50 Fun Facts About Everything Everywhere All at Once

Who directed Everything Everywhere All at Once?

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, billed together as Daniels, wrote and directed it; the pair first drew notice with the 2013 music video for DJ Snake and Lil Jon's 'Turn Down for What'.

Who plays Evelyn Quan Wang?

Michelle Yeoh plays Evelyn Quan Wang, a part that brought her the Academy Award for Best Actress in March 2023; the Daniels rewrote the lead for her after first conceiving it as a man.

What kind of business do Evelyn and Waymond run?

They eloped to the United States two decades earlier and settled in Simi Valley, California.

Which government agency is auditing Evelyn when the multiverse breaks loose?

The IRS audit drives the plot: the family bring boxes of receipts to the agency's office, where the multiverse erupts, and return there at the end to refile their taxes.

Who plays Waymond Wang, Evelyn's meek husband?

Ke Huy Quan, the child star of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies, returned after about two decades away from acting to play Waymond and won an Academy Award for it.

Who plays Joy Wang and her multiverse alter ego Jobu Tupaki?

Stephanie Hsu plays both Joy and Jobu Tupaki, joining after the original Joy dropped out in early 2020; previously known for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Broadway's Be More Chill, she earned an Oscar nomination.

Who plays IRS agent Deirdre Beaubeirdre?

Jamie Lee Curtis plays the auditor Deirdre, with a frumpy look she based on a photo of a real tax agent; the part brought her the first Oscar win of her career.

Who plays Gong Gong, Evelyn's demanding father?

James Hong plays Gong Gong; his sinister Alpha-Gong Gong recalls his villain Lo Pan from Big Trouble in Little China, and in 2022, at 93, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

What does 'Gong Gong' mean in Cantonese?

Grandfather, specifically the mother's father, is what Gong Gong (公公) means in Cantonese; Joy uses it for Evelyn's elderly father, who disowned Evelyn when she eloped and has recently come to stay with the family.

What is the name of the universe that Alpha-Waymond comes from?

The Alphaverse is the universe where Alpha-Evelyn first developed verse-jumping, the technology that lets a mind tap into its other lives; Alpha-Waymond crosses from it to recruit Evelyn in the tax office.

How do characters trigger a verse-jump?

By performing statistically unlikely actions, such as swallowing lip balm, giving oneself paper cuts or declaring love to an enemy, a jumper's mind links to a version of themselves in another universe.

What is the name of the doomsday object Jobu Tupaki has created?

The Everything Bagel is Jobu's creation, a black void that forms when she puts literally everything onto a bagel; it becomes the film's emblem of nihilism, set against Waymond's googly eye.

Why does Alpha-Waymond believe Evelyn in particular can defeat Jobu?

She is the greatest 'failure' of all the Evelyns, Alpha-Waymond says, and her countless abandoned paths give her the widest range of other selves to draw on.

What is Jobu Tupaki actually looking for, she eventually reveals?

An Evelyn who can see that nothing matters is what Jobu has searched every universe for; having found one, she hopes they can step into the void together, until Waymond's plea for kindness changes Evelyn's mind.

What are Evelyn and Joy in the universe where they communicate through on-screen captions?

Rocks is what they are: two boulders on a cliff in a universe where life never evolved, talking through captions, until Joy's rock hops off the edge and Evelyn's follows.

Which children's book helped inspire the rock universe?

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, William Steig's 1969 picture book about a donkey who turns himself into a rock, helped inspire the rock scene, alongside David OReilly's 2017 video game Everything.

Which Hong Kong director's films inspired the universe where Evelyn is a martial-arts movie star?

Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love is the model: the alley scenes between a glamorous Evelyn and a suave Waymond copy its smoky lighting, slow motion and air of unspoken longing.

Which Pixar composer voices Raccacoonie, the raccoon chef?

The character is a riff on Ratatouille; three puppeteers operated him.

Which Pixar film is Raccacoonie a reference to?

Ratatouille, Pixar's 2007 film about a rat guiding a chef from under his hat, is the joke: Harry Shum Jr.'s teppanyaki chef Chad is secretly steered by the raccoon Raccacoonie, the name Evelyn misremembers.

Which actor was the script originally written for, before the lead became a woman?

Jackie Chan was the intended star of the early drafts, with the wife in the supporting role; the Daniels flipped the leads after deciding that a mother at the centre made the family story stronger.

Which actress was originally cast as Joy in 2018 before dropping out?

Awkwafina was attached as Joy from the project's 2018 casting announcement but left in January 2020 over scheduling conflicts, shortly before filming, and the part was recast.

A meme comparing which politician to Short Round prompted the Daniels to seek out Ke Huy Quan?

Andrew Yang, the 2020 presidential hopeful, was likened to Short Round in a meme that sent the Daniels looking for the actor who played him; he had just decided to return to acting after seeing Crazy Rich Asians.

Which former Goonies co-star acted as Ke Huy Quan's lawyer for his contract?

Jeff Cohen, who played Chunk in The Goonies, became an entertainment attorney after leaving acting and negotiated his old co-star's contract for the film.

Which Marvel series were the Daniels invited to discuss developing around the time filming began?

Loki, the Disney+ series built around alternate timelines, was the Marvel project the Daniels were approached about; they declined, being about to shoot their own multiverse film.

How many days did the shoot take?

