"Everything Everywhere All at Once": Fun Facts and Tributes

“Rick and Morty”

Evelyn Wang sees the lives of her other universe selves and begins to regret marrying Waymond Wang. She feels she would have had a better life if she hadn't married him. This scene pays tribute to Season 1, Episode 8 of "Rick and Morty," where Rick invents glasses that allow Jerry Smith and Beth Smith to see the lives of their other universe selves. Jerry discovers his other self playing with Johnny Depp, while Beth finds her other self is a real surgeon, leading them both to believe they would have had better lives if they hadn't married each other.

Evelyn Wang can place the receipt on the left or right side, creating two parallel universes, a tribute to Season 2, Episode 1 of "Rick and Morty."

"The Matrix"

Evelyn Wang can use the skills of her other universe selves and instantly learn these skills, a tribute to Neo's rapid learning of martial arts in "The Matrix." Evelyn Wang also manages to stop the bullets, which is a tribute to "The Matrix."

"2001: A Space Odyssey"

In "Everything Everywhere All at Once," there is a universe where apes with hot dog fingers exterminated the normal-handed apes, resulting in all future humans having hot dog fingers. This scene pays tribute to "2001: A Space Odyssey," where tool-using apes exterminate non-tool-using apes, leading to future humans using tools.

"A Clockwork Orange"

Joy Wang's makeup is a tribute to "A Clockwork Orange."

"Ready Player One"

On the surface, Waymond Wang is next to Evelyn Wang. Still, he is in a car in the Alphaverse, wearing VR glasses and remotely controlling another version of himself, a tribute to "Ready Player One."

"Joker"

In one universe, Evelyn Wang's job is to flip signs, a tribute to "Joker." The difference is that she uses this skill to beat up villains, while the Joker is the one who gets beaten up. This scene may also be a tribute to "Soul," as both movies tell stories of souls entering the wrong bodies.

"Ratatouille"

Evelyn Wang tells her husband and daughter that their bodies are being controlled by their other universe selves, just like in "Ratatouille." Because Evelyn Wang's English is not good, she says "Ratatouille" as "Raccaccoonie." Later, this universe appears, with a raccoon controlling a chef's body while cooking. So, Evelyn Wang didn't say "Ratatouille" wrong because of her poor English; she subconsciously said "Raccaccoonie" because she saw this universe during her universe jumps.

"Kingsman"

Joy Wang headshots a cop, a tribute to "Kingsman."

"The Shining"

Deirdre Beaubeirdre breaking down a door is a tribute to "The Shining. "

"The Empire Strikes Back"

Evelyn Wang says, "I am your mother," a tribute to "The Empire Strikes Back."

"Sherlock Jr."

"Everything Everywhere All at Once" frequently uses shots where Evelyn Wang and her daughter switch between different universes, with them always maintaining the same position and actions, meaning Evelyn Wang and her daughter don't change; only the background changes. This technique is a tribute to "Sherlock Jr."

Director/Writer Cameos

Director and writer Daniel Scheinert portrays a character with unique fetishes in "Everything Everywhere All at Once." He also plays an ape in the film. Due to budget constraints, the crew only had two ape costumes, so Scheinert played multiple ape roles himself. He spent a day running around in the mountains, and the scene was completed through post-production synthesis.

Yin and Yang

Deirdre Beaubeirdre draws circles on the receipt, Joy Wang's hair, the symbol on Joy Wang's followers' heads, and bagels, all in black circles. These things make Evelyn Wang feel suffocated, so how does she fight against them? The answer is to stick an eye sticker on her head. She uses white circles to counteract the black circles, using the principle of yin and yang.

The Hillbilly Cat and Tupac Shakur

The name of the main villain, Jobu Tupaki, is a tribute to Tupac Shakur, and his appearance is a tribute to The Hillbilly Cat.

The above Easter eggs are relatively traditional. The following two Easter eggs are a bit more profound. Still, if you can understand them, you will find that "Everything Everywhere All at Once" has been underestimated.

Tribute to Michelle Yeoh's Real Life

In one universe, Evelyn Wang is a movie star, and many scenes of her being a movie star appear. Note these two scenes; they are videos of Michelle Yeoh attending the premiere of "Crazy Rich Asians."

In other words, this Evelyn Wang becoming a movie star universe is our universe, and this Evelyn Wang becoming a movie star is Michelle Yeoh. Evelyn Wang envies the movie star Evelyn Wang because she thinks the movie star Evelyn Wang's life is much better than hers. The movie star Evelyn Wang is accurate, and the universe she is in is also real.

What does this mean? When we watch "Everything Everywhere All at Once," we find that the movie star Evelyn Wang is accurate, and there is a universe where Evelyn Wang becomes a movie star, which is our universe. Similarly, when people in the hot dog fingers universe watch "Everything Everywhere All at Once," they will also find that their universe appears in the movie. People in the comic universe watch "Everything Everywhere All at Once," and they will also find that their universe appears in the film. By extension, all the universes in "Everything Everywhere All at Once" are real.

"Paprika"

The movie star Evelyn Wang attends the premiere of her new film. The cast shows that the director of this film is named Daniel Kwan, meaning the director of the movie directed in the theatre is called Daniel Kwan. And he is the director of "Everything Everywhere All at Once." This is a tribute to "Paprika." In "Paprika," Toshimi Konakawa goes to the movies. The movie theatre is full of Satoshi Kon's movies. The movie Toshimi Konakawa is about to watch is also directed by Satoshi Kon, or more precisely, a work that Satoshi Kon wanted to make but didn't. There is also a scene in "Paprika" where Toshimi Konakawa saves Paprika, but this is a movie.

"Everything Everywhere All at Once" pays tribute to "Paprika" on two levels. The first level is that Daniel Kwan directed an actual movie called "Everything Everywhere All at Once." There is a fictional character named Daniel Kwan in "Everything Everywhere All at Once," who is a director and has directed a fictional movie. Since we can nest "inside," we can naturally nest "outside." Since there is a fictional character named Daniel Kwan in the film "Everything Everywhere All at Once," it means that Daniel Kwan in our world may not be accurate, but a fictional character.

This further explains that none of us are real, and we live in a movie. All of us are fictional characters in a movie. In "Everything Everywhere All at Once," a group of people is watching a movie. Still, these people are not the audience but part of another movie, "Everything Everywhere All at Once." Similarly, although we watch this movie, we are not necessarily the audience. Our world may also be just a movie.

"Everything Everywhere All at Once" and "Paprika" are movies about the fusion of reality and falsehood, making you constantly guess what is happening and what is false. So the second level of meaning is that "Everything Everywhere All at Once" is all Evelyn Wang's fantasy or her dream. There is no such thing as multiple universes, universe jumping, big bosses, or the end of the world...

All of this is just happening in Evelyn Wang's mind. Her husband is still her husband; her daughter is still her daughter, and her life is still hers. The only thing that has changed is the way Evelyn Wang looks at things. Her husband hasn't changed, her daughter hasn't changed, her life hasn't changed, and nothing has changed; the only thing that has changed is how she looks at things.