The blockbuster season rolls inexorably onward with the release of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor on August 8. LWLies talks to Michelle Yeoh, before we get crushed beneath the wheels of the juggernaut.
LWLies: What can you tell us about the third Mummy movie?
Yeoh: I can tell you that it’s fantastic and very exciting. There’s quite a lot of action, but I especially love the story because it’s set in China, so it’s gives people – and particularly young people – a wonderful taste of the country. The director, Rob Cohen, has great respect for our country, so the way he shows it is very interesting. He doesn’t just show the kitsch and pretty sights of China.
LWLies: What attracted you to the Mummy franchise?
Yeoh: The fact that I would be working with Rob Cohen greatly attracted me to the film. Having the opportunity to work with Jet Li again was also a factor – as well as the fact that I’ve been a big fan of the Mummy series. I think Brandon Fraser is gorgeous and I love this kind of action adventure. I love artistic, dramatic movies – but sometimes you need movies where you can scream and let go for one and a half hours. Movies sometimes need to take you away from the grind of the day.
LWLies: Were you allowed to perform your own stunts in The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor?
Yeoh: Of course. I love that part of filming. I love doing stunts. Stunt work is the only time on a film set that you can go really crazy. That’s the only time you can swing a sword and whack at someone but know that it’s all choreographed and safe. Why let someone else have the fun?
LWLies: Does stunt work ever scare you?
Yeoh: Accidents always happen with the things you take for granted, so you should always be afraid because then you respect the stunt that you’re doing. Accidents start to happen if you think, ‘Oh, I’ve done this kick 100 times a day, five times a week.’ Also, we’re not working on normal ground in this film. There’s rough sand, pebbles, stones and rocks everywhere. You’re running around with a sword on this uneven ground and you worry that someone will trip or lose their footing, so it can be frightening.
LWLies: Did you injure yourself on the set?
Yeoh: Not really. I got a little whack from Jet Li, but I was very lucky. By the time we filmed our sequence together, we knew the choreography completely because we’d been practicing it forever. We knew each others’ moves exactly.
LWLies: What was it like to work with Rob Cohen?
Yeoh: Rob was great. As an actor, it’s very difficult to work only on green screen and in a movie like The Mummy, you would think the poor actors would be running around a green screen the whole time with nothing to react to. That’s where Rob is really fantastic. He gave us organic, real sets to work with. He built some amazing sets in Montreal which we could run around. Additionally, the story – as fantastic as it may sound – always had some truth or fact in it which gave it more depth.
LWLies: What elements of China does Cohen excel in depicting?
Yeoh: You have to remember that this is a period piece set in the 1930s and 1940s, so you’re not seeing Beijing as it is today. In the countryside, there was a lot of hardship and cruelty going on at that time, which he captures in the film. There’s also a lot of space because some of the film is set in the desert. He wasn’t scared to venture there.
LWLies: Do you think China is often misrepresented in movies?
Yeoh: I don’t think it’s misrepresented. It depends who the movie is coming from. Sometimes it gets to the point where you think, ‘Are there only peasants in China?’ The culture of that side of the country is much more interesting and exciting, but sometimes you wonder why movies don’t show the more cosmopolitan side of China with its beauty. Does it really always have to be the rough, seedy, controversial, underground side of the country? I’d like to see more balance so that people will look at it and think, ‘This place is fascinating.’
LWLies: How long did you film in China?
Yeoh: Personally, I was only there for about four weeks when I filmed in Beijing and Shanghai. It was great to be there.
LWLies: Was it important for you to work with a Chinese crew?
Yeoh: I think it’s important to work with a local crew wherever you are because they know the ins and outs of the area. The good thing about the Chinese is they’re diligent and very hardworking. If you tell them to get it done, they will get it done. But if you don’t give the right instructions, it’s nobody’s fault. That’s how they work. That’s why there aren’t a lot more movies being made over there at the moment. Rob Cohen will tell you it’s an amazing experience where the people are very eager to learn. They know that when the foreigners come to work in their land, they will learn a lot of new things from them.
LWLies: Do you think a lot more movies will be made in China soon?
Yeoh: Definitely. You can see that in the last few years with people like Quentin Tarantino filming movies like Kill Bill in Beijing. That movie has nothing to do with Beijing. He came to see me on the set for my movie The Touch when he was filming Kill Bill and he was wildly excited about working in China. He was saying things like, “Wow, there are no people sitting in trailers drinking coffee – everyone is out on the set working.” He loved that energy. There’s no protocol. Everybody is there to make the movie and to get it done quickly.
LWLies: Would you ever want to direct, like Cohen or Tarantino, one day?
Yeoh: I love the film industry, but I don’t see myself as a film director because I don’t think they have much of a life. With directors, it’s all about the details. I see that in Rob Cohen, Ang Lee and Rob Marshall – they look at the little things and that’s something I’m not really into. I love the big picture. I love putting the creative people together, so I started my own production company – but I’m not into directing. That’s not for me. I’ll leave it to Rob.
