For Michelle Yeoh, the journey from being just another Malaysian actress to a Bond Girl was not easy but she says she is glad to have undertaken the task of changing the image of Asian women in the west.
"The journey was hard. I was entering an unknown territory. But I felt it was about time somebody took the initiative. Hollywood was very insular. Hollywood is about Hollywood.
"They are the biggest market in the world so they don't care about the rest of the world. When we first went there it was a great learning experience for me. In Asia we are so blessed everybody knows us, there people were surprised that I could speak English," Yeoh told PTI in an interview.
The 50-year-old actress has starred in several Hollywood hits like "Tomorrow Never Dies", "Crouching Tiger", "Memoirs of a Geisha", "The Lady" and she attributed her success in Hollywood to her directors and producers, who were more than willing to take the risk and cast an Asian woman in prominent roles.
"I just never like how Asian women have been depicted in film - as the weaker sex, fragile, always the more subservient one. I was rebellious and felt the need to change the views. But I think I was very fortunate. I met producers and directors and fellow actors, who believed in that and who championed it with me.
"I knew I could not do this on my own. I could not have just gone up and said that I want to be the next James Bond girl. There were millions in the line. But the producers and directors had to be in that frame of mind that Asian girls can stand up and be an equal to James Bond. And I was lucky that I was allowed to be the chosen one," the actress said on the sidelines of the just concluded IFFI.
