Stephanie Hsu - Tumblr Posts

They really watched a movie about a mother travelling through endless universes to save and connect with her depressive daughter and choose to give the oscar for best supporting actress to the tax auditor?????

Last week at the fantastic film club I attend I got to choose a film that is very dear to my heart: Everything Everywhere All At Once.

I LOVE this film. When I saw it in 2022, with only the vague buzz of bemused critical acclaim & an image of Michelle Yeoh with a googly eye firmly implanted in the middle of her forehead to go on, it came at a time when my love for physically visiting the cinema had waned. Tickets were ever pricier, satisfaction levels harder to predict, my enthusiasm for taking that risk had levelled off despite my lifelong love of the full cinematic experience. EEAAO was, unequivocally, the movie that made me truly love cinema again. I saw it twice more, inspired in the process to found the Movie Club I now co-run in work!

I love it all, even certain gross/absurdist moments (well, except for one!) that would make me cringe elsewhere. I adore the choices, insane attention to detail, aesthetics, humour. The incredible & wildly imaginative visual effects, choreography, acting, settings, make-up & costumes - ohhh the costumes! 🥰 I was besotted with Jobu Tupaki's glorious array of outfits & the care that went into having them be thematically appropriate at any given moment. I love the sheer effort and attention that went into every single frame and how beautifully every sci-fi element was an apt yet simple metaphor for the intricacies and contradictions of real life.

It was sweet to see Ke Huy Quan make such a touching comeback; those moments between Waymond & Evelyn are so moving and his speech about choosing kindness adds layers of tears for me every time.

But, on a personal, bittersweet note, the thing I love most of all, is that at its heart this is a story of something that maybe isn't explored enough: the unique, often fraught, often unspeakably nuanced & difficult dynamic between mothers and daughters, and the legacy of that generational trauma. The way this film depicts that specific bond spoke to me profoundly, still stunning me now with its nuance and relatability.

I weep inconsolably every time and, imho, Stephanie Hsu should have absolutely run away with that Oscar win and I will proudly die on this hill 😊

So sorry to Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu because nothing will ever be able to sever the connection in my brain between your name and Be More Chill

Stephanie Hsu as Joy/Jobu Tupaki in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE 2022 | dir. Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert

Nominee for the 95th Academy Awards: Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Stephanie Hsu on playing Joy/Jobu and on nihilism in Everything Everywhere All At Once

LUSE (HOST): I want to touch back on how you portray Jobu Tupaki. I was rewatching the film last night. And there’s completely different physicality between Joy and Jobu. Like, Joy is- she’s a young woman. She’s strong-willed. She’s having this tension with her family, and that comes through in the way that she moves. But she’s still a lot more relaxed than Jobu is. Jobu has such sharp joints and such sharp edges. I wonder how your experimental theater training came in to how you used the instrument of your body in approaching specifically the Jobu portion of your performance.

HSU: Thank you for noticing. The body is where I enter, for sure. And with a dual role like Joy and Jobu, it was so important to me to differentiate them. And I knew that Joy was going to become Jobu, so I wanted to start Joy as unassuming, kind of swallowed in her sweatshirt, and just almost invisible, you know? Because I knew she was about to get to come out in an Elvis suit, walking a pig, smoking a cig- you know what I mean? Like…

LUSE: Swaggering. Swaggering.

HSU: …swaggering hard. But I also knew that Jobu, that same Jobu and that same, you know, villain was going to have to become the daughter again, and it would have to be big enough that the end scene catharsis would be satisfying and also surprising in a different way. But I remember when I was preparing for the role, I was doing a workshop of a show at MASS MoCA, actually, and the Daniels really let me into their process. So they sent me a look book of images that they had pulled for the movie. They sent me a playlist that was inspiration for the film. And bubbles were a really big thing. And there was a light installation at MASS MoCA. And I did this, like, physical dance, this kind of, like, worm dance.

LUSE: With the light installation?

HSU: With the light. Yeah, exactly. So I did a lot of kind of just experimenting and sending them videos of, like, what if Jobu moves like this? And we wanted her to be as sharp as she was also like jell-o. Because if she can verse jump, or become anything at any moment, she is as tough as she is completely malleable.

