(Los Angeles) The Absurd Sci-Fi Comedy Everything Everywhere All At Once continued its rise by winning yet another award, this time at the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) on Sunday.
This feature film directed by Americans Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert tells the story of a laundry owner, played by Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, exhausted by her administrative hassles with the tax authorities, suddenly immersed in parallel universes. The film was a smash hit last year, grossing some $100 million worldwide and earning 11 Oscar nominations.
Actress Michelle Yeoh won Best Actress, Ke Huy Quan won Best Supporting Actor, and Jamie Lee Curtis won Best Supporting Actress.
Film patriarch James Hong, 94, was the center of attention at Sunday’s gala, receiving the award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture.
He shared his thoughts on the days when Hollywood cast white actors, ‘scooping their eyes out’ [pour les brider, NDLR] the Asian leads because the producers thought “Asians weren’t good enough”.
“But look at us now, huh?” “, he launched, under a huge ovation.
These SAG awards, coupled with awards presented at the Producers Guild Awards (PGA) gala place Everything Everywhere All At Once well positioned for the Oscars on March 12.
Other winners from the mostly Asian cast of Everything Everywhere All At Once also referenced the long struggle for more diversity in Hollywood.
This prize “is not just for me, it is for all the little girls who look like me,” said Michelle Yeoh.
Ke Huy Quan, who, after appearing as a child in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984, took a long hiatus from acting because there were “so few opportunities”, noted that he was the first Asian actor to win in his category.
“When I learned of this, I quickly realized that this moment no longer belonged to me alone. It also belongs to all those who “have worked for more diversity,” he said.