新加坡The Electric New Paper李安專訪 - 李安

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/show/story/0,4136,102041,00.html

He dreamt of being an actor
But acclaimed director Ang Lee's poor grasp of English drove him into directing
instead

February 15, 2006

（附贈安導既可愛又帥氣的照片一枚 http://0rz.net/bb15y）

ANG Lee didn't set out to be a director. His American dream was to be an actor
instead when he went to the US 28 years ago.

Ironically, it was his struggle to learn English that hampered his acting
ambitions and he eventually switched his creative attentions to directing.

The 51-year-old, who has a Masters of Fine Arts in film production from New
York University, has since gone on to direct some of the most 'American' films
- The Ice Storm, Ride With The Devil, Hulk and now, cowboy love drama Brokeback
Mountain, which opens in theatres here on Thursday.


# Q: Is it easier to observe American culture because you were born into a very
different culture yourself?

# A: Well, culture has two aspects. One, most of us learn from movies. The
other is the reality.

When I chose to live in the US and to work in the industry, the American things
that I'd never seen in the movies attracted me... But there is a lot of rural
life there, of which I hardly knew anything about, and yet this is the genuine,
real America and Americans.

# Q: Did Heath (Ledger) and Jake (Gyllenhaal) have any reservations about the
roles?

# A: Not these two guys. Some other talents, I felt I might have had to
persuade.

I think most people who read the screenplay really wanted to do it, but some
you could see were a little nervous. As soon as I saw these two guys, I stopped
seeing anyone else.


SHOCKED FOR REAL

# Q: What did you say to them when you were about to direct their love scenes?

# A: The bottom line is they had to do it.

I don't care. They are professionals and if I don't like it, they had to do it
again and they knew what they were getting into.

I had to believe it and they had to believe it.

I'll tell you a funny story about Michelle Williams. We were shooting her
reaction to the men kissing and she was behind the camera.

She was looking through the crack in the door and the guys were sort of
necking, just to give her something to look at. She asked them to kiss each
other to help her out so she could get that look (of shock).

They were faking the kiss. She yelled at them so they had to do it for real.
When you see her face, it was worth the guys going through that.

# Q: What do you think is the biggest difference between working in Chinese and
American cinemas?

# A: I cannot generalise them, but as a group, the actors tend to have certain
dispositions, certain traits.

The Chinese actor tends to show up in morning and look at you with blank eyes
and say, 'Tell me what to do, tell me what you want.'

And they expect you to work it out for them. They are very obedient in that
way, very devoted to you.

With the Americans, some of them are like that. A lot of them have ideas and
you have to go over the scenes with them.

A lot of them have background in method acting, so you have to go through the
psychology of the characters.

# Q: With Brokeback Mountain, did it feel like a return to some of the themes
you had been working on earlier?

# A: The gay theme, for example?

Sure. I wasn't doing that because I wanted to revisit it or dig deeper but
because the story attracted me and really moved me.


FATHER'S LAST 'WISH'

Q: Does your fascination with the father and daughter or son theme reflect your
own relationship with your own father at all?

# A: I thought I was done with the father theme, but it still comes back so I
don't really know whether I'll deal with it again.

After that movie (Hulk), my father passed away and he liked the movie.

I thought I was going to quit making movies, but the last thing he said was,
'You will get really depressed.' He never encouraged me, even after the Oscar
(Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon won Best Foreign Language Film).

He always thought I should find something real to do, but that was the only
time he said, 'You should go ahead and make the movie (Brokeback Mountain),
otherwise you will be depressed' and then he passed away.

# Q: Is it true that you are planning a prequel to Crouching Tiger Hidden
Dragon?

# A: Well, I've been working on a script. We'll see.

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