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I like to do drama, something about life that could be disappointing.
Ang Lee -
Economically, it’s more expensive to make movies. I hope digital movies change that.
Ang Lee
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So I'm a one movie at a time person, I don't develop. Normally we do a movie then one thing leads to another. If something pops up that catches my attention, then I'll decide.
Ang Lee -
American films are less American every day, because you have to please a world audience. There's less authenticity, so it's more accessible.
Ang Lee -
The most mysterious feminine factor, the existence that we men, we don't know. It's woman. It's feminine. That's what the sword is about. That's the symbolic meaning of the sword.
Ang Lee -
Every movie is unknown.
Ang Lee -
So there was one point I thought I was gonna lose it, but once I get on something I have to finish it; I just kept persuading them and they turned around. One good thing was the international guys really stood behind this movie, they thought they could support this film. So these guys step up and that's really good, and then they turned around.
Ang Lee -
I think that at heart I am an old-fashioned Chinese, really I am.
Ang Lee
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Americans are hidden dragons to me.
Ang Lee -
It's just what I am. When I am in the zone making one movie, I just didn't want to read anything else or do anything else, so I don't really develop projects.
Ang Lee -
When I grew up, in Taiwan, the Korean War was seen as a good war, where America protected Asia. It was sort of an extension of World War II. And it was, of course, the peak of the Cold War. People in Taiwan were generally proAmerican. The Korean War made Japan. And then the Vietnam War made Taiwan. There is some truth to that.
Ang Lee -
I think it[3D] should be used as a new artistic form, not as a gimmick, not to impress you but the existence of an environment that you view as a theatrical dramatic experience is - you don't just have the X-Y axis, you have the Z and that makes a difference. You still have the framing, you still use lenses, so most of the cinematic rules and languages still apply but I think it's a different existence.
Ang Lee -
I think the American West really attracts me because it's romantic. The desert, the empty space, the drama.
Ang Lee -
We need storytelling. Otherwise life just goes on and on, like the number Pi.
Ang Lee
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I'm just a pretty regular dad.
Ang Lee -
So anything that's not absolutely needed, we would cut it [footage] out, which would make me very insecure; everything has to work, and it's a water movie in 3D with a kid, animals. So the more I do that, the more I'm scared of "What if it doesn't go the way we want it?" But we had to do that to meet the budget, otherwise we wouldn't even have a start-date.
Ang Lee -
I think people are universal.
Ang Lee -
I just did a dramatic love story. Whether it's a cultural phenomenon is not for me to say.
Ang Lee -
When I sent those scripts, that was the lowest point of my life. We'd just had our second son, and when I went to collect them from hospital, I went to the bank to try and get some money to buy some diapers, the screen showed I've got $26 left.
Ang Lee -
I had to find my way of translating the excitement you get when you're reading comic books to the big screen.
Ang Lee
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When there is a strong woman character in a story - that always grabs me
Ang Lee -
For a filmmaker, it's a rare chance to do a personal film on a big canvas.
Ang Lee -
Sensitivity and money are like parallel lines. They don't meet.
Ang Lee -
If it was a choice between making movies and doing nothing, he'd probably still wish me to make movies, So he made me keep going.
Ang Lee