StudioLA's Suzanne Kai interviews Michelle Yeoh Star of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Our own Suzanne Kai talks with Michelle Yeoh in her role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Suzanne: Michelle, congratulations on a spectacular year. You were amazing in "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon."

Michelle: Thanks! It was an incredible role, first of allit's not often that you get a role that is so well rounded, not just in the dramatic side but also in the martial arts side.

Suzanne: Among the numerous awards worldwide, you were honored as International Star of the Year, by the National Association of Theatre Owners. You're also a presenter at the Oscars, and you've started your own production company. What a year!

Michelle: Sounds busy doesn't it? It has been an incredible year. A lot of hard work, but I'm having a very, very good time.

Suzanne: What a fantastic ensemble cast for "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon." What was it like to work with Director Ang Lee, Chow Yun Fat and newcomer Zhang Ziyi?

Michelle: When I first met Ang, and he said to me he wanted to do "Sense and Sensibility" with martial arts I was very taken by the idea already so approaching this movie and filming in China was an incredible experience.

No doubt it was a very harsh and hard, long, cold procedure, but then you know we have the most charismatic Chow Yun Fat. And I honestly believe that if it wasn't for having an opposite star who was able to give me and help me delivery my own part, I think our part of the love story would not have come across so meaningful.

Ang Lee is a very passionate director. If you meet him personally, he's a very mild mannered, very softspoken, very quiet man, but he has the vision and he's very determined to be able to put that on the silver screen. He knows exactly what he wants and he demands the best, the most from everyone, of not just his cast but also his crew. This time we were very fortunate that everyone, particularly the crew and then the cast of course, from Hong Kong, Beijing, Taiwan, mainly from Hong Kong and Beijing came together wanting to make this dream a reality.

It was really truly a labor of love. The hours that they put in, the pay cut that they all took to do this was to hope that this vision would reach worldwide. For all our sake and all the hard work that we put into it, I'm very, very grateful that it is a success as it is today.

Suzanne: It's an incredible success!

Michelle: I just got an email from my agent at UTA [United Talent Agency] saying that it's crossed the $100 million mark in the U.S. which is the first time ever in history for a foreign film. For any normal mainstream movie, it's already a difficult mark to cross. But for a movie that is sub-titled and foreign, this is like a miracle.

Suzanne: It is, and congratulations! How did you do those amazing tree-hopping fighting scenes. They were so graceful, but also thrilling to watch all that action. What was it really like to create those scenes? I understand you had a serious knee injury?

Michelle: Right, all this wire work is something that is very much part of the Hong Kong film culture. The martial arts side of it. I must say they have been the ones that have been doing it for a long time, so therefore they are the masters of this.

What you see there, the end product is like watching a ballet show, a performance. Everyone makes it look very easy, but you have to know all the hours of training that goes behind it and to do all those graceful flying motions whether be it the rooftops or in the treetops, it is a whole teamwork of people working together. Timing, spontaneous sudden movements, and just being able to cooperate with each other.

Suzanne: I understand you had corsets and wires and it was very strenuous.

Michelle: [laughter] The best things about those corsets [is] after you take them off you have a truly narrow waist by the end of it. All your weight is taken on there, and you need the corsets so that the wires can be hitched on to you.

Suzanne: What about your knee injury?

Michelle: Unfortunately, after the first action sequence there was an accident. When you do martial arts films or action movies, the risk factor is a little higher than doing a dramatic role.

I had knee surgery during the filming, so I was away from the set for three and a half weeks. I had knee surgery which incorporates ACL which is the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee, and that had to be reattached again. So when I did the surgery I went straight into physical therapy and my doctor, my specialist at Johns Hopkins had a time guideline and said that you cannot leave before four weeks, only after four weeks do we know if that has set and during that time we have to monitor very carefully the actual rehab progress.

So it was plain torture, basically. Back in China they were filming around me. There I was trying to get well as quick as possible, dealing with the pain, and the depression as well. But I made it back, first of all with crutches, then as time went on I was able to do more intensive muscle building work so I was able to do my final action sequence which was rescheduled to the last three weeks of filming.

Suzanne: Why do you continue to do your own stunts? In the U.S., many actors don't actually do their own stunts, they often use doubles. Is that a personal preference?

