{"id":469007,"date":"2026-02-14T22:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T22:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/469007\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T22:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T22:42:09","slug":"sean-baker-on-michelle-yeoh-short-next-film-italian-sex-comedy-homage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/469007\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Baker on Michelle Yeoh Short, Next Film: Italian Sex Comedy Homage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJust 24 hours after Sean Baker<\/a> arrived in Penang, Malaysia, to shoot \u201cSandiwara\u201d \u2014 the Oscar-winning director\u2019s new short film starring Michelle Yeoh<\/a> \u2014 he threw his initial script out the window.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was ridiculous,\u201d Baker tells Variety in a quiet corner of the Ritz Carlton in Berlin, where the short premiered on Friday. \u201cIt was like exactly what someone from the outside would be writing from their couch in West Hollywood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBaker\u2019s original idea for the short, which is in collaboration with fashion house Self-Portrait\u2019s Residency program \u2014 an initiative aimed at bringing together artists from all disciplines to create without boundaries \u2014 was a \u201ccaper\u201d that saw Yeoh \u201crunning from some gangsters,\u201d he says. But once he spent some time in Penang, the director found new inspiration. \u201cIt was immediately apparent that this is one of the major foodie destinations in the world,\u201d he says, adding that the city is also \u201cvery physically different than what I imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSelf-Portrait founder Han Chong, who grew up in Penang, wanted to make a film celebrating his roots. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0much deeper\u00a0than just fashion,\u201d he says. \u201cEspecially when we have Michelle and Sean, I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0want to restrict them with\u00a0a fashion film. The whole idea is\u00a0tell\u00a0a story of my hometown \u2014 the culture, the emotion.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tShot on an iPhone, \u201cSandiwara\u201d follows Yeoh as she embodies five different characters \u2014 an influencer, food critic, chef, restaurant server and singer (all wearing Self-Portrait clothes) \u2014 as their stories intertwine at a Penang food court. For Chong, it was a dream come true to get Yeoh on board, who he sees as \u201cMiss Malaysia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tHan Chong, Michelle Yeoh and Sean Baker at Berlin Film Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty Images<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn Asia, she represents possibility, so everyone looks up to her,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t just want to do a campaign. I wanted her to represent something for our Asian culture on a global stage and also her talents.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tEnticed by the lack of creative constraints and the chance to get to work with Yeoh, Baker signed on to the project not long after. \u201cTheir energy together was so incredible,\u201d Chong adds. \u201cBoth of them just wanted to\u00a0make\u00a0this work really well. The amount of time they put in, how generous they were, I was like, \u2018No way.’\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tBelow, Baker tells Variety more about \u201cSandiwara,\u201d working with Yeoh, life post-Oscars glory \u2014 and reveals the premise of his next film.<\/p>\n

\t\tHow did the idea for \u201cSandiwara\u201d come to be and what drew you to the project?\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was just before I started getting very busy with \u201cLeft-Handed Girl,\u201d which takes place in night markets in Taiwan and it was shot on the iPhone as well. So I was like, I can do that, I just came from that. But I quickly learned that I was being a little naive \u2014 [Chong] was mentioning night markets and\u00a0food\u00a0courts, so I just naturally assumed, \u2018Oh, it will be very similar.\u2019 But it\u2019s not, it\u2019s its own thing. And so that discovery was wonderful too, because I was able to spend nine days over there prepping for two days of shooting.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou met Michelle Yeoh for the first time on set. What was it like working with her? Obviously, you two got along since you presented her with an honorary Golden Bear this week at the festival.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYou know, it was an instantaneous connection. I did not feel intimidated \u2014 I normally do with big stars, so it has to be her personality. She\u2019s just very open. Ever since the shoot, which was late September, we\u2019re text buddies. It quickly became a friendship and I think it\u2019s just because she\u2019s really down to earth. There\u2019s no diva quality whatsoever. So much so that we went two hours over on both nights, and she didn\u2019t even blink. She\u2019s like, \u201cI don\u2019t care, let\u2019s just make this happen. We only have this time, let\u2019s do it.\u201d She was very dedicated to it \u2014 she wasn\u2019t phoning it in in any way, shape or form.<\/p>\n

