Perhaps a key feature of A24’s Everything Everywhere All At Once is that, even after multiple viewings, it is still possible to miss something. For instance, in seeing principal characters (Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, and (legend) James Hong) flexing their star power, you may absorb only a bit of the rocky philosophy. Or, being wowed by some raccoon-powered hibachi, you may overlook that some members of the stunt team are of Vietnamese descent.
Their names? Gemma Nguyen, Joseph Le, Andy Le, and Brian Le.
“We feel like repping for the Vietnamese people, man, our 714,” Andy said, also giving a shout out to Little Saigon. “Finally, we get to step up!”
Weird joys
As reviews have indicated, the Daniels’ film about a Chinese American immigrant, Evelyn Wong (Yeoh), attempting to save the multiverse while slaying taxes is plenty wild. The aforementioned quartet, in fact, helps solidify the description. To start with, because their families are super tight, Gemma and Joseph refer to themselves as cousins. Andy is Brian’s older brother. Joseph and Andy previously worked on Marvel’s Shang-Chi. All have a steady YouTube presence, either as creators or guests.
The videos were also how they all formed a butt-kicking network.
“She’s like our chị hai,” Brian said of Gemma, with “chị hai” meaning “older sister” in Vietnamese. “We’ve known each other for maybe over ten, fifteen years just because the martial arts community in Little Saigon is so small. She’s very well known to me. Andy and I have looked up to her for the longest time.”
Gemma is the stunt double for the film’s villain Jobu Tupaki (Hsu), and a seven-time North American Sport Karate Association World Champion. She cited two things that got her the gig — a “work with me” invite from Martial Club’s Andy and Brian over the phone, plus a training session she did with Brian, which the Daniels and stunt coordinator Timothy Eulich had watched.
As uber-proud as she is of her work, she considers this her main résumé entry — Gemma has yet to show the film to her mom. One of Jobu’s big fights with Evelyn sees her beating people up with dildo nunchucks. Lengthy and veiny dildo nunchucks.
“I’m so scared of how she’s going to react,” she said. “Like, ‘Con làm cái gì kỳ vậy, what the heck?! What is my daughter doing for money?!’”
Gemma also said the dildo fight in the film was trimmed down for pacing reasons. Some gargling and whipping were also part of the original choreography. (A quick note to the Daniels: Folks will ride at dawn if this isn’t in the deleted scenes or viewable at some point, in some form.)
But bewilderment in the face of Everything Everywhere was a shared sensation. Andy and Brian recalled how neither of them understood a thing the Daniels described or explained to them. But they realized afterward that what was shared had so much heart and depth.
“That’s what sold it for me,” he said. “Dildos? Let’s go. Butt plugs? Let’s do it!”
“We’re pretty goofy, crazy, and passionate — let’s just collaborate and see how this goes,” Andy added, folding the Daniels into the aforementioned “we.”
And so began the fight where they, as security guards of the IRS building, gain powers by — ahem — lodging auditing trophies into their rear ends.
Dose of hope
Joseph could attest to the brothers’ fun and wild nature that made them perfect for the film, having directed the action short Kawaii Death Metal God for Martial Club. In it, Andy is an emo-styled youth who fends off bullies by transforming into a sērā fuku-wearing Brian. This work, he said, led him to work with Marvel.
“They kind of told people in the Shang-Chi team about me, someone who could shoot kung fu in an anime style,” Joseph added. “I think through a month of convincing, they helped bring me on board to pre-vis the bus fight.”
Similarly, he brought his skills to realize Everything Everywhere’s set pieces, some of which see the Le brothers trading blows with Yeoh. Pre-viz, to him, is a key, yet often underrated, process in action design, beginning with shooting the scripted fights with iPhones — or standard equipment — and then sending the footage off for feedback. The work here was fun and liberating since the production was small, and his colleagues ran on family-like love instead of Tinseltown ego.
But it was the closeness between the material and his being that got him the most. Generational trauma, yet distinctly Asian American. Moments in which care from the grown hurt the growing. “For the past ten years, I felt like I was trying to prove my parents wrong,” he said on becoming a creative. More Asian representation in Hollywood, but with novel action instead of the familiar romance.
“I literally cried when I read the script on the plane,” he said. “I couldn’t put it down when I started reading, and that rarely happens for me.”
Gemma, too, was stirred by the story. In particular, Joy/Jobu’s search for emotional breakthroughs with Evelyn mirrored hers with her own mother. But being a part of Everything Everywhere allowed her to embed more hope into her ongoing journey, and for that, she is glad.
“I’m also hopeful for other people in my position wanting to have a successful career in stunts, in entertainment,” she said.
Upcoming kicks
In that spirit of looking forward, Gemma, Joseph, Andy and Brian all have new things on their horizons. Gemma has some projects she can’t reveal at the time of writing, but they will all be part of her building toward a body of work resembling her idol, Michelle Yeoh.
In early May, Joseph released his latest directing effort, a “martial arts hood drama” titled Twisting Tiger, on Team Red Pro’s YouTube. The thirty-minute short reunited him with his Afro Samurai Champloo lead, martial artist Tarell Kota Bullock.
“I worked on this literally after Marvel and Everything Everywhere All At Once,” he added. “We’re countering a lot of stereotypes and addressing a lot of tension between Black and Asian communities.”
On the Le Brothers’ front, their big goal right now is to put together a feature that lives up to the descriptor “Martial Club Unfiltered.” Although they said the production’s arrival will come with plenty of lightning and thunder, Andy and Brian are keeping things under wraps.
In the meantime, everyone is still taking in all the magic that the Daniels’ clay pot has conjured. Joseph believes the film and its success will give future generations more choices, freedom, and understanding from parents. Gemma’s Instagram is poised to be the best source of behind-the-scenes photos.
As for Andy and Brian? They’re still starstruck from working with the Yes, Madam and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star.
“I felt bad because I couldn’t keep up initially,” Andy said. “I just remembered the first time she walked into rehearsals, my knees were shaking, and I couldn’t focus.”
“I was just a baby watching all her films, and now I’m sharing the screen with her,” Brian added. “Our teammate, Daniel Mah, always says, ‘We are covered in the dust of our masters,’ and to be able to rub shoulders and work in the same frame, that was physically it.”
