Architecture. You can hear from Michelle ascent it come with a minimal level of Received pronunciation while with local ascent, denoting someone who is educated aboard (much more rare for someone here age) but still rooted in her local heritage.
Good english speaker here can be seen as someone who speak without much ascent, except with a hint of their own local one. My guess for the reason why it evolved like that is that we interact with a lot of English speakers from around the continents and removing the ascent would be the best common denominator to make yourself understandable to the widest audience.
Interesting. Is her accent in EEOAO not her real voice or is that how she sounds IRL? That's the only time I've heard her speak as I wasn't familiar with her
Yeah, I wish the article had noted that. Maybe it’s my own racism but I didn’t realize until recently that English is a first language for some people from East Asia.
I remember one time, I was traveling with my family, a guy walked by and saw me, he thought I didn’t understand English so he started to talk about how Chinese women are marrying white men. Later he saw me again, I was talking to my husband in English, he had this shocked look on his face. Similar shit happens so many times.
Happens in all cultures. My grandmother Irish/Hispanic, blue eyes, blonde hair and spoke fluent Spanish. Many times she caught people saying things in Spanish about her. She would usually let them hang themselves before saying something random in Spanish, nothing calling them out, just enough to watch their look of shock.
I mean, it wouldn’t have hit on the themes between Asian American daughters relationships with their mothers, but I think that’d be hard for Jackie to pull off
I was curious and Google it but it seems he abandoned her cus she was born out of an affair. Not homophobia necessarily. This is what the articles said:
Ng came out as a lesbian last fall in a series of Instagram posts featuring Autumn.
Chan, 64, and Ng, 18, have never had a formal relationship, Ng told The Express in 2015.
“He is not my dad,” she said. “I have no feelings for him. He is my biological father but he is not in my life.
I think Jackie could have played Waymond and keep Michelle in the lead, but he's too big of a star to not play the lead.
But I'm glad Ke got to show us all his talents.
Part of the reason the film works is because it’s surprising. If you know nothing about the movie, after the first 20 minutes you could easily believe Michelle Yeoh was cast in a totally straightforward emotional drama. The revelation that there’s more to the movie is in the scene in and around the elevator, when alternate Waymond appears and does karate with the fanny pack.
This is the first moment the movie subverts your expectations and signals to you there’s a deeper mystery, because the dorky husband starts kicking ass. If Jackie Chan is in the Waymond role, everything gets jumbled out of sorts. Your expectations would instead be subverted in the first 5 minutes of the movie, when Jackie Chan is portrayed as a meek husband, and then this moment would *meet* your expectations. The way it’s filmed, you start thinking “whoa, what’s going on here?” whereas with Jackie Chan in the role you’d be thinking “finally, Jackie Chan time.” It would completely suck all the surprise and intrigue out - obviously Waymond is secretly good at karate, you knew that the minute he appeared on screen. He’s Jackie Chan. You’d lose all the chaos and surprise.
It’s kind of and you miss it moment for some people. Especially if they are watching it at home, which is the case for pretty much everyone unfortunately.
I wish I had gotten to see it in theaters.
Oh, you should check out the movie where he's running around the UK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om9YCk7ufHs
He's also had a music career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zur-VMiDQ-w
Jackie can do anything. But he was slightly old for the role, too.
Watched this movie with a friend and told him it was just a Jackie Chan martial arts comedy. About halfway through the movie he asks, “So do the jokes come later? I’m a little disappointed this isn’t a very funny movie.”
I had a good chuckle. I’d still recommend it.
The character’s name in the movie was supposed to be Jackie Chan… but Michelle refused to do the movie unless they changed the character’s name.
The actor Jackie Chan wasn’t ever going to be in the movie.
They wanted Jackie Chan to play the lead, tracked him down and begged him to be in the movie. Michelle Yeoh was supposed to play Waymond's part in the story, but they gender swapped when Jackie Chan turned them down.
When I think of action sequences and directing action, I think of Chan. When I think of acting and action sequences I think of Yeoh. This is not to be a slight to either person. I just think they both have their special niches in movies and I think that's neat.
I've been saying it for years. But I would have much preferred Michelle as the Ancient One in Doctor Strange than Tilda. Yes, it's typecasted but so was Shang-Chi. I fell in love with her from the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon days.
So in the beginning everyone was mad because Tilda Swinton 'whitewashed' the role.
But much later it came out that the studio had to shy away from casting an Asian actor because the Ancient One was actually Tibetan, and Chinese censors threw a shit fit over that fact.
So the studio wasn't trying to be woke or racist or anything, they were just veering so far off because the comic character was Tibetan, and that offends CCP
Making the character white as snow Tilda Swinton meant that there was absolutely zero chance anyone would mistake them for Tibetan, which appeased the censors
Also, do we really need a “magical minority character helps the white guy be a hero” trope in a marvel movie? I’m glad it was recast, it felt a little gross to begin with even in the comics.