Michelle: This is a personal thing. And also, I suppose since my first action film, this was something that I also took pride in being able to do. And since then, it's become a personal challenge more than anything else. You know that this character is supposed to be doing that, and I feel "cheated" if I don't do it. Obviously, when I work on something like that I always work on the team that I trust my life with.

Suzanne: We have marveled at your fight scenes and held our seats as you rolled off cars and jumped off motorcyles and high buildings in other films such as James Bond's "Tomorrow Never Dies" and Jackie Chan's "Supercops." It's hard to believe anyone can do these stunts at all. What are the stunts that you feel in your career were the riskiest ones?

Michelle: Don't worry, I shock myself, too! Because you know when you are on the set, and when you are doing all these kinds of things, you are very, very focused, and obviously you go through the whole procedure with your team, your stunt team. And I exercise and I train with them so they know what are the things I am capable of.

And once you get on the set, in your mind set you have agreed to do something, you concentrate so much. You don't think of the things that would go wrong, because you have to think of things and how it is going to get it right.

So, often, it's like you when I am watching the film, at the end of the day when it's all done and edited with sound effects and all that, I sit there and go "What the hell was I thinking!" [laughter] The most dangerous stunt, going back to your questionthe problem is every one of them has its own dangers. Some are more obvious than the other.

I respect each stunt to be just as dangerous as the other one. If you look at it, chances are, normally accidents happen when you think it's a smaller stunt and you don't have to be so aware. So I don't do that. Every one that I do is very dangerous.

Suzanne: I saw a scene that you were on a motorcyle and you literally jumped off onto a moving train.

Michelle: Yeah, that was in "Supercops." [laughter] I will never do that again! That's all I can tell you! [laughter] Some things I will never do again, and the idea is I have done that before and I don't have to repeat myself. I get bored. [laughter]

Suzanne: In acting, an actor can sometimes forget a line, and its ok because you can just do a retake of that scene, but how does it work with a fight scene and if someone forgets a move? How much creative license did you have in these scenes?

Michelle: Every movement is all choreographed. Apart from when you are up on the wires, then you have to go with the flow, so to speak. Once you're up there, whether suddenly you're going to go against the wall, or two takes before that there wasn't a wall. It's because the movement of the wire which varies by degree. It's never on the spot. For example, if you are doing a hand to hand combat, everything is choreographed, every kick, every jump, every punch.

The idea is to be in training prior to that so that the mind set and your body is conditioned to take the variations of movements and also your mind is taught to memorize.

Yes, there will be mistakes. And when you make a mistake when you are fighting you hope that you don't run into someone's fist or sword or something like that. But little bumps and bruises, accidents can happen and the only thing is you minimize that by having quick reflexes or learning to put your hands over your head and saying "I'm sorry, let's start again!"

Suzanne: That's quite dangerous, especially if you are carrying weapons and your fighting partner makes the wrong move.

Michelle: There's one thing fighting with your hands and feet, because you are in complete control of that. The distance, and on impact you feel the punch, but when you are holding a stick or a sword and all that...it's an extension of your arm which makes that element of control even less.

So what I do is before I start with a film, I identify which are the forms, the different things I would be using. For example, in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" when Ang, he was very adventurous and wanted to try out all these different weapons ever created in China. And I thought, "Oh, no," because you know Chow is going to be using the sword, Zhang Ziyi is going to be using the sword. If there is anyone else left to be using the rest of the weapons, it would be me. And as you can see in the final scene, that is what happened.

Suzanne: Your role in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" gave audiences a chance to see you in peak form as an action star, but also we got to really appreciate your talents as a dramatic actress. Will you be doing more roles in the future as a dramatic actress?

Michelle: I think what it is, is even in a martial arts film, the acting element, the dramatic side is always important. I think, for example, why "Crouching Tiger" has done so well, even though it is a martial [arts film], in that genre of films, is the balance of the dramatic side and the martial arts side. It's very easy to be taken away, overwhelmed by the visual physical side of it.

So for example, now that I've started my own production company my first baby, per se is a romantic action adventure. I love action films. I love being able to do them. But, we will insist that the dramatic side of it will carry it through. So people will not sit back and say, "Oh, another fifteen minutes of action and [here's] another twenty minutes of action." That is what we have to be aware of. And yes, of course, as an actress I want to be able to do roles that doesn't involve action as well.

