Everything Everywhere All At Once Is Daniels' Version Of A Big Marvel-Style Blockbuster [Exclusive]
One of the best sci-fi movies of the year is "Everything Everywhere All at Once," a film that encompasses the totality of life, and makes a rather kickass sci-fi action story out of it. From the beautifully chaotic minds of the Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), the film follows Michelle Yeoh as a woman quite unhappy with the way her life turned out. It doesn't help that she is told she is the only person who can save the universe because she is so unaccomplished that she can tap into alternate versions of herself from other universes who have incredible skills (and more successful lives).
It is an epic premise you would find in a big-budget blockbuster movie, after all, the multiverse has quickly become the belle of the tropes ball, as of late. From "WandaVision" and "Spider-Man: No Way Home," to the upcoming "Flash" movie, everyone wants in on the multiverse, and it is a true wonder that the Daniels got away with a Marvel-style blockbuster that is also incredibly personal and meaningful.
'Probably the closest thing we'll get to doing a blockbuster'
Indeed, that's because the Daniels were purposefully trying to make a big blockbuster that only they could do. They even turned down a chance to join the MCU by directing "Loki," a show that also deals with alternate timelines, to direct "Everything Everywhere All at Once" instead.
During an interview with /Film that will soon be published on the site, the Daniels addressed how they settled on this story instead of jumping on the superhero train. "I think in some ways, people asked us when we made 'Swiss Army Man,' 'Oooh, you're going to do your big leap into Hollywood,'" Scheinert said. "And it made our brains think, what would our movie be, if we were going to do a big Hollywood movie? And then this is what we wrote."
"This is probably the closest thing we'll get to doing a blockbuster," Kwan said, with Scheinert adding, "This is our version of a Marvel movie, which is like a lot. Very stupid, and very existential and philosophical, and also personal."
While a chance to play in the massive world of Marvel may seem very exciting, what the Daniels say makes perfect sense. It helps that their version of a Marvel movie already has a lot of the ingredients of a Marvel movie, but devoid of their established formula and all the things that limit the imagination of a creator. Instead, "Everything Everywhere All at Once" is both thrilling in its action, expansive in its ideas, but incredibly emotional and intimate.
"I'm kind of intimidated by IP, you know?" Scheinert continued. "Like even if it's an article getting adapted, I'm like, what about the real humans that this happened to? Like, that's so much pressure. So we've always just naturally gravitated towards writing our own stuff."
Of course, as Scheinert himself notes, the multiverse has exploded in popularity as of late, and "Everything Everywhere All at Once" is coming out to a different landscape than when it was first developed. Kwan continues:
"This was just stuff that we had been chewing on for a long time. If you look at our past work, we've dealt with multiverse stuff. Ten years ago we were doing 'Possibilia,' which was like a interactive, weird tech art piece. And then about like the decisions a couple who are breaking up have — it's like a choose your own adventure, that kind of implodes. And then 'Interesting Ball' is kind of an exploration of infinity. So it's always been in our mind, and we realize, oh, the multiverse could be a really cool place for our ideas to thrive. And it just so happened to time out this way."
"Everything Everywhere All at Once" hits theaters on March 25, 2022.