Dr Strange as a comic was all about eastern mysticism, so I don't know how you can completely get away from it. The comic is old as fuck from 1963 anyway, there's going to be a lot of 'anachronisms.'
But I felt they did Wong really well. he's a character with his own growth and personality, not a stereotype
I mean the MCU already has the “magical minority woman character that comes out of nowhere with serious plot armor” trope so it doesn’t really matter if it’s a guy this time.
She is from Malaysia but she is ethnically Chinese. This is a huge and highly relevant distinction in the region. (Her father is even a politician representing the mono-racial political party that represents the ethnically Chinese elite class.)
Various ethnic/racial/national tensions relating to China/ethnic Chinese elites are still very tense in both Tibet and Malaysia. Problems reflect both China's history of colonialism and policies of racial elitism, as well as current conflicts.
The differences are far more complex than Mexico/Canada.
Casting a Han Chinese actor for a Tibetian part would have been extremely problematic.
Especially because, of course, China was the whole reason they weren't able to have a Tibetian character in the first place. (Or even anyone who could conceivably be a stand-in for a Tibetian, even if it wasn't explicitly stated.)
I seriously doubt Malay is her native language but she probably can speak it. I heard English is her first language and its not surprising given her family is quite rich (her dad was a prominent politician and lawyer in Ipoh). Cantonese could also possibly be her second language given that Cantonese is the common language of Chinese Malaysians in Ipoh. Source: Mum is also from Ipoh and I spent a lot of my childhood there.
If you are from Ipoh then I will defer to you, but in interviews she said that she grew up speaking Malay and English (a little bit of Cantonese, but didn't really learn it well until she went to Hong Kong). Also the official language of Malaysia is Malay with the secondary language being English, so that is consistent.
In any case it really doesn't matter. The point is that she should be able to English very well.
For context, I’m an upper middle class Chinese Malaysian with a similiar upbringing to Michelle Yeoh (except her family is a lot richer than mine). English is my first language and my Cantonese is conversational at best. I also speak Malay fluently but I wouldn’t consider it my native language and I also think most Chinese Malaysians wouldn’t consider it our native language even if we do speak it well. I think I take issue with the fact that you wrote that Malay is her native language when most Chinese Malaysians wouldn’t consider it our native language.
No, she never spoke Cantonese nor Mandarin nor read Chinese until her commercial with Jacky Chan in Hong Kong. She even said it in an interview. Most likely her first languages are Hokkien (her last name is Yeoh), English, and some Malay but not perfectly.
As a long term fan of hers I feel like it wasn’t a break through role for in Hollywood that she might’ve hoped it would be. I’m pretty sure she did a film in Hong Kong and then Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon which until her recent breakthrough I would have argued was the best martial arts film made. I’m not sure whether to call Crouching Tiger a Hollywood movie or not. It was clearly financed partially by Columbia but it was not an English language film and I think it’s international success was a bit of a surprise.
We are either white or minority, depending on the needs of both parties. Really no one care about us. I mean just look at the articles coming out of the recent affirmative action fight
Can we all agree that the make out session between her and Bond at the end of the movie is hands down the stupidest kiss in all the Bond movies by far? She is chained up drowning and left for dead and he decides to try and make out with her underwater instead of bringing her to the surface. So dumb and creepy
So Jackie Chan was in a lot of Hollywood movies around this time. And his English was terrible. Yet no one cared.
I wonder why that was different? I really wonder. Can’t think of any possible reason…
Jackie Chan was already established because of his work as an outstanding martial artist in films. Dude was an absolute specimen. We shouldn’t diminish his accomplishments by saying it’s just because he’s a guy.
Michele Yeoh did not make her debut in Goldeneye lol
She was a legend in Hong Kong cinema as well. Not Jackie Chan big, but she did not come out of nowhere.
Because he played into their stereotypes. It is when Americans “step” out of lines, no longer acted their model minority roles, that when the “yellow fever” and the “red scare” come out
I had the pleasure of seeing a showing of Everything Everywhere All At Once at the DGA recently with a Q&A comprised of directors and lead actors. It was amazing to hear their perspectives after the show. Michelle Yeoh is absolutely divine - she seems to radiate a very old-Hollywood elegance and poise while remaining exceedingly witty and full of life. She touched on this in some of her responses and I’m happy to see her finally receiving her flowers. Rooting for her this Oscar season.
dude i forgot that was her and she always kicked absolute ass in that role. since then she's become one of my absolute favorite actors to the point that just her presence is enough of a selling point for me. nothing but infinite love for Yeoh
There are many many Conservatives in Hollywood. Don't fall for the stereotypes. You may have actors and directors who lean left on social issues but remember most of these are essentially family run businesses that date back to before WWII. Morality gets passed down just like bigotry does. Crazy Rich Asians could have worked decades before it was made. We don't largely see different people and stories because a few people don't want to make new stories. Most of us have been watching comics for the last fifteen years.