Suzanne: That's wonderful. We'd love to see you in movies of any kind really.

Michelle: Thank you.

Suzanne: Many critics feel that your role in "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" is an important social achievement in terms of Asian and feminist-related issues. Rarely do we get to see a strong, highly-moral Asian woman character. Usually we get "dragon" ladies or exotic Asian girls. What are your thoughts on that?

Michelle: Those stereotypes. I find there's more in American movies, to be honest. They do have the very strong independent roles without bordering being the dragon lady or the bitch. Are you allowed to print that?! [laughter]

Suzanne: Yes. [laughter]

Michelle: But also the way they look at Chinese women. They always see them, you know it's like Ally McBeal, Lucy Liu, and that. She's a much better actress than that, and there is much more to that than just the very stereotypical Suzie Wong of the old days. Fortunately, for myself, even with "Tomorrow Never Dies," and "Supercops," the movies that I've done prior to all this. "Yes Madam!," "The Heroic Trio," "Executioners," I've always done very strong willed, independent, smart women roles, which I feel that the audience wants to see that...not just the women, but the men [also] enjoy that very, very much.

Suzanne: I'm sure you've had your share of roles being offered to you with the exotic Asian girl theme.

Michelle: I've had the pleasure of turning a lot of them down. [laughter] I don't want to...as a Chinese actress I don't want to endorse any further stereotypical role, to be honest. I think we have gone beyond that, and we are beyond that. To keep endorsing those roles means we agree to them. And that we should still be seen in those lights? Especially, if it was a contemporary movie, then I am even more repelled by that.

Suzanne: So you are happy to turn them down.

Michelle: I am very, very blessed in the sense that I have a choice, I am able to do that. And to very proudly say, "thank you, but no thank you," because I really don't agree with that role or I don't appreciate how it's been written. But I don't say that to people, "everybody else should not do it," [but] it would be nice.

Suzanne: This last year has been remarkable in terms of bringing legitimacy of Asian cinema to western audiences. On RottenTomatoes.com, the hot movie site, two of the top five critically acclaimed movies are Asian made "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonr" and "Yi Yi." There's been a gold rush of great Hong Kong cinema during the decade of 1987-1997, and it seems now to have evolved further. Now dramatic Asian cinema has finally landed in Hollywood. Is there a reason why this is the new favorite among critics?

Michelle: I think what it is, is also the American audiences or the European audiencesmore so [with] the American audiences where?the studios, the distributors, the buyers are branching out. We've always been here, from..."Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain", [and others] we've had a history of very, very talented filmmakers.

Yes, we've had our "downs" as well, which we should be ashamed of. Yes, there are a great mix of good quality filmmakers and right on the other spectrum, bad Asian film. But, then it's the same in Hollywood. They have the mega blockbusters, and also many, many that go straight to video, that are never seen again, or never heard again kind of films.

What is most important here is that with this, shall we call it a new "revival of interest," or window of opportunity out here is for us Asian filmmakers to sustain this and continue to make good quality films even better.

Now, it gives us opportunities to explore the cross-over movies, whereby we no longer have to make movies that's only for the local market, that we can reach worldwide and there are interest and buyers from Europe and America who want to see our movies.

So it gives us a bigger platform to be playing on, a bigger stage to be playing on. But we have to be careful so as not to cut the ground from below us ourselves. [edit] I think the interest in Asians films, it's sort of like an evolution. It's happened with fashion, it's happened with a lot of things where they start of in their own country and then they reach further out and then they reach further out.

Through the magic of filmmaking is one of the fastest, best ways of cross-cultural exchange not just as an education form but also as people, the society, and also the history, the landscape. So what we have to do is to make sure this is not just a fad, this is here to stay.

Suzanne: Do you think that Hong Kong film is now internationalized? Movies such as "Accidental Spy" and "Gen-X Cops" have all been distributed successfully to Western mainstream audiences. Do you think this is an evolution that will stay?

Michelle: We definitely hope so. This is up to us to make sure it continues this way and the only way we can do it is to put our money where our mouth is to produce quality film. That's the bottom line. Because at the end of the day apart from it being entertainment, apart from it being art, it is also a business.

Suzanne: About the business, you have a new production company. Can you tell us about your new company?

