麻豆影视

Entertainment

    • The Oscar universe belongs to 'Everything Everywhere'

    Harry Shum Jr., from back left, Jenny Slate, Tallie Medel, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, Michelle Yeoh, Brian Le, Andy Le, from front left, James Hong, and Jamie Lee Curtis pose with the award for outstanding performance by a cast for "Everything Everywhere All at Once," in the press room at the 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Feb. 26, 2023. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Harry Shum Jr., from back left, Jenny Slate, Tallie Medel, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, Michelle Yeoh, Brian Le, Andy Le, from front left, James Hong, and Jamie Lee Curtis pose with the award for outstanding performance by a cast for "Everything Everywhere All at Once," in the press room at the 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Feb. 26, 2023. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
    Share
    NEW YORK -

    They dreamt up universes of hotdog fingers, googly-eyed rocks and "Raccaccoonie." But Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, in this world or another, never imagined the kind of runaway success "Everything Everywhere All at Once" would have on the Oscar trail.

    For the past year, since " Everything Everywhere All at Once" debuted at SXSW, the filmmaking duo known as the Daniels has been living in what has sometimes felt to them like a parallel dimension. They never expected that their madcap multiverse tale would take them to the Oscars. They still, sometimes, don't believe it.

    "It feels like we're in our movie sometimes," Scheinert says. "At some point we're going to get pulled out of this joke and be back to our own lives and be like, `Oh, wouldn't that be cool? Too bad."'

    Yet "Everything Everywhere All at Once" has emerged as the most improbable of Academy Awards heavyweights. An absurdist indie that pairs existentialism and everything bagels, released way back in March last year, is not just heading for a few possible wins at the Oscars on March 12. It's poised to steamroll.

    It's the favorite to win best picture, best director, best actress for Michelle Yeoh, best supporting actor for Ke Huy Quan and potentially best supporting actress for Jamie Lee Curtis. A movie with fanny-pack-styled kung fu about a middle-aged woman filing her taxes is on course to best blockbusters ("Top Gun: Maverick" ) and Spielberg ( "The Fabelmans" ), alike.

    If "Everything Everywhere All at Once" -- nominated for a leading 11 Oscars and already a winner with the predictive producers, actors and directors guilds -- wins best picture, it will be one of the most anti-Oscar bait winners ever. Among other historic feats, it will almost certainly be the first best picture winner to prominently feature butt plugs.

    "In kink-positive people's defense, you can put almost anything up your butt," Scheinert says, laughing. "So, in a way, every single Oscar movie has a butt plug. You just have to be creative."

    Getting creative has been part of the Daniels' method since they first met at while studying film at Emerson College in Boston. Kwan, a Massachusetts native, and Scheinert, from Alabama, started off making music videos and shorts. Their feature film debut, 2016's "Swiss Army Man," starred Daniel Radcliffe as a flatulence-emitting corpse. "Everything Everywhere All at Once" is just their second feature. The Daniels are each 35.

    The unexpected success -- the A24 release has grossed more than $100 million worldwide against a $14.3 million budget -- has thrown off the trajectory the Daniels imagined they might be on. In a recent, rare lull between awards ceremonies, they spoke by Zoom from Kwan's home office. He apologized for the mess, a disorder that reminded him of their film.

    "I keep saying I'll do it once the movie promoting is done," Kwan says, nearly a year after it opened.

    However many Oscars "Everything Everywhere All at Once" ultimately wins -- it won't be a bagel -- it's clear to Kwan that nothing will ever be quite the same after their unexpected lurch onto Hollywood's highest stage.

    "I've gone through so many cycles of euphoria and depression and manic episodes," Kwan, a gentle and introspective soul, says. "I've realized that I'm never going to get to back to my old life. That struck me at one of my low points and I had to actually mourn the loss of our lives. That can be both incredible and sad at the same time."

    When "Everything Everywhere All at Once" landed in theaters, it ignited the specialty film business after two years of pandemic, driving moviegoers back to art houses and becoming A24's biggest box-office smash. But even then, awards talk was mostly farfetched. It wasn't until the fall, when it won best film at the Gotham Awards that the buzz started to get real. Affection for the film just kept building. Early naysaying that the film was too strange for older academy voters has proved wrong.

