The Kung Fu Goddess, Michelle Yeoh has set the bar so high when it comes to being an action hero, it even took Jackie Chan by surprise during his stunts with the Malaysian beauty. Known for her dangerous stunts, Michelle Yeoh once faced her worst nightmare, just like most stuntmen. It was during the filming of her comeback movie.
Yeoh, who spent her childhood growing up around kung-fu movies (something she proudly calls her Marvel), moved away from her film career until director, Stanley Tong came up with Police Story 3: Supercop. The action queen suffered a near-death experience during one scene as she rolled over Jackie Chan’s convertible from a bus roof, a story she laughs over today.
Michelle Yeoh’s Action Comeback Could Have Been The End
After “retiring from the film industry” for four years, Michelle Yeoh was offered Police Story 3: Supercop (1992). Lured by Stanley Tong’s offer to star alongside Jackie Chan as his counterpart, the Crouching Tiger actress instantly took back the offer, calling it a “great privilege”.
The movie featured two of Chan and Yeoh’s greatest stunts of all time, one that led to a near-death experience for the action queen. During an interview, Yeoh, who starred as Interpole Inspector, Jessica, recalled how she jumps and hangs on the side of a getaway van to get to Chalibat, leaving Chan (Kevin) to hop in a convertible and catch up. She recalled:
“I slid off the car as there was nothing to hold on to, everyone was going so fast, no one thought to say cut. I was so lucky, I landed on my butt instead of my head. If I had gone the other way, that would have been the end.”
As she flips her legs up to avoid other vehicles before lifting herself onto the roof, those in the van star-fitting bullets. As Jessica tumbles to avoid the shots, she instantly lands on the hood of Kevin’s car. In the process, the windshield (that was supposed to break and didn’t) ended up cushioning Yeoh’s landing, ultimately throwing her on the road.
Even though, Yeoh confessed, “I won’t do these stunts again,” it is not surprising that she got into another deadly experience during the filming of Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) when she met with another accident while performing her stunt. But for some, it’s always about, “taking more risks than usual.”
Michelle Yeoh’s Deadly Stunts Overshadowed Jackie Chan
Michelle Yeoh’s crazy story doesn’t end with her hitting the road, and coming out safe. After the facade, the daredevil actress decided, “If you’re going to do it, you might as well shoot it.” The actress, who could have suffered a major head injury, revealed during her interview:
“When you watch the outtakes, Jackie Chan scrambled over the windscreen and tried to hold onto me. Luckily, he grabbed one bit of my shirt.”
Suggesting that Jackie Chan saved her life, she also joked, “Shh. Don’t tell him that.” She narrated that as she rolled off, had Chan not given that extra jerk, she would have landed on her head and that would have been the disaster of her life. Being the bada*s action queen she is, Yeoh stated:
“You know that saying, when you get off the horse, you fall back on. Now you get the feeling. Let’s do it again and try to catch it this time. Stanley went to Jack, and said, ‘it’s okay, it’s okay. She said, she is fine.'”
Yeoh indeed got back on the horse despite Chan’s advice to not do it again – turning around and moving for the next take. This is just one of the stories from Yeoh’s super commitment to the stuntwork in Supercop, which pushed a legend like Jackie Chan to opt for a more “gravity-defying stunt.”
Police Story 3: Supercop can be rented or purchased on Apple TV.
Source: YouTube