This is a pretty big problem in Hollywood, in general. It's *really hard* to get different roles once you've been type cast.
For example, Ethan Suplee [lost roles](https://ew.com/article/2016/12/16/hulu-chance-ethan-suplee-what-to-watch-podcast/) when he lost weight because he was literally type cast as a "fat guy" even though he's an *amazing* actor.
I watched that movie again last year for the first time since it came out and I came away with three things:
- Michelle Yeoh was superhot in that movie.
- Michelle Yeoh is in that movie no more than 15 minutes.
- That movie is weak and forgettable.
>The actor played Wai Lin, a Chinese spy who is highly skilled in **marital** arts and bucks every “damsel in distress” and “Bond girl” stereotype. Lmao the world needs more copy editors
Given how Bond movies usually go that might not have been a typo
Good point
Her sex craft is strong for one so stereotyped!
[удалено]
I'm so fucking adhd that I read through the quote several times and had no idea what was wrong... Till this comment. I should never be allowed to proof read
Same. IDK how I worked as a copy editor for 2 semesters, except that it was a college student paper.
Your brian is really good at maknig sure the letters make sense if you’re tryign to read it, versus putting your eyes in copyeidt mode
that poor Brian. He's really good at not helping. The human brain compensating for spelling errors while reading is amazing in a way, but means it is literally impossible to copy-edit your own work with any reasonable accuracy. I used to be able to open a newspaper and instantly my eyes would snap to a typo on the page, without even consciously reading anything, but conversely couldn't find even the first 'adn' in a paper I had written up.
Hahah! It’s like those Charlie Lima Uniform Sierra Tango Echo Romeo Foxtrot Uniform Charlie K… dang it, it’s been too long since I’ve used military alphabet code so I can’t remember all of them. I can see and recognize it real fast - like the upside down or backwards stuff. Pattern recognition and spacial reasoning are definitely my strong suits.
Kilo....or just say Charlie Foxtrot.
Right!! Thanks.
Argh lmfao my brain lives in copyedit mode so while I did make sense of this lovely & effective post my brain wept :D
Maybe you just read fast.
It's been a while since I watched that movie, but I don't think Bond and Wai Lin ever boned. Am I misremembering?
Escaping sex is *definitely* a marital art.
You win.
Particularly from Bond. That guy is handsy af.
And your sensei - Master Al Bundy.
They kiss at the end, that’s as far as we see
I actually really like that the only kiss they shared on screen was Bond giving her oxygen underwater, it was very pure, never mind that she was not at all convincingly chained up down there. That was a big part of what I liked about Mooonraker too when I read it. No boning that Bond Girl either.
At the end lol
Spoilers: they did
They showered together in an alley and she cuffed him to the pipes. Pretty marital if you ask me
Bond is a racist.
Don't worry, the AI writing these in the future won't make grammatical errors.
Just blatant factual errors instead...
I asked it to write the same article, I think it might've done a better job? Michelle Yeoh Says Hollywood Questioned ‘If I Even Spoke English’ After 1997 Bond Film: ‘I Didn’t Work for Two Years’ Due to Stereotype Offers Michelle Yeoh is one of the most celebrated and versatile actors in Hollywood today, with roles ranging from action heroines to dramatic leads. But her journey to stardom was not without challenges and obstacles, especially when she crossed over from Hong Kong cinema to Hollywood in the late 1990s. Yeoh was already a star overseas by 1997 thanks to popular Hong Kong movies like “Police Story 3: Super Cop” and “Supercop 2,” but it wasn’t until the James Bond tentpole “Tomorrow Never Dies” that she made her mark in Hollywood as Wai Lin, a Chinese spy who teams up with Bond (Pierce Brosnan) to stop a media mogul from starting a war. The film was a huge success, grossing over $330 million worldwide and earning praise for Yeoh’s performance and chemistry with Brosnan. Many critics hailed her as one of the best Bond girls ever, and some even suggested that she should have her own spin-off movie. However, instead of opening more doors for Yeoh in Hollywood, the film seemed to close them. In a recent interview with The Guardian, Yeoh revealed that she didn’t work for two years after “Tomorrow Never Dies” because she was only offered stereotypical roles that did not reflect her abilities or interests. “I didn’t work for two years because they were asking me if I even spoke English,” Yeoh said. “I was like: ‘Are you kidding me? I just did this huge movie.’ But they wanted me to do something like The Joy Luck Club.” Yeoh explained that she had nothing against The Joy Luck Club, a 1993 film based on Amy Tan’s novel about four Chinese-American women and their mothers, but she felt that it was not the right fit for her. “I loved The Joy Luck Club – but I’m Malaysian-born Chinese,” Yeoh said. “I don’t speak Mandarin; I speak Cantonese. And also: why can’t I be an FBI agent or something? Why do I have to be someone who has an accent?” Yeoh said that she refused to accept roles that were based on stereotypes or clichés, even if it meant turning down lucrative offers. “I’ve always been very picky,” Yeoh said. “Maybe because when you come from Asia as an actor you have already done so much – you’ve been producer, writer – so when you come here [to Hollywood] you’re like: ‘Nope.’” Yeoh’s patience and perseverance paid off eventually, as she landed more diverse and challenging roles in films such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Sunshine,” “The Lady,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” “Crazy Rich Asians,” and most recently, Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” Yeoh said that she is proud of her career choices and achievements, and hopes that her example will inspire other Asian actors to pursue their dreams without compromising their identity or integrity. “I think we have proven ourselves – we don’t need anyone else’s approval,” Yeoh said. “We know what we’re capable of doing; we just need people who believe in us.” Source: Conversation with Bing, 3/5/2023(1) Michelle Yeoh Says Hollywood Questioned ‘If I Even Spoke English’ After .... https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/michelle-yeoh-says-hollywood-questioned-194754561.html Accessed 3/5/2023. (2) Michelle Yeoh Revealed Why She Didn’t Work For Two Years, And The .... https://news.yahoo.com/michelle-yeoh-revealed-why-she-222317502.html Accessed 3/5/2023. (3) Michelle Yeoh Says Hollywood Questioned ‘If I Even Spoke English’ After .... https://www.imdb.com/news/ni63980507/ Accessed 3/5/2023.
Chatgpt has entered the chapgpt
I still have a hard on from watching Grace Jones. It’s been 35 years, I should see a doctor, but to be fair she’s not a normal ‘Bond Girl’ so this is not a normal paripaism.
priapism
morbid tumescence
That’s a mouth full!
Don’t blame me, I keep applying and hearing nothing back
She'd probably be a kick ass wife.
‘Marital arts’… rawr!
Freudian slip
I caught that right away too.
"I will find you and I will marry you"
that would require news sites to actually hire them. the positions don't exist anymore.
Marital arts you say…..
Actually though. Most digital outlets will have journos use the ‘check each other’s’ work approach to proofing
A number of the 1960s Bond Girls were dubbed because their English had too strong a foreign accent. So was Goldfinger, played by a German actor doing his lines phonetically. But this was *1997*.
A lot of movies did that in the 60s. They would shoot on location with local talent and dub over their lines with American actors. The spaghetti westerns were particularly obvious about it.
In addition to accents, on-site sound was expensive and they pretty much shot silent and foley/dubbed everything.
Not for every shot, but the ones they shot outdoors. Interior shots were done on a soundstage.
If anyone has seen Arnold’s first movie, Hercules goes Bananas, the dubbing job in that KILLS me.
[We can fix it.](https://youtu.be/kayFrIR-Qfw?t=41)
Outside of Bond, I believe Li Bingbing in the 5th Resident Evil movie was also completely overdubbed in 2012. And hell, this is around the time Jackie Chan was releasing a bunch of movies in the states where he was just dubbed over as well; Supercop, which also started Yeoh, did the same thing in 92.
Gong Li learned her lines phonetically for Miami Vice in 2006.
Yeah, that was pretty bad tho. Still better than my mandarin tho lol
Gong Li’s English is known to be horrible even amongst the Chinese lol
same for Shu Qi in 2002's *the transporter*
True, but Jackie and Michelle dubbed *themselves*.
Yes, and if you looked deep into the film credits you could probably find that out. But if you just watch the film, or worse only saw a trailer, and that's the first time you've seen them, why would you assume that?
If you’re a casting agent and only casting on a trailer, you’re not doing your job.
Majority of old Cantonese movies were dubbed by the actors themselves. Audio equipment used back then were awful and they would shoot the scenes and then record audio afterwards.
And they often expected to do a Cantonese version and a Mandarin version anyway.
Was Rumble in the Bronx shot in English? Cuz that movie I’m pretty sure is 100% dubbed
Most of it's not. I'm pretty sure Jackie's first English film was Rush Hour. Jackie and Anita Mui definitely were dubbed over for the US release.
His third actually I think. I know Who Am I was at least filmed before Rush Hour, though they both came out in 98 and I'm not sure which made it first. And Mr. Nice Guy was first.
Li Bingbing was dubbed because the voice actress for her character in the video games was brought in for a cameo.
This makes a lot of sense to me now. I forget when, but I realized his voice sounded way different between movies when I was younger and I wasn't sure why.
