From The Hollywood Reporter · Gregg Kilday · · 1m 20s
Michelle Yeoh's break from Bond Girl
At TIFF 2011, Michelle Yeoh used The Lady to prove she was a dramatic actor, not a franchise footnote.
In brief
At TIFF 2011, Michelle Yeoh used The Lady to prove she was a dramatic actor, not a franchise footnote. Yeoh did not wait for the industry to reframe her, she picked a role that forced it. Originally reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
A premiere 15 years ago
Michelle Yeoh came to TIFF for the world premiere of The Lady, her most serious role yet and a deliberate statement about what she could do.
Still called the Bond Girl
Some reporters in 2011 were introducing her as "Bond Girl Michelle Yeoh," pointing back to 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies.
“Bond Girl Michelle Yeoh”
Even after Crouching Tiger
The label stuck despite Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000, a global hit that should have settled the question of her range.
Playing a Nobel winner
She took on Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese activist, politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner, and asked how many iconic Asian women of her era audiences could even name.
“How many iconic female Asian figures do we know in our time?”
She built the film herself
Yeoh chased the part, recruited Luc Besson to direct, and spent hours learning Burmese for a script that moved between English and Burmese.
A promise to her teacher
She wanted Burmese audiences to understand her, not to hear an outsider reading lines. That was the standard she set for the performance.
“I promised my teacher who is a lecturer in Burmese … it would not sound like a foreigner learning to speak Burmese”
The key point
Yeoh did not wait for the industry to reframe her, she picked a role that forced it.
