After sharing martial arts videos on YouTube, Andy and team caught the attention of The Daniels, the directing duo behind Everything, Everywhere, All At Once who then recruited them to help bring back “the classic Hong Kong style of action comedy,” as Andy describes it.
In a film littered with action sequences, their job was to work closely with the directors and “create action sequences that carry the story forward and bring our signature flare of Hong Kong Action,” Andy says. Naturally, this involved incorporating some of the wackier elements throughout the film, including a butt plug trophy, and dildos. [Surely the kind of thing you just have to embrace].
©Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Andy and Michelle couldn’t have been a more natural fit, especially given the director’s desire to create an homage to the OG martial arts films, and Yeoh’s history in martial arts cinema.
“Her extensive background in martial arts films definitely had a great impact on how we worked together,” explains Andy. “Michelle brings a presence when the cameras are on her. You can take anyone else and teach them the same choreography and they would never be able to do it like her, she brings an X factor to her performance,” Andy says.
“Michelle has been performing martial arts on screen for the better part of four decades and has been performing complex movements for most of her life,” adds Daniel Mah, a founding member of Martial Club who served as Yeoh’s double in choreography rehearsals. “She is a master of learning movement quickly and interpreting the moves with a unique authority that only a seasoned performer can bring to the screen,” he adds.
©United Artists/Courtesy Everett Collection
Mah explains that their work struck a balance between realising the ambitious fight scenes in the script, and factoring in “the wear and tear that four decades of action performance might have had on [Yeoh’s] body.”
