It’s easy to be entranced by Michelle Yeoh’s physical commitment—from the way her body elegantly arcs in combat as master warrior Shu Lien in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to her impressive manipulation of hot dog fingers as Evelyn Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once. If an actor’s body is their instrument, it’s long been clear that Yeoh is a virtuoso.

But the next time you’re watching one of her films, pay extra attention to the quiet moments. Because the Malaysian actress is even more impressive when she’s telling a whole life story—one of generational trauma, repressed desire, or barely concealed disdain—without moving a muscle. “Your eyes can say more than your mouth will ever be able to,” she says. “Stillness is much more powerful.”

When she calls L’OFFICIEL at the end of October, the 63-year-old is in Dublin, finishing up her last days on the set of The Surgeon, an action-suspense hybrid directed by Roshan Sethi and produced by the John Wick franchise team. Yeoh plays the title character, a retired surgeon who gets abducted and is forced to operate on a mysterious patient. Is this her Wick-ian moment, in which she’ll get to exact maximum carnage? “No,” she says with a laugh. “It’s not that kind of incredible crazy-ass action. This is a different kind of thriller.”

Though she’s starred as a secret agent, a starship captain, and the matriarch of a crime family in her 40 years on screen, Yeoh has never been a surgeon. “I love playing characters that I haven’t done before,” she says. “That was what fascinated me about this particular script. That—and the idea of, when your own life is at stake, how do you use your profession to save yourself?”

Read the full article/interview in our press library.