10 Facts About Everything Everywhere All At Once: One of the most universally acclaimed movies of 2022 was the genre-bending, bizarre action-adventure film directed by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, which blends elements of science fiction, animation, absurdist fiction, martial arts, comedy-drama, fantasy, time travel, and the like.
The film was “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which changed how a multi-genre film is conceived and visualized. Like the first word in its title, this film feels like everything, and it can give you various emotions, which can be either rewarding or exhausting for you, given how you watch the film. It’s bursting with so many original, weird concepts and ideas that no serious storyteller in their right mind would ever dare to put in their movie.
The film tells the story of Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese immigrant in America struggling to keep her laundromat business afloat. In a jarring turn of events, she discovers the existence of multiple universes and soon finds herself on a mission to save them all from destruction. The movie is one of the films that have the most award nominations, with 404 nominations across various awards ceremonies, and got seven Academy Awards with 11 nominations.
The movie was widely praised and celebrated for its quirky, bizarre, yet simple characters. With its multi-dimensional world-building and genre-bending storytelling, it is hard to look away from it. So what happened in this movie during the production stage? Without further ado, let’s dive into the world of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and find out some lesser-known facts about the film.
Here are ten things you probably didn’t know about “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022).
1. James Hong had stand-ins to do action scenes for him:
Hong was 91 years old and the most senior cast member during the filming. Hong describes his character Gong-Gong in this manner: “He could become the villain, mainly because of what he wants for his daughter.” And the script made him the person who “doesn’t exactly know what is going on.” To perform the action beats, Hong had five stand-ins; one of them even chose to shave his head in honor of doubling as a stand-in for Hong.
2. This is Ke Huy Quan’s comeback to acting after 20 years:
Quan, who in the ’80s starred in films like “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and “The Goonies” as a child, quit acting after starring in the 2002 film “Second Time Around” as, according to him, “I was waiting for the phone to ring, and it rarely did.” Then he made the tough decision to step away from acting. During his acting hiatus, he worked as a choreographer and assistant director in several films (including assisting Wong Kar-Wai in his film 2046). After watching and getting inspired by 2018’s “Crazy Rich Asians,” he decided to pursue his dream of acting again.
He landed the first role he auditioned for and played Waymond Wang (three different versions of it) in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and secured an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, giving an emotional speech while accepting the award where he said, “My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp. And somehow, I ended up here on Hollywood’s biggest stage.” And he further stated, “Dreams are something you have to believe in. I almost gave up on mine. To all of you out there, please keep your dreams alive.” A dream coming true, and how.
3. Michelle Yeoh’s character was initially written with Jackie Chan in mind:
Michelle Yeoh, who won an Academy Award for best actress for her role in this movie, was not the initial choice for the Daniels. They initially wrote her character as male, having Jackie Chan in mind for the role. “At first, we were like, ‘Action movie, going to star a dude,’” Daniel Scheinert said. Yeoh was cast in a supporting role, and when Chan declined the offer to portray the lead, Yeoh became the protagonist. And it did become a turning point in her career, as she became the first Asian woman to win a Best Actress Oscar.
4. A Harry Potter star was once approached to appear in the film:
Daniel Radcliffe, who to the audiences is best known for his portrayal of Harry Potter in the eponymous film series, was once approached by the Daniels to star in this movie, having previously collaborated with them as a farting corpse in 2016’s “Swiss Army Man.” He turned down the role because of scheduling conflicts, but he later stated in an interview with Empire, “The Daniels are probably the only people in the world that I would say yes to doing a movie of theirs without even seeing the script.”
5. The film took under 40 days to film:
With a budget of 25 million dollars, it was praised for handling the multiverse concept. In fact, as complicated as it is, the film took only 37-38 days to film, which is relatively quick. According to Yeoh: “Daniels knew exactly what they were doing. They knew the script inside and out, backward and forwards, up and down, and all the way around. It was like they were the everything bagel. They had everything inside those two heads. They’re like the evil geniuses.” An impressive feat, no doubt.
6. The bizarre-looking hot dog hands were no CGI:
Jason Hammer, the head of the prosthetics team for the film, revealed that the uncomfortable hot dog hands were molded with materials that looked a lot like human skin and molded the prosthetic gloves with threaded hairs to make them look more authentic. Later, Hammer replaced the fingers with actual hot dogs. Hungry while shooting? Eat a hot dog finger!
7. The film had a unique fake name:
When a film goes into production, it is given a phony name to avoid leaking details to the public. Like every other film, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” was also given a fake title, “A Woman Tries to do Her Taxes,” which is a plotline for the film and was the initial synopsis on the film’s IMDb page.
8. Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan did their stunts:
Quan, who worked as a stunt co-ordinator in several films during his hiatus from acting, did most of his stunts himself. It includes the fanny pack action sequences, one of the movie’s most intriguing action scenes. He spent much time at home practicing his moves, which did not please his wife. On the contrary, Yeoh, a veteran action star, insisted on performing all the stunts herself with the help of a stunt coordinator to ensure they were executed flawlessly. After working so closely with her, Timothy Eulich, Yeoh’s stunt co-ordinator, praised her highly.
9. Michelle Yeoh suggested a significant change for a sequence in the movie:
In a pivotal scene, Yeoh’s character Evelyn and her daughter Joy enter a universe where they turn into rocks. It works wonders for the film’s pace, as the scene’s deafening silence enhances the characters’ turbulent mother-daughter dynamic. But initially, it was a very different scene. In the director’s commentary on DVD and BluRay, The Daniels admitted that the original screenplay had Evelyn and Joy speaking throughout the scene. Still, after reading it, Yeoh suggested the silent treatment, saying it gave it a very zen garden-like feel.
10. Jamie Lee Curtis’ look and characteristics were inspired by an older role done by the actress:
Curtis, who played Deirdre in the film and several different multiversal versions of her, took visual inspiration from an older role she did. The way Deirdre dresses is based on Elaine Bowen from the 2001 comedy “Daddy and Them,” and it was Curtis’ idea to implement visual cues from that character. She even bought her own dresses and didn’t opt for a fake belly prosthetic. Curtis pushes the character to its absolute surreal limit, and the way she carries the role with the clothes she wears and the way she walks and behaves enhances the strangeness of the movie world.