\t\tThis film sees you return to your roots of shooting on an iPhone, and part of it has you shooting on a bike through the streets of Penang. What was that like?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWe knew she was on a bike, so I was on a bike too. That\u2019s how we shot a lot of \u201cTangerine,\u201d going up and down Santa Monica. And we crashed on the first take, and I was like, \u201cOh, this is not going to go well.\u201d But then we got it. <\/p>\n

\n\tWe did some of this in \u201cAnora<\/a>,\u201d but this was almost fully not controlled. We of course had permission to shoot in that big food court, but 95% of the people in the background are real people, those are not hired extras. So to throw Michelle Yeoh, who is an A-lister, in the middle of that was really exciting for me. Because in the past, yeah my actors were known, but they were blending in to a certain degree. Now, the challenge was to be able to get stuff in the same conditions with an A-lister. And I think it\u2019s a testament to just how much she took on these characters, that of course there would be some double takes \u2014 like, \u201cWait a minute, is that Michelle Yeoh there?\u201d \u2014 but it wasn\u2019t like, \u201cThat\u2019s Michelle Yeoh!\u201d It was questionable. <\/p>\n

\t\tWhat interests you about the intersection of film and fashion?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t[Fashion] always inspires me because in all of my films, my characters\u2019 wardrobe choices are very intentional and important. But also, I like to\u00a0be experimenting\u00a0with style and so this is my way of doing it. Television is such a\u00a0machine\u00a0and commercial spots are obviously not yours whatsoever as the director \u2014 this fashion world is the only place where it feels like\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0making one of my films. And Han gave me\u00a0full\u00a0creative control. The only thing I was questioning the entire time was, \u201cIs this the most G-rated thing\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0ever done? Are people going to expect her to suddenly\u00a0strip?\u201d That was the only thing that I was kind of asking myself, like where is the edge? But I feel that because we\u2019re shooting with the iPhone under florescent lights and stuff like that, there\u2019s still a grunge and a grit.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMichelle Yeoh in \u201cSandiwara.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tDo you feel like things have finally calmed down for you since the craziness of \u201cAnora\u2019s\u201d awards run?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI went right from \u201cAnora\u201d into \u201cLeft-Handed Girl\u201d into this, and so there really hasn\u2019t been a lot of breathing room. But it did take a while to process, I have to tell you. And it didn\u2019t help that I was having to suddenly campaign with \u201cLeft-Handed Girl.\u201d I was very happy and proud of that movie, but I also don\u2019t know if I could have gone through all of that again. It\u2019s a lot. So to answer your question, Samantha [Quan, his producer and wife] and I can finally take a deep breath and we don\u2019t have the pressure anymore. A lot of the weight of expectations and stuff has been kind of lifted because winning the Palme d\u2019Or was like my dream come true. And that\u2019s not embellishment \u2014 that was my one goal in life. So it happened, and then everything else, including the Oscars and the BAFTAs, it was all gravy. And then it was just like, OK cool, so now there\u2019s no reason to fret anymore. We have to stay grounded and we are \u2014 I\u2019m not jumping into an $150 million movie, I\u2019m just simply not doing that.<\/p>\n

\t\tHave there been offers from studios?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI was offered development deals, but I very much want to make my films independently. I mean, it would be amazing if Neon in the States would distribute my film again.\u00a0I\u2019d\u00a0love to work with them again so much. But we are making our film independently so that I can retain full control in terms of everything from casting to content, and not even have to take one note. Because that drives me up the wall. It\u2019s like, why?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tSo what is your next film? I\u2019ve heard rumors of it being set in Italy and starring Vera Gemma\u2026\t<\/p>\n

\n\tOh, yeah. It\u2019s my love letter to the Italian sex comedies of the \u201960s and \u201970s, so I\u2019m leaning into that. We want to shoot this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThis interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just 24 hours after Sean Baker arrived in Penang, Malaysia, to shoot \u201cSandiwara\u201d \u2014 the Oscar-winning director\u2019s new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[155293,191249,88,155641,206,169670],"class_list":{"0":"post-469007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-anora","9":"tag-berlin-film-festival","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-michelle-yeoh","12":"tag-movies","13":"tag-sean-baker"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}