Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh says that growing up in a multi-racial Malaysian society, she used to watch numerous Indian films and hopes that her new film "Wicked" clicks well with the audiences here as it is a musical.
Yeoh, who won the best actress Oscar for her role "Everything Everywhere All At Once" in 2023, reunites with her "Crazy Rich Asians" director Jon M Chu for the big screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical "Wicked". She stars as Madame Morrible in the movie, which is her first musical.
"I grew up in Malaysia, but it is a multi-racial society, and I have many Indian friends. Actually, I grew watching a lot of Indian movies even when as a little kid, I used to know how to sing Indian songs. I'm very conversant with Indian culture and cinema."
"Well, I have many idols in the (Indian) cinema as well. I think 'Wicked' will go down really well with our Indian friends," Yeoh told PTI in an interview.
The actor, 62, said while she was terrified at the prospect of singing in the movie, she has always loved musicals as a genre because of their ability to transport viewers to a different kind of world.
"It's a fantasy world where people, instead of just talking, suddenly break out into song and dance, and I love that," she added.
The big reason to get Yeoh on board for the movie was Chu, whose 2018 film "Crazy Rich Asians" is credited to be the first major Hollywood hit to feature an entirely Asian cast in a modern setting since 1993's "The Joy Luck Club."
She said she was among many who have been fighting for the change for a long time and most of the credits go to storytellers like Chu.
"So many of us have been fighting to create these opportunities. Sometimes we demand to have these changes because I think we should have equal opportunities to be able to showcase our talent in front and behind the camera as well."
"We also need to be good storytellers and tell our kind of stories that echo our faces and our culture and should be seen more and more often. But then we do need amazing storytellers like Jon M Chu to be able to showcase and highlight all this," she said, pointing at the diverse cast of "Wicked".
Yeoh is one of the world's cinema personalities who has received international acclaim in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Tomorrow Never Dies", "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings". For her, cinema has always been a means to change the course of one's life, and that is why she gets very choosy about her roles.
"Which movie or which TV series I want to be part of is a choice. You want to be able to ensure that the choice you've made is a good one because cinema and shows are such powerful mediums of being able to reach out to people to highlight issues.
"There are answers in there that we know too well but are afraid to say it out loud, but then in a movie or in a song, you can sing it away," she said. The film "Wicked", whose first part comes out in theatres on November 22, is inspired by the Broadway show of the same name and serves both as a prequel and a relook at the 1939 movie classic "Wizard of Oz".
Yeoh is happy that the movie is receiving positive reviews and has generated so much buzz even before its release.
"'Cinema for me has always been about a shared experience where you go in and you enjoy something together, you laugh together and come out feeling bonded in a very special way.'
Yeoh said she portrayed Madame Morrible, the headmistress of Crage Hall at Shiz University in the "Wicked"universe, as someone who seems approachable and caring.
"What happens is some people get blinded by their own ambitions. So our approach for Madame Morrible is like, she is a good witch. I don't think any of us start off by being wicked."
She credits the film's two leading ladies -- Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande -- for helping her with singing, which was "very daunting".
She said Erivo gave her the confidence to perform the song "The Wizard and I" for the movie.
Action star Yeoh, who rose to fame in the 80s and 90s by starring in Hong Kong action and martial art films such as "Yes, Madam", "Magnificent Warriors" and "Wing Chun", wants to dance in her next and she has pinned her hopes on Chu.
"He gave me the most wonderful opportunity to be in a musical, which is something that I had never done before and had always wanted to do. The only other thing I hope that he will do for me next is let me dance in it too. This time it was the singing," she said.
Universal Pictures, the film also stars Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Jeff Goldblum and Peter Dinklage.
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