Lucy Liu has spent a significant portion of her illustrious career rewriting the rules of Asian incorporation in Hollywood. Now, as the accolades darling and box office success story Everything, Everywhere, All at Once moves closer and closer to a possible win for Best Picture at the Oscars, Liu has stated that she is “1000 percent” cheering on the similarly game-changing film.
“They are the ones that you cheer for—the underdog,” Liu, who portrays the furious goddess Kalypso in Shazam: Fury of the Gods, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. She is quoted as saying that she loves that it was done as an independent film and that it has had so much popularity.
Because of her work to get more complicated and unconventional parts for Asian women in film and television, Liu is no stranger to playing the role of the underdog in the entertainment business. It started with her breakthrough role as Ling Wu on Ally McBeal, which aired 25 years ago. Since then, she has starred in mega-hit films like Charlie’s Angels and Kill Bill, as well as a reinvented, modern take on Sherlock Holmes’s Dr. Watson in the series Elementary.
“I’ve always had to battle for roles,” she says of her acting career. “I’ve always had to go in against all odds,” the speaker says.
Several others, sometimes in reality, have given gratitude to Liu for helping prepare the way for them as more and more Asian performers and artists find more opportunities and exposure in today’s Hollywood. Liu was one of the people who helped pave the way.
She explains, “I feel a tremendous feeling of pride that something that I liked doing has helped them understand that it’s possible for them.” “I feel a great sense of pride that someone has helped them know that it’s possible for them.” “I never in my wildest thoughts would have expected that, but I’m delighted that I have had some influence, particularly in a constructive manner. It gives me the impression that I’ve done something, which is a good feeling.”
She notes that her original purpose was all about discovering the biggest variety of creative challenges for herself by rejecting established but outmoded rules and that this was her primary motivation from the beginning.
She explains, “I never saw a ceiling in my mind, and it seemed like the world was always so wide to me.” “And I had the impression it was something that a lot of other people, for a variety of bad reasons, struck quite a bit, but I did not let that stop me. I didn’t put any restrictions on myself since I saw it as nothing more than a speed bump on the road. I had the impression that there was no end to the possibilities that lay before me and that there was nothing that could prevent me from moving on.”
She does not see the success and popularity of Everything Everywhere as a climax, but rather as the most recent breakthrough in an evolution that is still happening.
She utters the words, “I guess it’s the beginning.” “I am aware that many establishments have a check box in which they are required to reach a specific percentage, and that this is something that often has to take place before anything can be considered the usual. Hence, I believe that we still have a long way to go; nevertheless, it is providing a space and maybe some feeling of normality to observe that as it activates itself in a manner that is hopefully more natural.”
Liu gushes not just over the film’s mostly Asian ensemble, but also about the film’s ambitious and inventive plot.
“It’s both fascinating and unsettling to see how much emphasis Hollywood puts on the dollar sign in their casting decisions, isn’t it? And the people behind Everything Everywhere] were working on something because they were really invested in it, “What can I say? “I really doubt that they sat down and said, ‘Well, this is what we’re going to do, it’s going to be something extremely innovative, and we hope that it will break even.’ It is one of the most remarkable aspects of the success of this movie.”
Shazam! The film Wrath of the Gods will be released in cinemas on March 17th.