A version of this story about “Everything Everywhere All at Once” star Stephanie Hsu first appeared in the Awards Preview issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
Stephanie Hsu remembers the moment almost three years ago in the days leading up to the pandemic in early 2020. She was on the set of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and told director Daniel Kwan: “This movie will make people go back to movie theaters. .” At the time, she was talking about the fight to get people off the couches of her in the age of streaming, still unaware of the pandemic that would threaten to destroy movie-going entirely.
“I really have no concept of Hollywood or the box office, I didn’t know what any of that meant,” Hsu told TheWrap. “[But] I realized that this movie had the scale and depth to entice people to see it in a theater with their friends and strangers. I realized that it was really special. But he certainly had no idea that he would be doing what he’s currently doing, nine months down the line.”
And by that he means: Riding the wild wave of breakthrough success and Oscar buzz that “Everything Everywhere All at Once” has been powering. since its launch last spring. Grossing $104 million worldwide, the zany, maximalist journey through the multiverses written and directed by Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (aka “The Daniels”) is the biggest independent hit of the post-war era. pandemic and the highest-grossing film in history for an art distributor. A24.
Hsu plays Joy, the daughter of Chinese immigrants (played by Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan) who resolves her conflicts with her mother in infinite parallel universes over which she reigns as an all-powerful, nihilistic villain named Jobu Tupaki. Her expansive performance—she’s downcast, hoodie-wearing Joy one second, and gleefully destructive Jobu in a sparkly white Elvis suit the next—has landed her in the running for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
Such a dizzying level of attention is a new experience for Hsu, a California native who began her career in experimental theater and has a recurring role on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
“I don’t take any of that for granted because we recognize how big of a bite it is to chew and for people to really get behind,” he said. “Even though everything has gotten flashy and boisterous, we’re still way under the favorites, just in the spirit of how we made the movie and who we are. So it means a lot when people get excited about it.”
For Hsu, part of the excitement of making “Everything Everywhere” was working so closely with Yeoh, who he is dealing with physically and psychologically. Their battle culminates in a moving scene that takes place in a parking lot and finds them finally coming to terms with the complexity—and the deep, unconditional love—of their bond.
“Hearing people’s response to the parking lot scene is very healing for me because I didn’t know how many people had such specific mother-daughter relationships,” she said with a laugh. “I didn’t grow up talking about intergenerational trauma within the immigrant diaspora, but many people who have a similar upbringing are sharing their stories. The beautiful thing about art is that it makes you feel less alone.”
Hsu will next be seen in an untitled comedy directed by “Crazy Rich Asians” writer Adele Lim, Rian Johnson’s next “Poker Face” series for Peacock and the Disney+ action-fantasy series “American Born Chinese,” where he reunited with Yeoh and Quan. Looking ahead, she’s hopeful that the success of a genre-defying mind game like “Everything Everywhere All at Once” will encourage Hollywood’s gatekeepers to take more chances with the weirder scripts that come their way.
“One of the things I’m most proud of,” she said, “is that it’s revolutionizing the movie industry.”
Learn more about the awards preview here.
