Michelle Yeoh calls for more Asian faces and contemporary Hollywood stories

Michelle Yeoh believes Hollywood's progress is slow because of fear of change and complacency. Photo / Getty Images

Michelle Yeoh thinks Hollywood can be slow to progress because some people are scared to “lose out”.

The 63-year-old actor has insisted while there has been a lot of change over the past 30 years to help women in the industry, there will always be people working in the film world who become “complacent” with the status quo.

She told Variety: “Change is always difficult because some people are very complacent. They are afraid that if it changes, they might lose out.

“But you have to evolve and you have to move forward. And if you think about it, your audience changes.

“And I’m not talking about algorithms. I don’t understand them and I don’t like the fact that I have to do or tell stories according to an algorithm.”

The Wicked: For Good star pointed out “changes are necessary” and she’s glad Hollywood has been able to evolve in some ways over the years.

“I mean, the way they’ve always treated women needed that change. The lack of women in all the different roles in front of and behind the camera is changing, and that is necessary.

“I think it needs to have more faces that look like mine, stories that are there. And sometimes you go like, ‘Wow, why hasn’t this been told earlier?’”

The Asian-American star urged studios to focus more on “contemporary” stories about other cultures.

“I love the fact that Shōgun got so many accolades. I was very disappointed when The Brothers Sun did not get picked up for season two, because that is part of the culture of Los Angeles,“ she said.

“I would love to be able to see many more faces like mine in movies or TV series that are contemporary, and not just of the past.”

Yeoh also wants more opportunities for older actors, after her memorable Oscars speech three years ago when she urged female actors not to “let anyone tell you, you are past your prime”.

Now, she said: “I wouldn’t say that that line doesn’t fit today because it hasn’t changed so much. I mean, women are still told a lot of things that they shouldn’t be told.

“I hate the word geriatric pregnancies. When you’re in your 30s and if you don’t have a baby, it’s considered ‘geriatric’.

“That means you’re an old person. Can you imagine? It’s so disrespectful to women. Let’s not let them define us as women or put us in a box and say, ‘Oh, well, because now you’re this age, you should only play a grandmother’.”