During a SAG Conversations interview, the 'Crazy Rich Asians' actress admits she feared her dedication to filming after knee surgery make it difficult for Ang Lee's other leading ladies.
- Jan 23, 2019
AceShowbiz - Michelle Yeoh had to work through the pain while filming "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" after undergoing knee surgery following her first action sequence.
The actress reveals she spent much of Ang Lee's movie in a leg brace, and filming never stopped.
"I was working with a brace until I was fit enough to do the final action sequence," the "Crazy Rich Asians" star said during a recent SAG Conversations interview. "I would have my leg up on a wooden stool so you couldn't see it but you would see all my upper hand movements."
And Michelle fears her dedication made it tough for Lee's leading ladies that followed her: "I remember Ang Lee moved onto 'Brokeback Mountain' and they were doing the sledding scene and poor Michelle Williams tore her ACL," she explained. "He turned around to her and said, 'Yeah, Michelle did an action sequence after she got hurt. Why are you not?'."
The former Bond girl has been carrying out her own stunts for years, crediting her dedication to ballet as a child for allowing her to take on roles even stunt doubles struggled with, but she admits one on the movie "Supercop", opposite Jackie Chan, almost ended her life.
"I had to roll over the van and hit the car that Jackie is going to pull up on and then just hold on...," she recalled. "It was a six or seven foot drop from the van to Jackie's car.
"Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong - I land on the car and the glass that was supposed to crack so Jackie could get me did not crack, so I'm sliding off the car. There was another stuntman who jumped off the truck to try and catch me but at the speed we were going he landed and had a concussion (and went) straight to the hospital.
"Nobody thought to say cut; we just kept going along. I could hear Jackie, who is very protective of me because I'm like his sister saying, 'Cut! Cut! Finish for the day!' I was so lucky that I landed on my butt, sliding off the car onto the tarmac instead of my head because that would've been the end."
