With Michelle Yeoh’s historic win at Sunday’s Academy Awards for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the genre-changing sci-fi has accomplished a feat that has happened only twice before in Oscar history. and for the first time in 46 years.
Along with supporting cast members Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee CurtisYeoh has made “Everything Everywhere” the third film in history to win three acting Oscars.
The first film to achieve that trifecta was “A Streetcar Named Desire” in 1951, with Vivien Leigh winning Best Actress for her portrayal of the tragic Blanche DuBois with Kim Hunter and Karl Malden winning the supporting Oscar for playing Stella. Kowalski and Blanche’s potential husband, Mitch. respectively.
Twenty-six years later, Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumet’s television news satire “Network” became the second film to win three acting awards. Peter Finch, who died two months before the ceremony, became the first actor to win a posthumous Oscar for his portrayal of “Mad Wave Prophet” Howard Beale, with Faye Dunaway winning Best Actress as the corrupt executive of the chain Diane Christensen and Beatrice. Straight away setting a record by winning Best Supporting Actress with just over five minutes of screen time, the fewest of any Oscar winner.
Now, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” joins this oddball club, with Yeoh and Quan winning for their performances as married multiverse adventurers Evelyn and Waymond Wang, with Curtis joining them for her performance as IRS Inspector Deirdre. Beaubeirdre, who’s auditing Evelyn’s laundry. in one universe and is married to her in another where everyone has sausages for fingers.
This isn’t the only historic Oscar moment for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Yeoh’s win makes her the first Asian woman to win a Best Actress Oscar. The film is also the first comedy to win the Best Film Editing award. The Daniels directors are only the third duo to win the Best Director award. And the movie had staying power as it had the earliest release date for any Best Picture winner in 31 years.