    Scheinert wryly recalls telling cast and crew on set: "We're not making an Oscar movie here. This movie is about quantity, not quality." And yet, by a twist of fate, a movie made without any thought of the Academy Awards is set to conquer them.

    "The industry at large is going through a lot of soul searching," says Kwan. "What happened with theatrical during the pandemic, what's happening now with streaming, the fact that OscarsSoWhite has caused the makeup of the academy to change. We are in such a moment of flux that I do think somehow this strange movie has stuck a chord."

    "We feel like this film is reflective of what reality feels like, to us, at least," Kwan adds. "The fact that people are responding to it is really affirming: Oh, you see what I see."

    At a time when Hollywood's main studio product is in franchises, remakes and sequels, "Everything Everywhere All at Once" is also a movie brimming with originality. (This is the first Oscar year two sequels, "Maverick" and "Avatar: The Way of Water," are nominated for best picture.) A vote for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" is a vote for something different.

    "There's something really important about stretching your own imagination in your everyday life. We create these narratives about ourselves and then we accidentally get trapped in them often," says Kwan. "I grew up with a lot of self-doubt and self-loathing. The fact that I'm now a director who's been able to find some success is just such a narrative-shattering, imagination-stretching idea that I would have never been able to imagine a few years ago."

    To Scheinert, the film's "secret weapon" is its cast. Even if the movie isn't to your taste, he says, "You can't hate Ke and Michelle." Yeoh, long one of the big-screen's martial arts powerhouses, has said throughout awards season that "Everything Everywhere All at Once" opened a new door to her as an actor. Quan, a former child star who had given up acting after years of struggle, has said an Oscar wasn't his goal. He just wanted a job.

    "If our movie can un-typecast people and un-typecast the community, that's a pretty dope thing," says Scheinert.

    Reached by phone the morning of Oscar nominations, Yeoh said she never imagined, when they started making "Everything Everywhere All at Once," that they were destined for the Academy Awards.

    "We're a tiny little movie with a big beating heart, without a doubt," said Yeoh. "We had ambitions because we felt that our story just needed to be told. In times of chaos and turbulence, this is a movie about healing. It's about love. It's about a very ordinary person -- which we all are --who's given the opportunity to be a superhero with superpowers that are love and compassion."

    On stage after stage, the Daniels, Yeoh, Quan and more have brought the house down with moving speeches about Asian representation. At the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, Quan said: "To all those at home who are watching, who are struggling and waiting to be seen, please keep on going because the spotlight will one day find you." Ninety-four-year-old James Hong, the film's crotchety patriarch, reflected at the SAGs on Hollywood's dismal history of depicting Asian and Asian-American life. Then he declared triumphantly: "Look at us now!"

    "Everything Everything Everywhere All at Once," an antic metaphor for the immigrant experience of Asian Americans, has made its own case for a different movie universe, one where heroes look like Yeoh's Evelyn Quan Wang or Quan's Waymond Wang.

    "If I was growing up with a film like this or with this conversation happening, I would be a very different kind of person and a very different kind of Asian American," says Kwan. "Most of my life, the Asian part of my experience was something to be erased or something to ignore because it felt more like a liability than a strength."

    So there are many alternate realities to the lives behind "Everything Everywhere All at Once" -- mostly less joyful ones where this movie doesn't exist for them, or anyone else.

    Rewind exactly a year and a day from the March 12 Oscars and the Daniels and company were standing on the SXSW stage in Austin, Texas, with little idea of what was to come. Asked by an audience member what got left on the cutting room floor, Scheinert with a twinge of regret suggested another universe, entirely: Spaghetti Baby Noodle Boy, with a talking macaroni who doesn't understand why he's not spaghetti, voiced by Jenny Slate.

    Another road not taken, yes. But as Scheinert noted, there's always the DVD.

    CTVNews.ca Top Stories

    Why brain aging can vary dramatically between people

    Researchers are uncovering deeper insights into how the human brain ages and what factors may be tied to healthier cognitive aging, including exercising, avoiding tobacco, speaking a second language or even playing a musical instrument.

