Michelle Yeoh Talks ‘Blade Runner 2099’ & Return To Asian Cinema – Busan

Back in Busan for the first time in 15 years, Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh talked about her experiences making Blade Runner 2099 and her recent return to Asian cinema in Bai Xue’s It’s My Time.

Yeoh plays a Replicant days away from dying in the Prime Video and Alcon Entertainment limited series, with Hunter Schafer playing a human fugitive who must partner with her. “It was pretty awesome, it really was, and I’m happy to announce it will be coming out over Thanksgiving in November,” Yeoh said.

“To be given an opportunity to take it to 2099 is indeed an amazing journey, and to work with such a great talent like Hunter Schaefer is always a great joy. Silka Luisa, who is our showrunner, our producer Alcon, and Ridley Scott, have all welcomed us into this world of Replicants and humans, and I can’t wait for all of you to watch it.”

Yeoh is in town to receive Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award, which was presented to her at the festival’s opening ceremony last night. Four of her films are screening in a special program at the festival – It’s My Time, Sean Baker’s short film Sandiwara, Su Chao-pin’s 2010 Reign Of Assassins, and of course Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Everything Everywhere All At Once, the film through which she became the first Asian woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress in 2023.

Speaking of the Oscar win, Yeoh first paid tribute to South Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung who became the first Korean to win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Minari in 2021: “We are also very proud of her – she opened the door for me to believe that it’s a possibility,” Yeoh said. “But I was just very blessed with the fact we discovered the two Daniels who came up with such a bold narrative. It gives you the inspiration to do even more.”

Yeoh also talked about returning to China to make It’s My Time, the story of a stroke survivor in a nursing home who discovers a hidden talent for solving Rubik’s Cube puzzles. Also starring Liu Haoren as the Rubik’s Cube world champion who coaches her, the film is directed by Bai Xue, whose debut feature The Crossing was a multiple award winner, and produced by Wen Muyue, a leading Chinese director-producer, who recently scored a massive hit with Once Upon A Time In The Middle East.

“I’d spent many years abroad doing American films and TV and finally had the opportunity to work with Wen Muye and Bai Xue. It was through Media Asia, Peter Lam, a very good friend of mine who introduced me to them, because he knew I had to find a good way to come back to the Asian market, which has always been important to me,” Yeoh said.

“I spent quite a few years trying to make the bridge from the East to the West, and then now from the West to the East, and hopefully that bridge will just stay there, and I’m able to cross over whenever I want.”

Describing her role in It’s My Time as “challenging” because she had to play an older character, Yeoh also said she was drawn to the project due to its message of never giving up. “No matter at what age, there’s always the possibility and new opportunities for you. It’s also about finding your best team, not always a blood relation, who is there for you no matter what.”

Yeoh has also recently starred in U.S. action title The Surgeon, directed by Roshan Sethi, which Sony snapped up when it premiered in Toronto. Commenting on her willingess to work with relatively new directors, Yeoh said: “Oh, I’m fearless. I’m not afraid of working with young directors, in fact I welcome it a lot, like the Daniels for Everything Everywhere All At Once. That was only their second film, and if you read their script, you would wonder if they were actually a little bit insane. But the fact is, they are, and that’s why they are such geniuses.”

“The Surgeon was also from a second-time director,” she continued. “I love working with new, young directors because they have a different view, especially of me as an actor, and they bring out something in myself that hasn’t been seen before. But of course, when you work with experienced directors, you learn so much because they have experience and the years come into play. But with young directors, it’s always a fresh view.”

Busan International Film Festival is taking place October 6-15 at Busan Cinema Center and multiple venues across the city. The festival’s industry platform, Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM), kicks off on Saturday, October 10 and runs until Tuesday, October 13.