Ne Zha II, the animated sequel film produced by Chinese studio Beijing Enlight Media, is already breaking records as the highest-grossing animated film of all time, and will be re-released by A24 on August 22. To further boost the film’s dub rerelease, A24 tapped Everything Everywhere All at Once Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh to add to its must-watch factor for audiences experiencing the film for the first time in English.
Ahead of its theatrical rerelease, io9 spoke with Yeoh about taking on the role as Ne Zha’s mother, Lady Yin, the power of animation as a cultural exchange, and what starring in the film means to her as the latest emotionally resonant milestone in her illustrious career.
Isaiah Colbert, io9: What first drew you to the world of Ne Zha II? Was there something about Lady Yin—or the myth itself—that felt like it was calling to you?
Michelle Yeoh: Oh, hell yes. Ne Zha is a mythological character that I’ve known since I was a kid. This fiery, rebellious young child. I think, as a kid, I sort of related to it. Everybody wants to fight back and be the one who can go out there and beat up demons and things like that. I saw the movie in its original form first, and I remember thinking, “This is such a cinematic gem.” The animation pushes all the boundaries; it’s spectacular. It’s so rich, it’s like a tapestry that just keeps evolving. All those stunning action sequences. Even I was totally blown away trying to imagine how the heck did they think of all these different realms: the heaven, the Earth, the underground, and the dragons in chains. It was just amazing.
I felt I wanted to not read subtitles because my Chinese is not so good that I can understand in Mandarin all the way through. So I have to go down and understand “Who’s this? Ao Bing. Okay, Ne Zha. This is the dragon.” I think this was the one time I went, “I don’t want to take my eyes off the screen. I just want to watch the whole thing, but I need to understand what was going on.” I felt I needed to hear it, and my first language is English, thinking, “If only they could translate it well, that would be perfect.”
When I was given the opportunity to voice the mother of Ne Zha, it was like, she embodies the most amazing woman. She’s a warrior. She defends her city together with her husband, the general. She is the most loving mother, so it was a no-brainer ’cause it’s like my wish came true. I thought this is such a beautiful, great bridge from the Eastern world to the Western world, where the children who love Spirited Away, Coco, or Moana can come into our world. This will transcend boundaries. We’ll come and be able to embrace this crazy little demon god called Ne Zha and maybe relate to him in many ways. And then there’s Ao Bing.
To be given that opportunity, I felt that I was presented with the prize of the year to voice this woman. When you’re doing an animation, you do it from scratch. You are working your way through all the different nuances. But here, the director and his team, who painstakingly worked five years on this incredible movie, had already laid out the nuances, wit, humor, anger, and the fierceness of this woman and her husband. How she protects the child, defends him, when she’s gentle with him, when she’s the ferocious warrior, and then to the heartbreaking part where they have to say goodbye.
io9: You’ve voiced characters across wildly different worlds—from Minions and Transformers to Kung Fu Panda 2 and Ark. In the first film, Lady Yin was voiced by Stephanie Sheh, known for her role as Sailor Moon. Her performance carried the same quiet strength and maternal depth that I found in your performance. Did you draw inspiration from her interpretation, or did you find your own emotional entry point to carry the baton forward?
Yeoh: The most important thing is you have to find your own, even though there’s already an amazing interpretation, because you cannot mimic somebody else’s great performance. At the end of the day, it’s your own personal journey with the other characters. When you watch, you can hear [it]. There’s just no denying the realism or the actual emotion that you hear, which will help you to feel. It’s very superficial when you try and just copy what someone else has done.
[Beijing Enlight Media has] done an amazing job giving me a great palette to work with. I work with the director, and he will, once again, go through with me the journey of this mother, of how she carried the baby for three years, the frustration. “Just get it out of me!” But, I think the one thing I wanted [was] to make her more charming at the beginning. You would hear a mother’s voice, ’cause I have quite a bass voice. My voice is kind of low and I so I want to bring her up a bit so I don’t sound like a man, or else I’ll be doing the general, too.
... continue reading