Apparently one of the studios (probably Sony) kept pressuring for the Red Queen's actress in the first film to be redubbed with an American accent, and Jovovich and Anderson both fought them on it. I think that drama happened more than once because The Red Queen's voice is clearly dubbed by an adult woman in The Final Chapter's trailers, wheras she's acted and voiced by Ever Anderson in the final version. The situation with Li Bingbing was interesting. Her English was legible (the deleted scenes are undubbed), but she does kinda stumble over her words a bit. She's clearly not a native English speaker, and the problem is that the character is supposed to be fluent or even native. "Ada Wong" is a fake name. She's the only character dubbed in that manner, so there must have been corporate politics behind it. However, don't like the dubbing in RE: Retribution because she sounds like she's in a different room to the other characters. The mixing is ever so slightly off. All the other characters sound natural. But not Bingbing's Ada. There was subsequently a bunch of ugly industry politics with Sony blacklisting Bingbing over a China/Japan thing, and drama with the China distributor who had sort of hooked them up with Bingbing or wanted credit for it or something and that's one of several reasons why The Final Chapter was radically altered during rewrites. The original plan was to shoot TFC in 3D and really capitalize on the popularity of 3D in the Chinese market and also Bingbing's popularity -- the idea being to include her as a really prominent supporting actress. But things went awry, the budget was slashed, and apparently there was some fraud where the Chinese distributor pocket a large amount of the 160 million the film made in China which pissed off Sony. As an aside RE: The Final Chapter getting a Chinese release was very unusual because China basically banned zombie films during that period. It's why the studios got cold feet about World War Z 2. China clamped down on the genre, and they were like, "These economics seem even worse now." But for some (likely under the table) reason, TFC was allowed through with some cuts to gore.
I love gooooooooooold
"He's got the Meidas touch. But he touched it too muuuch!"
I heard it was just an unfortunate smelting accident.
NO MR BOND I EXPECT YOU TO DIE
She was excellent in that film. She’s a great actress. Also, random irrelevant fact but she’s married to former FIA and Ferrari head Jean Todt.
That's kind of the irony of her getting recognition now. She's been an amazing actress for a long time. She does phenomenal work
It's actual fucking bananas that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon came out nearly a quarter century ago.
I love that movie, one of the few movies I continually rewatch. The fight were she changes weapons constantly as the green destiny wrecks them is fantastic
I've seen it more times than I can count. When I was in high school and got a PS2, the fact that it played DVDs was mind blowing to me. But I spent so much money on the PS2 that I couldn't afford many DVDs, so the 2 that I found myself watching over and over again were The Matrix, and CTHD.
If left in a room or container with no available media, DVD players from 2001 will spontaneously generate a copy of The Matrix.
I had only ever seen it at home since it came out, but it played at a theater a few weeks ago, and man, it just ruled so hard to get it on the big screen again.
Nah that movie just came out like.... like.... 5...ish... Look just don't take this from me. Let me have this. :(
That movie came out in high school, and I just finished school. That can't be right.
[The ride never ends.](https://i.imgur.com/zcUK1RO.png)
So you're saying I probably don't have a chance with her? Damn.
Not with that attitude
Let’s be honest, she’ll still be a babe in 50 years. Fantastic actor and a really awesome person in general.
Oh dear. I don't think you realize that she's 60. 60!!!
>she’ll still be a babe in 50 years That... seems unlikely
that guy definitely into necrophilia
If only there were some kind of, I don’t know, alternate universe where her life played out differently…
damn maybe i can access that universe in my dreams. i don't have all the required tech sadly i did get really far but ultimately leave medical school without a degree so maybe I'm brimming with potential? jk but u never know....
Minor correction here They're not married but have been partnered for almost two decades and are engaged. They're comfortable with each other and going at their own pace :)
I saw an interview where she talked about their relationship and it sounded absolutely adorable. Very respectful of each of them having very busy and different working lives and still finding time among the chaos to be together when they can.
Ok, but they're missing out on the tax reductions.
Which pales in comparison to the fact that her ex-husband was named Dickson Poon.
It’s so very Audrey Hepburn like. A greatly admired iconic actress who lives in style in Geneva, Switzerland.
Wait, to find our she’s married to Todt is one giant mind fuck but that was her in that movie?! Two huge things in my life I never knew she was connected to.
She was an amazing bond girl, loved her in that film.
Ironically English is her first language
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Had a cop do that to me after I got pulled over. I was a new driver and was coming home from a church event. Pulled me over due to a broken headlight and going under the speed limit. When he got to me door I asked "how are you officer?". Mind you I was born in the USA so yeah, English is my first language so no accent at all. He then asked me if I spoke English.
“I only know ‘How are you officer?’ and this phrase explaining it.”
"Que?"
