When an interdimensional rupture unravels reality, the fate of the world hangs in the balance and an unlikely hero must channel her newfound powers to fight bizarre and bewildering dangers from the multiverse in Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert’s comedic sci-fi action feature, Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Kwan and Scheinert’s film tells the story of Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) a Chinese immigrant who is swept up in an insane adventure in the multiverse, where she alone can save the world by exploring other universes connecting with the lives she could have led.
On April 3, after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Kwan and Scheinert discussed the making of Everything Everywhere All at Once during a Q&A moderated by Director Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings).
In response to Cretton’s query about the seeds of the film Scheinert answered, “There's a lot of seeds kind of like a bagel, but we have a lot of ideas and then every once in awhile a bunch of ideas start to coalesce into something that seems like a project worth making.” Picking up that thought, Kwan continued, “There's a Japanese term for finding fulfillment and it's like you have to figure out what you're good at, what you have to offer the world, what you love, and then what will get you paid. These movies can take years of your life, so we just have to be really confident we're ready to do it. I saw The Matrix and Fight Club years ago and I was like ‘Man I just wanna make something fun that was just like balls to the wall.’ And as far as what the world needed, one of the things about this movie it's a straight up reaction to what was happening at the time. The world was changing and things started getting really complicated and every single year somehow more narratives started smashing into each other. So we wanted to make sense of the noise by putting it into cinematic form.” And Scheinert added, “And lastly, someone offered to pay us.”
Kwan and Scheinert’s other directorial credits include the feature film Swiss Army Man; episodes of Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens and Childrens Hospital and numerous music videos.
You can listen to Kwan and Scheinert's Q&A by clicking the podcast episode embedded below. You can find more DGA podcast episodes here.