Michelle Yeoh has opened up about the terrible advice she was given before Everything Everywhere All at Once.
The actor, who has been nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars for her role in the film, said she faced pressure from those around her to step away from acting before signing on to the film.
Speaking on a new podcast, Yeoh, who is 60, said that “as you get older, the roles get smaller”.
“It seems like the numbers go up, and these things go narrow, and then you start getting relegated to the side more and more,” she told the Los Angeles Times’ The Envelope podcast.
Yeoh said that, when Everything Everywhere All at Once was offered to her, “it was very emotional because this means that you are the one who’s leading this whole process... who’s telling the story”.
She continued: “As you get older, people start saying, ‘Oh yeah, you should retire. You should do this. You should...’ No, guys. Do not tell me what to do. I should be in control of what I am capable of, right?”
Yeoh won Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes in January, and is considered one of the favourites to win the Oscar in a close contest with Tár’s Cate Blanchett.
The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star recently revealed that the lead role of multiverse-hopping Evelyn Quan was originally written for a man and offered to Jackie Chan.
Discussing directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known as The Daniels), she explained: “They wrote it that way, with Jackie, and me as the wife. So the roles were completely reversed. I remember Jackie texting me and saying, ‘Congratulations! You know your boys came to see me first.’”
Yeoh said she thanked Chan for “doing me a huge favour”.
The Oscars will take place on 12 March – find the full list of nominations here.
