Receiving a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Everything Everywhere All at Once was released earlier this year. Ever since its release, the Michelle Yeoh starrer has been widely loved and became the highest-grossing A24 project to date. It quickly found its spot in the Top 10 must-watch list of viewers.
While Michelle Yeoh received endless praise for her portrayal of Evelyn Wang, things might have looked a bit different if the original blueprint for the movie was to be followed. Apparently, the fan-favorite actor, Jackie Chan, was supposed to be leading the film and not Michelle Yeoh. We wonder how that would have turned out!
Jackie Chan in Place of Michelle Yeoh
It was brought to everyone’s attention that the action movie legend, Jackie Chan, was part of the original plan for Everything Everywhere All at Once. Putting Chan in the lead role didn’t mean the movie wouldn’t have Michelle Yeoh, at all. Instead of doing the wonders she did leading the film, she would be playing the role of Chan’s wife. One half of the director duo, Daniel Scheinert, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter stated that at first, the team had the thought, “Action movie, going to star a dude.” Co-director, Daniel Kwan, added that the idea of putting Yeoh in the lead opened up the movie in a different way for them.
“We were having trouble figuring out the casting for the father figure, and one of us started wondering what happens if we take Michelle’s character and flop it and she becomes the protagonist. And the film just opened up in a completely different way.”
Apparently, the difficulty the team was having in casting the male lead was because of Chan’s busy schedule. Another character who almost had a completely different face was Joy Wang. Actress Awkwafina was in talks for the role however owing to her schedule, it didn’t become a reality and the role, as we know it, went to Stephanie Hsu. Kwan stated that despite the characters being turned around, the movie was shot in just thirty-eight days without any changes to the script.
Everything Worked Out for the Best!
It looks like Chan, who will next be seen in Rush Hour 4, being busy turned out to be positive. Everything Everywhere All at Once became one of the biggest movies of the year in no time and received a plethora of accolades for its brilliant work. From screenplay to music, the movie was awarded in a variety of categories. Owing to her brilliant work, Yeoh ended up being named Time’s Icon of the Year, and we couldn’t agree with the decision more!
The movie shows a crazy adventure throughout the multiverse as well as a beautiful message which, together, make the perfect recipe needed for a much-entertaining movie!
Everything Everywhere All at Once is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: Twitter