Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan unleashed a film featuring people with hot dogs for fingers, rocks with googly eyes and emotions, and an everything bagel as the ultimate universal truth — that nothing matters.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” was not exactly Oscar material on paper, but in practice the film has charmed Academy voters, who on Sunday honored the quirky pair with the golden statuette for best director.
The fantasy action sci-fi flick with a serious emotional message — in which a Chinese American laundromat owner discovers the existence of the multiverse, where she learns how to appreciate life — has propelled the Daniels to stardom.
Scheinert on Sunday thanked his parents “for not squashing my creativity when I was making disturbing horror films or perverted comedy films, or dressing in drag as a kid — which is a threat to nobody.”
Kwan added: “There is greatness in every person — doesn’t matter who they are. You have a genius that is waiting to erupt. You just need to find the right people to unlock that. Thank you so much to everyone who has unlocked my genius.”
Scheinert and Kwan scored the coveted directing Oscar over the legendary Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”), Todd Field (“Tar”), Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) and Ruben Ostlund (“Triangle of Sadness”).
It is only the second feature film from the Daniels, who are both in their 30s. In the run-up to the Oscars, they won the top prize from the Directors Guild of America, and Spirit awards for best film, best director and best screenplay.
“Everything Everywhere,” which was released in April 2022, turned a budget of an estimated $25 million into a major word-of-mouth success, earning more than $100 million worldwide and 11 Oscar nominations.
It centers on laundromat owner Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh), who has a sweet but milquetoast husband (Ke Huy Quan) ready to divorce her, a depressed lesbian daughter (Stephanie Hsu), a trying father (James Hong) and a tax auditor out for blood (Jamie Lee Curtis).
Everything quickly changes when husband Waymond tells Evelyn to reverse her shoes to the wrong feet; she is plunged into a multiverse of infinite Evelyns, who are tasked with saving the world from a nihilistic villain.
“It’s like if my mom was in ‘The Matrix’,” Kwan, who is of Chinese descent, told The New York Times last year.
– Visual feast –
Evelyn’s mind-blowing exploration of the multiverse — which reveals to her the many lives she could have led, from film star to sign spinner, in a wild and colorful avalanche of scenes — leads her to a moving reflection about her own life.
At one point, she caresses the face of her tax auditor with her feet, because both have hot dogs for fingers.
At another moment, her daughter Joy — who is also uber-villain Jobu Tupaki — kills people by reducing them to confetti.
The Daniels — who met while working on wacky music videos — were not afraid to go for broke in creating a…