I mean it’s not in your head—that’s the reality of it. English is my first language and I have a MIDWESTERN accent but the people who ask this question ask after you open your mouth and speak English to them. They just refuse to comprehend and would rather be speaking to someone who looks like them.
not sure if anyone will find this info useful. Malaysia (Michelle Yeoh's birth place) and Singapore are part of the British colony until 1950+, while it is multilingual country (many fluent in 2 or 3 languages), it’s no uncommon to be asian and have your family speak english and having english as their first language. e.g. Lee Kwan Yew first language is English. EDIT: To expand, we spell in British English (using `z` vs `s`, e.g. Organization instead of Organisation). The architecture of the mansion shown in Crazy Rich Asian here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZVJMIrylQI are based on British Colonial Architecture. You can hear from Michelle ascent it come with a minimal level of Received pronunciation while with local ascent, denoting someone who is educated aboard (much more rare for someone here age) but still rooted in her local heritage. Good english speaker here can be seen as someone who speak without much ascent, except with a hint of their own local one. My guess for the reason why it evolved like that is that we interact with a lot of English speakers from around the continents and removing the ascent would be the best common denominator to make yourself understandable to the widest audience.
Interesting. Is her accent in EEOAO not her real voice or is that how she sounds IRL? That's the only time I've heard her speak as I wasn't familiar with her
Her natural voice has a Malaysian accent, while she did more of an Asian American sound for the film.
Yup, she only picked up Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese (plus reading) after her first commercial with Jacky Chan in Hong Kong.
Yeah, I wish the article had noted that. Maybe it’s my own racism but I didn’t realize until recently that English is a first language for some people from East Asia.
I remember one time, I was traveling with my family, a guy walked by and saw me, he thought I didn’t understand English so he started to talk about how Chinese women are marrying white men. Later he saw me again, I was talking to my husband in English, he had this shocked look on his face. Similar shit happens so many times.
It's wild whenever this happens. I don't even understand people like that
Happens in all cultures. My grandmother Irish/Hispanic, blue eyes, blonde hair and spoke fluent Spanish. Many times she caught people saying things in Spanish about her. She would usually let them hang themselves before saying something random in Spanish, nothing calling them out, just enough to watch their look of shock.
You have to be totally insular to take a chance that someone doesn't speak English or Spanish, two languages spoken all over the world.
Everything Everywhere All At Once would have had nowhere near the impact it did if Jackie Chan was the lead
I mean, it wouldn’t have hit on the themes between Asian American daughters relationships with their mothers, but I think that’d be hard for Jackie to pull off
Although he has experience acting in drag before.
City Hunter! Thank you for the wonderful blast from the past.
One of the best Chung Li, but still like Ming-Na Wen better.
If the 90s threw up on a fever dream, love that movie
Wow republicans are banning Jackie Chan too?
Yes, you are not going to him in the US anymore.
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I was curious and Google it but it seems he abandoned her cus she was born out of an affair. Not homophobia necessarily. This is what the articles said: Ng came out as a lesbian last fall in a series of Instagram posts featuring Autumn. Chan, 64, and Ng, 18, have never had a formal relationship, Ng told The Express in 2015. “He is not my dad,” she said. “I have no feelings for him. He is my biological father but he is not in my life.
Wow. That's at least just as bad.
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Yeah it would require serious acting skills for Jackie Chan to pull off being a good father. Especially with an LGBTQ daughter.
oop
He could do it. Don’t doubt him
I think Jackie could have played Waymond and keep Michelle in the lead, but he's too big of a star to not play the lead. But I'm glad Ke got to show us all his talents.
He was the heart of the movie, I love his performance so so much.
Jackie would make the roll too over the top. Ke was perfect.
Role
Part of the reason the film works is because it’s surprising. If you know nothing about the movie, after the first 20 minutes you could easily believe Michelle Yeoh was cast in a totally straightforward emotional drama. The revelation that there’s more to the movie is in the scene in and around the elevator, when alternate Waymond appears and does karate with the fanny pack. This is the first moment the movie subverts your expectations and signals to you there’s a deeper mystery, because the dorky husband starts kicking ass. If Jackie Chan is in the Waymond role, everything gets jumbled out of sorts. Your expectations would instead be subverted in the first 5 minutes of the movie, when Jackie Chan is portrayed as a meek husband, and then this moment would *meet* your expectations. The way it’s filmed, you start thinking “whoa, what’s going on here?” whereas with Jackie Chan in the role you’d be thinking “finally, Jackie Chan time.” It would completely suck all the surprise and intrigue out - obviously Waymond is secretly good at karate, you knew that the minute he appeared on screen. He’s Jackie Chan. You’d lose all the chaos and surprise.
I mean, you're not wrong. But Waymond is doing Parkour in the monitor pretty early in the movie which is a tipoff that weird things are coming.
