The Lady, which stars the Malaysian-born former Bond girl and Hong Kong action star Michelle Yeoh as Suu Kyi, shows the Burmese opposition leader choosing to stay in her homeland as her husband Michael Aris (David Thewlis) succumbs to illness in England. Suu Kyi was released from house arrest by the country's military-led government in November after 15 years. Besson met her the same month, after filming on The Lady had already been completed. Yeoh also met her subject, in December, at her crumbling lakeside mansion in Rangoon, and was later deported from the country as a result.