    The union representing some 1,200 dockworkers at the Port of Montreal has overwhelmingly rejected a deal with their employers association.

    A man who was critically injured in a police-involved shooting in Hamilton late Sunday afternoon has died in hospital, says the province鈥檚 police watchdog.

    Canada

    World

    Politics

    • Murray Sinclair鈥檚 family members say the late justice and senator has been laid to rest according to his wishes.

    • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced voters in Cloverdale鈥擫angley City will pick their next member of Parliament on Dec. 16.

    Health

    Sci-Tech

    Entertainment

    Business

    Lifestyle

    Sports

    Autos

    Local Spotlight

    For the second year in a row, the 鈥楪ift-a-Family鈥 campaign is hoping to make the holidays happier for children and families in need throughout Barrie.

    Some of the most prolific photographers behind CTV Skywatch Pics of the Day use the medium for fun, therapy, and connection.

    A young family from Codroy Valley, N.L., is happy to be on land and resting with their newborn daughter, Miley, after an overwhelming, yet exciting experience at sea.

    As Connor Nijsse prepared to remove some old drywall during his garage renovation, he feared the worst.

    A group of women in Chester, N.S., has been busy on the weekends making quilts 鈥 not for themselves, but for those in need.

    A Vancouver artist whose streetside singing led to a chance encounter with one of the world's biggest musicians is encouraging aspiring performers to try their hand at busking.

    Ten-thousand hand-knit poppies were taken from the Sanctuary Arts Centre and displayed on the fence surrounding the Dartmouth Cenotaph on Monday.

    A Vancouver man is saying goodbye to his nine-to-five and embarking on a road trip from the Canadian Arctic to Antarctica.

    • Weather watchers were treated to an exceptionally rare display on Friday evening as rare cloud formations filled Vancouver skies.

    • For some shoppers it was Nov. 1, but for others the first hints of Christmas - saccharine treats, festive-fragranced candles and gaudily wrapped gift sets - were being noticed in stores long before the final Halloween decor had been cleared.

    • Thousands of people are expected to gather in downtown Vancouver on Monday to observe the city鈥檚 100th Remembrance Day ceremony.

    • Toronto is expected to see an economic boost to the tune of nearly $300 million thanks to Taylor Swift鈥檚 upcoming Eras Tour, which will be making a stop in Canada鈥檚 largest city for a six-show run later this month.

    • One man was transported to hospital early Monday morning after a stabbing in the northwest end of the city, Toronto police say.

    • A pair of 105-mm howitzers bark constantly as they turn plywood tank targets into kindling kilometres away on the windswept landscape of one of Canada's largest military bases.

    • Two semis were among the vehicles involved in a multi-vehicle crash that brought westbound traffic along Stoney Trail Northwest to a standstill on Sunday.

    • NEW THIS MORNING

      NEW THIS MORNING

      An Ottawa boy with a rare disease will be getting the chance to see Taylor Swift in concert after the winner and organizers of an auction held on his behalf gifted the tickets to him.

    • CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at Remembrance Day ceremonies in Ottawa.

    • After months of controversy surrounding a dog park in Ottawa's west end, a solution has been reached to divide the park in half.

    • An elementary school in Greenfield Park on Montreal鈥檚 South Shore is closed after it was the target of an alleged arson attack.

    • Some 12,000 daycare workers are set to begin their strike action Monday morning.

    • Though most businesses are expected to be open on Remembrance Day, there are some establishments that will be closed to commemorate the holiday.

    • Monday is Remembrance Day, a time to honour armed forces members who have died in the line of duty.

    • Boasting 2,300 square metres of skating space at its new location, Edmonton's Rollers Roller Rink believes it is the largest in Canada.

    • A woman is dead after a driver crashed a truck through a Boston Pizza in Fort McMurray late Saturday morning.

    • A Cape Breton senior recalls her life in German-occupied France, and her mother鈥檚 death, during the Second World War.

    • It's been a trip to cherish for a group of Canadians visiting Belgium this week to honour the legacy of Indigenous soldiers.

    • A pillar in Canada鈥檚 history was honoured in Winnipeg Sunday afternoon, with thousands showing up to pay tribute to the life and legacy of the late Murray Sinclair.