Michelle: My production company is called Mythical Films. It was put into operation the first of August of last year. I'm most proud of the fact that all this happened before the success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

I found very good partners, which is with MediaAsia who I believe would give me the support, and most of all, we share the same vision. They have a great distribution network, they understand that filmmaking is not about just churning out films.

[They understand] that it's about...the point of creation, from the seed of an idea, taking it to actual production and then how do you take care of this baby. Nurturing so that when it goes out it is distributed well, not just locally in our own markets, but also worldwide, and that consists of the marketing, the publicity campaign and all that.

So for me this is a very exciting new venture. It's not something that I suddenly went, "Oh, ok, I would dabble in that." It's something that I have been thinking for a few years now, but it's not something that I can go and do on my own, because apart from wanting to be a producer, I still am very passionate about being the actress.

Suzanne: Congratulations. Can you tell us about your upcoming project. Is actor Dan Wu involved in your project?

Michelle: The new movie that we are doing, we've just started pre-production. We've been working on the script for the last year. We officially started, in pre-production on the 15th of this month [March, 2001] and right now we are on the sixth draft of our script.

Until the last draft comes out, or at least this one sitting here hot off the press waiting for me to read. Until we are confident that this is what we want the potential cast to read, we have a list of people we will be casting and auditioning for the different roles.

We will be looking at Daniel because he's a superb actor and hopefully we will find a role that will be suitable for him. And we are looking at other, across the board, European actors, American actors and definitely actors around our region. It will be directed by Peter Pau who was the Director of Photography in "Crouching Tiger."

Suzanne: Is your production company backed by American and Asian financing?

Michelle: My company is purely Hong Kong.

Suzanne: Purely Hong Kong. Wonderful.

Michelle: Asian, only Asian, yes. This is where I started. This is where I was given my first opportunity, and if this is a small way I can give back to an industry that's been so kind and generous to me, I'm trying to make a go at it.

Suzanne: We'd like to know more about Michelle, the person. You are really an inspiration to both men and women. Do you have advice for young aspiring actors and actresses?

Michelle: What I would say is you have to be prepared. Because opportunities come and they go. And when they come knocking at your door you must be prepared. If you want to be an actress, a script writer, a director there are things you can do prior to that, and then obviously, you need a lot of luck!

Suzanne: How much influence did your parents play in your career. I read that you were crowned Miss Malaysia in 1987, but it was actually your mother that signed you up, and this was against your wishes?

Michelle: Yes, but it wasn't against my wishes, because I didn't even know about it! That was the fun part. I had always harbored dreams because I went over to England to study ballet, to do dance, and I had always wanted at some point to come back to Malaysia to start my own school to do choreography, to teach because dance was always the first love of my life.

Then, I was given an opportunity to come out to Hong Kong and was offered a film contract. It was something that I never planned for, I never thought that, if you had asked me at that point and told me, that ten years later you would be International Star of the Year, all this, I would have laughed at you and said "Yeah, right, ha ha ha, very funny!"

But, like I said, an opportunity came my way, [I thought] this could be very interesting for me to do. I did my minor in my degree course in drama. I never thought that I would pursue it, but hey, here comes a new chance to do something that's very, very different and would I like to try it? Yes! I would try it, I would give it my best shot and if it doesn't work I would go back and do my dance, and it worked! I'm still here today.

Suzanne: How do you stay in such fantastic condition? Do you have a special diet and training schedule?

Michelle: I think because, even as a child doing dance, being very athletic, very sporty, very physical, in that way, so it's very much part of my life. When I exercise and when I do something, it's not like, "Oh, God, I have to put in another hour and I have to do this because I have to keep fit."

I incorporate it basically into my lifestyle. I might be doing my kicks when I am brushing my teeth, if I am reading a book I'll be doing my sit-ups, if I'm watching TV I'll be doing leg-ups, things like that. I have a little trampoline in my office if I have to watch a DVD of a particular director that we're interested in pursuing, then there I am bouncing on that. So, instead of [sitting] on my butt! [laughter]

I don't diet per se. Fortunately, I have a great appetite for vegetables and fruit, and I've never been a big meat eater. But I do. I always believe in moderation rather than just complete going overboard.

Suzanne: Thank you for this interview Michelle. We just love all of your movies and look forward to seeing all of your future ones!

Michelle: Thank you! It was nice talking with you, Suzanne.