Fans of 'Everything Everywhere' are flipping out over Stephanie Hsu's leaked audition
An iconic performance from the very beginning.
She even brought in her singing chops
There are a million reasons to love the film “Everything Everywhere, All At Once." It has comedy, drama, sci-fi and kung fu rolled into one compelling story. It literally has all the things.
However, Stephanie Hsu’s iconic performance as the fabulously nihilistic Jobu Tupaki has got to be at the top of the list.
Jobu Tupaki has all the inherent makings of a fan favorite—amazing outfits, attitude at a level 5,000, and some insanely cool fight moves. But while she is the antagonist, Jobu in many ways serves as the heart of the story, making it a challenging role to pull off.
Well, Hsu knew exactly how to do it. And her audition tape proves it.
Occasionally, movies or television shows with large fan bases—”Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” and “Game of Thrones,” for example—will release audition tapes, giving viewers a chance to see characters brought to life for the very first time. After all, it’s always cool to see the very first glimpses of something that will later become a cultural phenomenon.
Deadline released Hsu’s audition for “Everything Everywhere, All At Once” in Dec 2022, which has been viewed over a million times.
In it we see Hsu do Jobu’s signature hand gestures, deliver an existential monologue and even perform an improvised song about the infamous everything bagel—which was so good it ended up being part of the movie.
Long story short—she nailed it.
Watch:
Chalk it up to her raw talent, extensive theatre background, or maybe a stroke of divine inspiration, but Hsu’s performance was so special that the Daniels, who directed the movie, ended up rewriting the character.
Fans were equally mesmerized by her tape, who gave the most heartfelt praise in the YouTube comments:
-“No wonder she got the part. She's captivating, relatable, intimidating, and authentic all in one. Most actors don't have this much rawness in auditions. Her acting here is incredible enough to go straight in front of a big-screen audience”
-“I love that she’s not hung up on the ‘perfect performance’ and allows herself to be carried away by the energy of the moment at times. What a powerful performer.”
-“She came beyond memorized. She came FOCUSED.She came with a goal. She came with a fully realized character and was STILL able to be flexible enough to take direction mid sentence. Truly, a master at work.”
-"Everything Everywhere, All At Once" is A24's biggest hit to date, not only making a breakout star of Hsu, but forging new career milestones for Michelle Yeoh, who took home a Golden Globe for "Best Actress," and Ke Huy Quan, who won a golden Globe for "Best Supporting Actor."
It goes to show that when it comes to telling a great story, all you need is a few simple ingredients—authenticity and courage. Well done Stephanie. May you talent be revered in all the universes.
Men try to read the most disturbing comments women get online back to them.
If you wouldn't say it to their faces, don't type it.
This isn’t comfortable to talk about.
Trigger warning for discussion of sexual assault and violence.
A recent video by Just Not Sports took two prominent female sportswriters and had regular guys* read the awful abuse they receive online aloud.
Sportswriters Sarah Spain and Julie DiCaro sat by as men read some of the most vile tweets they receive on a daily basis. See how long you can last watching it.
*(Note: The men reading them did not write these comments; they're just being helpful volunteers to prove a point.)
It starts out kind of jokey but eventually devolves into messages like this:
Awful.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
These types of messages come in response to one thing: The women were doing their jobs.
Those wishes that DiCaro would die by hockey stick and get raped? Those were the result of her simply reporting on the National Hockey League's most disturbing ordeal: the Patrick Kane rape case, in which one of the league's top players was accused of rape.
DiCaro wasn't writing opinion pieces. She was simply reporting things like what the police said, statements from lawyers, and just general everyday work reporters do. In response, she received a deluge of death threats. Her male colleagues didn't receive nearly the same amount of abuse.
It got to the point where she and her employer thought it best to stay home for a day or two for her own physical safety.
The men in the video seemed absolutely shocked that real live human beings would attack someone simply for doing their jobs.
Not saying it.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
Most found themselves speechless or, at very least, struggling to read the words being presented.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
Think this is all just anecdotal? There's evidence to the contrary.
The Guardian did a study to find out how bad this problem really is.
They did a study of over 70 million comments that have been posted on their site since 2006. They counted how many comments that violated their comment policy were blocked.
The stats were staggering.
From their comprehensive and disturbing article:
If you can’t say it to their face... don’t type it.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
So what can people do about this kind of harassment once they know it exists?
There are no easy answers. But the more people who know this behavior exists, the more people there will be to tell others it's not OK to talk to anyone like that.
Watch the whole video below:
.This article originally appeared on 04.27.16