-Stephanie, welcome. It is so great to meet you.
-It's so nice to meet you too.
-Really, and what a knockout performance in this movie.
Congratulations on that. -Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ] Thank you so much.
-First, congratulations, the cast of
"Everything Everywhere All at Once" had a big night
at the SAG Awards. -Yes.
-I mean, really. That was fantastic.
But I liked this. The camera came over to you and you were
holding -- you looked at the camera and you were holding,
like, what is this? A silver -- What is it? A ball?
-Who is that intense person? -Look at how fun.
-It's me! -You gotta have fun.
Come on, yeah. How fun.
But what does that mean? What is this?
-Yeah, so, Jamie Lee Curtis is like our biggest cheerleader,
and her biggest love language is gift giving.
And so right before the category came out, she ran around
to the whole cast, and she gave this little ball to us,
that's like a little rock,
so that no one would leave empty-handed.
-Come on! -I know. We love it.
-Come on. That's the awesome Jamie Lee.
But you did -- No one left empty-handed.
-No, no. In fact, a SAG Award is very heavy.
-Yeah. You guys crushed it. That was great.
How does it feel? How does all these accolades feel?
-You know, this movie is so special to me.
We filmed in 2020.
I knew then that it was the most special experience
I've ever had creatively in my life.
I knew then that it was amazing, and then, you know, we put it
on hold for two years and then premiered at South by Southwest.
And then that was amazing to finally get to share it.
The reception was amazing.
So, it's just been, like, stacks on stacks on stacks
of just incredible, incredible journey.
-And now you're nominated for an Academy Award.
-"Ohscar." [ Cheers and applause ]
-An Ohscar. -Ohscar.
-Ohscar. -Ohscar. Yeah.
-You're nominated for an Oscar. -Yes.
-Where did you find out that you got nominated?
Where were you? -I was on an airplane.
I've been shooting this movie called "The Fall Guy,"
David Leitch's next film, with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt.
And so I've been -- [ Applause ]
Yeah. It's gonna be very special.
-Wow! Yeah, no big deal. Yeah, come back for that.
-Yeah. And I've been commuting to Sydney, which has been --
-What? -Sydney is far, it turns out.
-Yeah, you don't commute to Australia.
-But I have been.
-Wow, thank you for being here tonight.
-Yeah. And I found out on the plane.
And I knew I was gonna be flying back from Sydney to L.A.
the day of the announcements.
And I wanted to do a ritual for myself to --
You know, things have gotten shinier and shinier.
And I wanted to have a moment where I got to watch the movie
one more time to look back on that moment of
that seed of making, the heartbeat,
this very special thing we made together.
And I hadn't watched it on a plane.
So, before the announcements came out,
I watched it on the plane.
And I felt like one of those superfans of our own movie
where they always say, "You know, the movie starts
and I just start weeping."
And that was me. And I was so embarrassed.
I was like, "I hope no one's seeing me cry at our own movie."
[ Laughter ]
-You're watching your own movie, crying.
"What a performance!"
[ Laughter ]
"Isn't she fantastic?"
-It was before I even came on.
There's this opening montage where we're in a mirror
and you see the family -- the mother, the daughter,
and the husband -- just singing karaoke together.
And I literally started weeping, and I was like,
"They have no idea what's about to happen to them."
[ Laughter ]
"They don't even know!" You know?
-And then you get nominated. -Yes.
Like, right as we're about to land,
my phone started to go off. -Yep.
-And I was like, "Oh, my God, what's happening?"
And I just kind of like sat in the little hovel
by myself being like, "What's going on?"
And the flight attendant came up to me, and she was like,
"You've been so quiet this whole trip.
You're such an incredible passenger."
I was like, "Yeah, thanks, I commute to Sydney."
And she was like, "And you're so smart to bring 'everything.'"
And I was like, "Oh, my God. Does she know?"
But I think she was referring to the fact
that I always pack my own lunch.
[ Laughter ]
-So she had no idea? -She had no idea who I was.
-You were like, "Did you catch me watching my own --"
She's like, "You brought 'everything.'
Everywhere. All at once."
Then you go -- -Salad.
-Salad. Yeah, exactly. -Exactly.
-Congrats again. That is so rad.
You are kind of -- It's an unbelievable character role
for someone to play, but here you are as Joy.
-Yes. -Okay?
And then here you are as Jobu.
-Yes.
[ Audience oohs ] -Yeah, ooh, exactly.
-Oh. [ Laughs ]
-I mean, you crush when you're Jobu.
I mean, you just like do everything.
What was the direction like when you're on set?
-Yeah, the Daniels and I, we had worked together
right before this movie, and we're all very weird.
And I have no fear of being weird with them.
And in fact, they kind of bring out more weird in me.
So, when we were kind of working on the role, we would really
start to, like, you know, get into it.
And they would give me the direction a lot like,
"Okay, now, break the movie. Destroy the movie."
And so I would do a scene -- -Break the movie?
-I would do a scene as Jobu, as written, and sometimes I would
just stop or sometimes I would just, like, leave frame.
But this is when we were working just the three of us.
And then the first day I got into set, it was
the hallway scene where -- the introduction of Jobu.
-You're wearing the Elvis suit. -The Elvis suit.
The schling schlings and the -- You know, if you've seen
the movie, you know what schling schlings are.
-Yeah, thank you, I appreciate you editing for us.
-Yeah. You're welcome. -The schling schlings.
-The schling schlings. -Sure, yeah, I understand.
-And all of a sudden, I got so nervous because it was
my first scene with Michelle Yeoh and I had never worked with
any of the crew, and so I was like,
"They're going to think I'm the worst actor on Earth.
They're going to think that I'm being weird
and completely unhinged for no reason."
So I made them make an announcement.
I made them make an announcement to the whole crew,
and just be like, "Hey, everybody, this is Stephanie.
She's going to be kind of weird.
[ Laughter ]
-She's "acting." She's acting.
-"But we told her to do that."
-Okay, yeah. And then this person walks out.
And you crushed it. -Thank you.
-I gotta say, right -- almost exactly when it came out,
it barely was out, Questlove was like,
"Dude, this is the -- this is the movie."
-Well, Questlove was my most special and kind of first big,
like, celebrity introduction, where he came to
a screening we were doing.
And I had heard -- like, word on the block was
that Questlove really loved the movie.
And so, I saw him come into the screening, and I was like,
"If there was ever a chance
that I could say hi to Questlove, it's now."
So I, like, walked right up to him, and I was like,
"Hi. I'm Stephanie. Thank you for being here."
-Yeah. -And he was amazing.
And it was -- But I -- And then I walked away --
I didn't tell you this part. But I walked away
and I was like, "What did I just do?"
[ Laughter ]
"Wow, I'm so strong." -Yeah, you really are.
I want to show a clip. Here's Stephanie Hsu in
"Everything Everywhere All at Once."
Take a look at this.
-Is it that I "can't" be here?
Or that I'm not "allowed" to be here?
-Hey!
-Okay.
Hands where I can see them. -See, I can physically be here.
But what you meant to say
is you're not allowing me to be here.
[ Laughter ]
-Hands behind your back. Come on.
-You're gonna make me walk through you?
-[ Snickers ] Yeah, cute. Can't let you do that either.
-Again with the "can't"!
See, I don't think you understand
the meaning of that word.
-Oh, my gosh. Come on.
Stephanie Hsu.
"Everything Everywhere All at Once" is out now.