You know, talking about these characters, you get really nerdy really fast. You’re like, I don’t know if this translates, but… But there is something about it that works, right? Where an audience member might not be able to articulate that that’s how the sauce is made, but, you know, there was a lot of thought into the philosophical theory about those characters, because she is the one who embodies this- embodies nihilism, and is the driving force of trying to teach her mother how to understand her perspective and the perspective of the movie.

LUSE: Our intern, Jamal, pointed out that like because of the expectations that parents place on their children—even if they’re like hopes, right? Those are still expectations. You kind of have no choice, as the child, once you individuate and start to become your own person, to kind of become Jobu Tupaki to your parent, you know what I mean? Whatever their expectation, whatever their hope, their dream for you, almost nobody in the world ever hews to that 100%, right? And so you kind of become the Jobu Tupaki, the villain, in their story to a certain degree. Is that resonating with you?

HSU: Yeah, I always say that Joy and Jobu are two very different expressions of the same core, and the core is nihilism. That if nothing matters, then Joy is a version where, if nothing matters, then you can feel at the end of your rope. There’s no hope. There’s no reason to continue. And if Jobu thinks that nothing matters, then you can be the ultimate creator of chaos. And I feel like when you look at it in the version that you’re kind of speaking of, you know, Joy seems like, or feels like she’s failed her mother. And there’s no way for her to be the daughter that her mother wants her to be. And so Jobu’s like, you know, well you think that was bad? Well, watch this. All the things I can’t say as Joy, that I can’t do as Joy, watch me scare you even more and actually show you what’s inside and how messy and chaotic and wild it is.

But I also think, like, I said to the Daniels when we were- we were thinking a lot about nihilism. And that was kind of the first time I ever deep dived on that concept of nothing matters. And I said to them, you know, I think nihilism has saved my life in a way because it’s completely liberated me. I care very deeply, and sometimes I perhaps care too much. And the truth is, or my new truth is, that nothing matters. None of us know anything. We don’t know what we’re doing. We’re all trying our very hardest to figure it out together. And that’s kind of nice and opens up a new space for compassion in a very confusing time where we don’t have answers. I have no idea what the world is going to look like in five years, you know, I don’t know—

LUSE: Five months.

HSU: Tomorrow. I don’t know. But I do believe that we’re all doing our best to try to figure it out.

Stephanie Hsu always bringing you the most iconic lines. From “sucked..into..a…bagel” to now “Its not a BOP It, it’s my asshole!”. I know this movie is about to be a hit.

STEPHANIE HSU by Daniel Kim for Character Media (September 2022)

Jamie Lee Curtis se pone espeluznantes dedos de hot dog para celebrar 'Everything Everywhere' en los Spirit Awards......

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Jamie Lee Curtis se pone espeluznantes dedos de hot dog para celebrar 'Everything Everywhere' en los Spirit Awards......

View On WordPress

the wild robot

you know that feeling when you walk out of a cinema, not really sure who you are anymore?

yeah.

i just went to see DreamWorks' the wild robot on previews and i feel that way; the animation, the story, the voice actors, the vibes, the subtle social commentary regarding a.i. and climate change.. just... yghHHH so good.

I'd write up a review but I'm so blown away I can't put my thoughts into words (that, and I don't want to spoil it)

imo this is DreamWorks best film. ever.…closely rivalled by Shrek, but not by much. i'd go as far to say this is the best original (not sequel) animated film I have since the original Inside Out released in 2015.

oh, my, gosh. 10/10. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

this one is going to fly at the 2025 Oscars - even up against Inside Out 2 I would not be surprised if it takes out best animated feature and/or best adapted screenplay... and has a shot at nominations for best picture, and best original score.. 🤞

and will (hopefully) help boost DreamWorks to new heights

roll on the sequel (please, we're begging)

Stephanie Hsu in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Ahhhhhhhhhh 😫, it HERE THE SECOND TRAILER

New trailer for The Wild Robot

So sorry to Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu because nothing will ever be able to sever the connection in my brain between your name and Be More Chill

ENDLESS LIST OF FAVORITE CHARACTERS ♡ JOY WANG/JOBU TUPAKI

“You could be anything, anywhere. Why not go somewhere where your daughter is more than just this? Here, all we get are a few specks of time where any of this actually makes any sense.”

My kids are all grown up 😭😭

I’M SO HAPPY THAT IT’S NOT OVER AND THEY’RE GOING TO BROADWAY

@bemorechillmusical