    • Winnipeg police have identified two men involved in a stabbing incident earlier this week.

    • There will be two ceremonies taking place in Regina for Remembrance Day, hosted by the Royal Canadian Legion.

    • Regina author Valerie Crowther is celebrating the release of her book 鈥榃ar Letters: Linking Lives in the Second World War.鈥

    • It was a somber day at Mosaic Stadium as members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders officially cleaned out their stalls and closed the book on the 2024 season.

    • A man has been charged after a stabbing at an apartment building in Kitchener.

    • The Guelph Police Service is putting out a warning after two deaths in the downtown area.

    • Two new tributes to Canada鈥檚 veterans have been unveiled at the Elmira Cenotaph.

    • Saskatchewan RCMP are searching for a suspect after a man was seriously injured in a farm-related incident in Montreal Lake.

    • It was a somber day at Mosaic Stadium as members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders officially cleaned out their stalls and closed the book on the 2024 season.

    • The Regina Rams claimed the Hardy Cup after a hard fought battle against the Saskatoon Huskies 19-14 on Saturday in the first all Saskatchewan U-Sports western conference final since 2002.

    • Emergency crews responded to the scene on Road 68/Highway 2 east of Thamesford around 7 p.m.

    • On Friday, the Sarnia Police Service (SPS) received a report of an alleged abduction in the area of Kathleen Avenue and Walnut Avenue.

    • The events will start at 10:15 a.m. with a parade that forms up in front of the Delta London Armories, marches east on Dundas Street and turns north onto Waterloo Street to Dufferin Avenue, the west to the Cenotaph.

    • A group of former NHL players faced off against York Regional Police officers in Newmarket Sunday afternoon to raise funds for Special Olympics programs across the province.

    • A driver is facing multiple charges after a multi-vehicle collision on Highway 400 early Sunday morning.

    • The agreed statement of facts was read to the court on Friday in the case of Alex Williams, the 24-year-old jail guard charged last fall with smuggling cannabis and tobacco into Central North Correctional Centre in Penetanguishene.

    • One person has been arrested after Chatham-Kent Police Service (CKPS) received multiple complaints about an alleged drunk driver.

    • More details have been released about a police investigation at the Ambassador Bridge that connects Windsor, Ont. and Detroit, MI.

    • An individual is dead following a collision involving a motorcycle in Kingsville.

    • Environment Canada says heavy rain and winds could cause power outages on Vancouver Island as an "intense" storm system is set to hit the B.C. coast Sunday.

    • Six deer were struck by vehicles in six different locations in a six-hour period on B.C. highways on Saturday, according to the transportation ministry.

    • The union for locked-out port workers in British Columbia says the BC Maritime Employers Association cut off talks in less than an hour Saturday, refusing to budge on a final offer that the union has so far rejected.

    • The emergency department at South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver, B.C., will be closed for 31 hours this weekend, the second such closure in a week and the third since the start of November.

    • Police in Kamloops, B.C., are reminding parents and guardians to check their children's Halloween candy after receiving a report of a mother finding a razor blade in one of her daughter's treats.

    • More than two years after Alannah Brown and Douglas Barker were found dead north of Penticton, police are asking for help identifying a vehicle they believe was associated with the crime.

    • The Southern Alberta Recreation Association is officially announcing the Town of Taber as next year鈥檚 host for the Southern Alberta Summer Games.

    • The Lethbridge Hurricanes broke open a close game with three goals in the first two minutes of the third period as they defeated the Warriors 7-3 in a game played Friday night in Moose Jaw.

    • There might not a lot snow just yet, but many southern Albertans are still itching to get outdoors.

    • Police have arrested a 15-year-old in connection with a break-in and $50,000 in damage done to the Centennial Arena in Elliot Lake in September.

    • Mayors of the five largest cities in northern Ontario met in North Bay the last two days to discuss a range of critical issues impacting their cities and the region.

    • Residents in the Sault expressed concerns ranging from vandalism to privacy invasions during recent consultations on the city's plan to install automated speed enforcement cameras.

    N.L.

    Shopping Trends

    The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at 麻豆影视. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop.聽Read about us.

    Stay Connected
    Follow 麻豆影视