'Everything Everywhere All at Once' star Stephanie Hsu was 'so nervous' to act 'weird' in front of Michelle Yeoh and the crew that the directors had to issue a disclaimer
- Stephanie Hsu is nominated for an Oscar for her performance in "Everything Everywhere All at Once."
- The actor revealed she had the film's directors make an announcement when they started filming.
Because of its multiverse-hopping narrative, "Everything Everywhere All at Once" has to be one of the quirkier best picture nominees in Oscars history.
Stephanie Hsu, who portrayed the villain Jobu, proved one of the most memorable characters in the film, earning her an Oscar nomination. That's in large part because of Hsu's close collaboration with the film's directing duo, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
"We're all very weird, and I have no fear of being weird with them, and in fact, they kind of bring out more weird in me," Hsu said this week on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," referring to Kwan and Scheinert. "So when we were kind of working on the role, we would really start to like, you know, get into it, and they would give me the direction a lot: 'Okay, now break the movie. Destroy the movie.'"
Hsu was "nervous" about acting "weird" in front of the cast and crew, however.
"The first day I got onto set, it was the hallway scene, the introduction of Jobu, wearing the Elvis suit, the 'schling schlings,' if you've seen the movie," she continued. "And all of a sudden I got so nervous because it was my first scene with Michelle Yeoh. And I had never worked with any of the crew. And so I was like, 'They're gonna think I'm the worst actor on earth. They're gonna think that I'm just being weird and completely unhinged for no reason.'"
To prevent that from happening, Hsu convinced Kwan and Scheinert to make an announcement to the crew on her behalf.
"Hey everybody, this is Stephanie, she's gonna be kinda weird," Kwan and Scheinert said. "But we told her to do that!"
Hsu's off-the-wall approach to portraying Jobu has paid off in spades. While the actor admitted that filming "Everywhere All at Once" was "the most special experience I've ever had, creatively, in my life," she may not have been prepared for the slew of award nominations that followed, including an Oscar nod for best actress in a supporting role.
Before the Oscar nominations were announced, Hsu explained she watched the film one more time on a plane commuting to Sydney to shoot another film, "The Fall Guy," with Emily Blunt, Ryan Goslin, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
"Things have gotten shinier and shinier, and I wanted to have a moment where I got to watch the movie one more time to look back on that moment, of that seed of making, the heartbeat, this very special thing we made together," she said, adding that she "felt like one of those superfans of our own movie where they always say, 'The movie starts, and I start weeping.'"
"And that was me, I was so embarrassed," Hsu added. "I was like, I hope no one's seeing me cry at our own movie."