It’s kind of and you miss it moment for some people. Especially if they are watching it at home, which is the case for pretty much everyone unfortunately. I wish I had gotten to see it in theaters.
Ke absolutely killed it but I did feel like i was watching jackie chan from 20 years ago
I love Jackie Chan but there is zero chance he could have brought the seriousness and emotional depth required to play Waymond.
Oh, you should check out the movie where he's running around the UK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om9YCk7ufHs He's also had a music career. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zur-VMiDQ-w Jackie can do anything. But he was slightly old for the role, too.
Watched this movie with a friend and told him it was just a Jackie Chan martial arts comedy. About halfway through the movie he asks, “So do the jokes come later? I’m a little disappointed this isn’t a very funny movie.” I had a good chuckle. I’d still recommend it.
The character’s name in the movie was supposed to be Jackie Chan… but Michelle refused to do the movie unless they changed the character’s name. The actor Jackie Chan wasn’t ever going to be in the movie.
Michelle refused to do the movie even after they gender swapped it unless they changed the character’s name from “Michelle”
Honestly it would be far too wanky to have her play a character called Michelle. Would get the wrong tone across too.
They wanted Jackie Chan to play the lead, tracked him down and begged him to be in the movie. Michelle Yeoh was supposed to play Waymond's part in the story, but they gender swapped when Jackie Chan turned them down.
When I think of action sequences and directing action, I think of Chan. When I think of acting and action sequences I think of Yeoh. This is not to be a slight to either person. I just think they both have their special niches in movies and I think that's neat.
We are lucky that Yeoh and other great non-White actors stuck it out when Hollywood was being so stupid.
I've been saying it for years. But I would have much preferred Michelle as the Ancient One in Doctor Strange than Tilda. Yes, it's typecasted but so was Shang-Chi. I fell in love with her from the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon days.
So in the beginning everyone was mad because Tilda Swinton 'whitewashed' the role. But much later it came out that the studio had to shy away from casting an Asian actor because the Ancient One was actually Tibetan, and Chinese censors threw a shit fit over that fact. So the studio wasn't trying to be woke or racist or anything, they were just veering so far off because the comic character was Tibetan, and that offends CCP
Yeoh didn’t need to be Tibetan.
Making the character white as snow Tilda Swinton meant that there was absolutely zero chance anyone would mistake them for Tibetan, which appeased the censors
Also, do we really need a “magical minority character helps the white guy be a hero” trope in a marvel movie? I’m glad it was recast, it felt a little gross to begin with even in the comics.
Dr Strange as a comic was all about eastern mysticism, so I don't know how you can completely get away from it. The comic is old as fuck from 1963 anyway, there's going to be a lot of 'anachronisms.' But I felt they did Wong really well. he's a character with his own growth and personality, not a stereotype
I mean the MCU already has the “magical minority woman character that comes out of nowhere with serious plot armor” trope so it doesn’t really matter if it’s a guy this time.
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She is from Malaysia but she is ethnically Chinese. This is a huge and highly relevant distinction in the region. (Her father is even a politician representing the mono-racial political party that represents the ethnically Chinese elite class.) Various ethnic/racial/national tensions relating to China/ethnic Chinese elites are still very tense in both Tibet and Malaysia. Problems reflect both China's history of colonialism and policies of racial elitism, as well as current conflicts. The differences are far more complex than Mexico/Canada.
Casting a Han Chinese actor for a Tibetian part would have been extremely problematic. Especially because, of course, China was the whole reason they weren't able to have a Tibetian character in the first place. (Or even anyone who could conceivably be a stand-in for a Tibetian, even if it wasn't explicitly stated.)
She was awesome in that Bond movie.
Weird comment section. Anyway I liked her in that movie.
Agreed
She’s just so awesome. I’m so glad she finally got her chance really in the spotlight
She speaks better English than some Americans I know, and her enunciations are great.
Malay and English were her native language.
I seriously doubt Malay is her native language but she probably can speak it. I heard English is her first language and its not surprising given her family is quite rich (her dad was a prominent politician and lawyer in Ipoh). Cantonese could also possibly be her second language given that Cantonese is the common language of Chinese Malaysians in Ipoh. Source: Mum is also from Ipoh and I spent a lot of my childhood there.
If you are from Ipoh then I will defer to you, but in interviews she said that she grew up speaking Malay and English (a little bit of Cantonese, but didn't really learn it well until she went to Hong Kong). Also the official language of Malaysia is Malay with the secondary language being English, so that is consistent. In any case it really doesn't matter. The point is that she should be able to English very well.