38 shooting days took the production from January to early March 2020, wrapping days before the pandemic shut Hollywood down, with the big fight scenes staged by the Martial Club team.

What is the running time of Everything Everywhere All at Once?

139 minutes, about two hours nineteen, is the final running time; A24 released it in US cinemas in late March 2022 before expanding it nationwide in April.

Who edited Everything Everywhere All at Once?

Paul Rogers edited the film in Adobe Premiere Pro and won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing, beating the editors of Top Gun: Maverick, Tár, Elvis and The Banshees of Inisherin.

What was the Daniels' previous feature film, released in 2016?

Swiss Army Man, released in 2016, starred Paul Dano as a castaway and Daniel Radcliffe as a flatulent corpse; it premiered at Sundance, where the Daniels won the Directing Award.

Which band composed the score?

Son Lux, the trio of Ryan Lott, Rafiq Bhatia and Ian Chang, composed the score, which earned the band an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score.

Which two musicians feature on the single 'This Is a Life'?

Mitski and David Byrne sing 'This Is a Life' over the end credits; written with the score's composers, it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Which 2000 Nine Days song recurs throughout the film?

Absolutely (Story of a Girl), Nine Days' 2000 hit about a girl who 'cried a river and drowned the whole world', recurs across the film in several arrangements.

Which Debussy piece serves as Deirdre's theme?

Clair de lune, from Debussy's Suite bergamasque, scores the universe where Evelyn and Deirdre are lovers with hot-dog fingers, with Deirdre playing the piano with her feet.

At which festival did the film have its world premiere in March 2022?

South by Southwest in Austin opened its 2022 film programme with the premiere on March 11; A24 followed with a limited release two weeks later and went wide on April 8.

Approximately how much did the film gross worldwide?

$143 million worldwide on a budget reported at under $25 million made it A24's highest-grossing release, with around $77 million of that from the United States and Canada.

Which film did it overtake to become A24's highest-grossing release of all time?

Hereditary, Ari Aster's 2018 horror hit, had held A24's worldwide record at just over $80 million; the film passed it in June 2022 after first beating Uncut Gems' domestic mark.

How many Academy Awards did the film win at the 95th ceremony?

Seven Academy Awards from eleven nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for the Daniels, plus three acting prizes and Best Film Editing; it was the most-awarded film of the night.

Evelyn's actress became the first Oscar winner from which country?

Malaysia celebrated its first Oscar winner when the Ipoh-born star took Best Actress; she was also the first Asian winner of that award and only the second woman of colour, after Halle Berry.

Ke Huy Quan was the first Oscar-winning actor born in which country?

Vietnam is his birthplace: born in Saigon in 1971, he fled with his family as a refugee in 1978, passed through a camp in Hong Kong and settled in the United States.

Which everyday item does Alpha-Waymond wield as a weapon in the tax-office fight?

A fanny pack becomes Alpha-Waymond's weapon when security guards corner him in the tax-office corridor, swung and snapped like a flail in a fight staged by the Martial Club choreographers.

How many Screen Actors Guild Awards did the film win?

Four SAG Awards, the most any single film had taken at that point: Outstanding Cast plus individual prizes for its lead actress and both of its supporting players, a sweep that preceded its Oscar night.

What is the name of Joy's girlfriend, whom Evelyn struggles to accept?

Becky, played by Tallie Medel, is Joy's girlfriend; Evelyn introduces her to Gong Gong as merely a good friend before finally acknowledging the relationship at the end.

Which comedian plays Debbie the Dog Mom, one of Evelyn's customers?

Jenny Slate plays Debbie the Dog Mom, the customer whose little dog on a leash becomes a swinging weapon in one of the tax-office fights; her credit was originally 'Big Nose' before A24 changed it.

What does the Chinese title used on the poster and end card, 天马行空, literally mean?

Horse flying in the sky is the literal sense of 天马行空, a heavenly steed crossing the heavens; as an idiom it describes an unbounded, free-roaming imagination.

Which two Marvel producers were attached to the film as producers?

Anthony and Joe Russo, the Avengers: Endgame directors, produced through their company AGBO and were attached from the project's first announcement in August 2018.

In which California city do Evelyn and Waymond run their laundromat?

Simi Valley, in Ventura County north-west of Los Angeles, is where the family lives and works; the production shot much of the film on location there in early 2020.

Who was the cinematographer of Everything Everywhere All at Once?

Larkin Seiple, who had shot the Daniels' first feature, was the cinematographer, giving each universe its own look, from the glamorous movie-star world to the rock cliff.

What condition did Daniel Kwan discover he had while researching an early draft's protagonist?

ADHD was the diagnosis Kwan received after recognising himself while researching an early draft whose undiagnosed protagonist had the condition; the idea of a mind pulled in every direction survives in the finished film.

What was the lead character called in early drafts of the script?

Michelle Wang was the character's name in the script; the star asked for it to change because the character deserved an identity separate from her own, and Evelyn was the result.

How did Jamie Lee Curtis approach Deirdre's physical appearance?

She used her real belly, letting it hang out rather than hiding it with a prosthetic or shapewear; the look followed a photo of a real tax agent that the directors had found online.

What Oscar milestone did EEAAO reach as a genre movie at the 95th Academy Awards?

Sci-fi's inaugural Best Picture winner is how the press framed it: no science-fiction film had won the top prize before, and it paired the win with three acting Oscars, one short of a sweep.