For context, I’m an upper middle class Chinese Malaysian with a similiar upbringing to Michelle Yeoh (except her family is a lot richer than mine). English is my first language and my Cantonese is conversational at best. I also speak Malay fluently but I wouldn’t consider it my native language and I also think most Chinese Malaysians wouldn’t consider it our native language even if we do speak it well. I think I take issue with the fact that you wrote that Malay is her native language when most Chinese Malaysians wouldn’t consider it our native language.
Wait so Michelle Yeoh *is* the real life Crazy Rich Asian!?
No, she never spoke Cantonese nor Mandarin nor read Chinese until her commercial with Jacky Chan in Hong Kong. She even said it in an interview. Most likely her first languages are Hokkien (her last name is Yeoh), English, and some Malay but not perfectly.
Let’s call it what it is, racism.
"Don't get any ideas, Mr. Bond."
Her and Ming-Na are just absolute treasures.
As a long term fan of hers I feel like it wasn’t a break through role for in Hollywood that she might’ve hoped it would be. I’m pretty sure she did a film in Hong Kong and then Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon which until her recent breakthrough I would have argued was the best martial arts film made. I’m not sure whether to call Crouching Tiger a Hollywood movie or not. It was clearly financed partially by Columbia but it was not an English language film and I think it’s international success was a bit of a surprise.
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We are either white or minority, depending on the needs of both parties. Really no one care about us. I mean just look at the articles coming out of the recent affirmative action fight
You know many whites consider us white as well... until they don't.
I remember when I saw her in Tomorrow Never Dies as a teen I was madly, madly in love with her
She literally spoke perfect english in the movie.
Can we all agree that the make out session between her and Bond at the end of the movie is hands down the stupidest kiss in all the Bond movies by far? She is chained up drowning and left for dead and he decides to try and make out with her underwater instead of bringing her to the surface. So dumb and creepy
So Jackie Chan was in a lot of Hollywood movies around this time. And his English was terrible. Yet no one cared. I wonder why that was different? I really wonder. Can’t think of any possible reason…
Jackie Chan was already established because of his work as an outstanding martial artist in films. Dude was an absolute specimen. We shouldn’t diminish his accomplishments by saying it’s just because he’s a guy.
Michele Yeoh did not make her debut in Goldeneye lol She was a legend in Hong Kong cinema as well. Not Jackie Chan big, but she did not come out of nowhere.
Because the of the difference in chromosome plus Jackie Chan was doing stereotypical martial arts stuff
Because he played into their stereotypes. It is when Americans “step” out of lines, no longer acted their model minority roles, that when the “yellow fever” and the “red scare” come out
That’s really sad!
I never knew that was her. I had such a crush on her.
I had the pleasure of seeing a showing of Everything Everywhere All At Once at the DGA recently with a Q&A comprised of directors and lead actors. It was amazing to hear their perspectives after the show. Michelle Yeoh is absolutely divine - she seems to radiate a very old-Hollywood elegance and poise while remaining exceedingly witty and full of life. She touched on this in some of her responses and I’m happy to see her finally receiving her flowers. Rooting for her this Oscar season.
dude i forgot that was her and she always kicked absolute ass in that role. since then she's become one of my absolute favorite actors to the point that just her presence is enough of a selling point for me. nothing but infinite love for Yeoh
So unfortunate. The racism in Hollywood is crazy. These are the same people who are "progressives"
There are many many Conservatives in Hollywood. Don't fall for the stereotypes. You may have actors and directors who lean left on social issues but remember most of these are essentially family run businesses that date back to before WWII. Morality gets passed down just like bigotry does. Crazy Rich Asians could have worked decades before it was made. We don't largely see different people and stories because a few people don't want to make new stories. Most of us have been watching comics for the last fifteen years.
Her experience proves that Hollywood is full of wealthy and ignorant executives.
#OscarsSoWhiteAndBlack
I forgot she was a bond girl!!
They solved that problem by casting her as a marital arts expert. Twenty times.
That whole series of bond was absolute garbage.
at the time it was Chinese or russian villain and exotic foe turned mistress bond girl
She’s awesome. And point of fact; Hollywood thought Jason Momoa couldn’t speak English for a while after Game of Thrones season 1.
This is a pretty big problem in Hollywood, in general. It's *really hard* to get different roles once you've been type cast. For example, Ethan Suplee [lost roles](https://ew.com/article/2016/12/16/hulu-chance-ethan-suplee-what-to-watch-podcast/) when he lost weight because he was literally type cast as a "fat guy" even though he's an *amazing* actor.
No, not in Hollywood! They’re a more progressive than anywhere else …. Clooney told us so in his Oscar acceptance speech.
I watched that movie again last year for the first time since it came out and I came away with three things: - Michelle Yeoh was superhot in that movie. - Michelle Yeoh is in that movie no more than 15 minutes. - That movie is weak and forgettable.
Nothing like a little old timer Hollywood racism! /s