Ang Lee's 6 years of despair
Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 7:04 am
Director Ang Lee's ‘Six Years of Despair’
HONG KONG (AP Writer Min Lee) June 22, 2006 - In unusually frank comments about his six years of unemployment at the start of his career, Oscar best director winner Ang Lee says he felt he was hopeless during the period and that his wife cried frequently.
"That period was very scary. I was like a roaming ghost. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't rob a bank to finance a movie. I just waited around," Lee said in a speech to university students in Shanghai last weekend published in the Nanfang Zhoumuo weekly on Thursday.
Ang Lee
The Taiwanese director, who won the Oscar this year for the gay romance "Brokeback Mountain," spent six years at home before making his debut with "Pushing Hands" in 1992 while his wife supported the family.
"For the first half year it was tough for my wife. She cried a lot, feeling that she couldn't continue with days like that," Lee said.
Lee said he believed his in-laws complained about his lack of work, but that his wife, microbiologist Jane Lin, filtered their comments. He said his parents were also unhappy, but "eventually they gave up on me."
The director said he considered switching professions, waiting tables and working for a film festival, but he didn't do a good job.
"I felt really bad then. I felt that I was hopeless," Lee said.
Lee said his subsequent success made those six unemployed years seem like a blur in the distant past.
"I've made nine movies. Now I'm preparing to make my 10th. I feel it's been a rich experience. Those six years when I didn't make movies feel like six weeks. I don't know how I got through them," he said.
Lee said he spent much of the six years writing and trying to sell scripts, and that the process of editing scripts and rejection was a great learning experience.
"In school you are encouraged to use your talent, cultivate your interests. Praise is more common than criticism. When you are looking for investors it's very different," said Lee, who studied first at Taiwan's National Arts School, then the University of Illinois and New York University.
Recalling his struggles breaking into the film industry, Lee said he was hurt by his shyness.
"I'm quite introverted. I'm not a good speaker, so I was at a disadvantage when selling myself," he said.
Lee said his wife is the dominant figure in his household.
"My life revolves around my wife. I've always listened to my wife at home. She also accommodates me. When she likes the movie I just made she'll be nicer to me, she'll be more even-tempered ... she won't scold me as much," he said.
In a wide-ranging speech, Lee also discussed his late father's influence.
Lee Sheng, the principal of an elite boys' high school in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan, expected scholarly excellence from his son, who failed his college entrance exams. When Lee was finally accepted to the National Arts School, it was a considered a disgrace because traditional Chinese culture looks down on the performing arts.
Ang Lee said he relieved the pressure from his father by making films. Father figures loom large in Lee's work, especially his earlier films, such as the stoic father of the gay son in "The Wedding Banquet."
He said filming "The Hulk" also helped him sort out his feelings about his father.
"I was only clearer about my father's influences on me, whether in terms of cultural and upbringing, after making this film, including my deep-seated male struggles and male tension," Lee said.
Lee discussed the prospects for Chinese-language films as well.
He said Chinese filmmakers need to move beyond the martial arts genre they're known for.
Lee added that the mainland Chinese movie industry, whose audience is still developing, needs to time to mature. Chinese theaters raked in just 2 billion Chinese yuan (US$250 million; €198 million) in ticket sales in 2005, while a single Hollywood hit alone can make that amount.
He said the key is to understand both indigenous Chinese and global tastes.
"To achieve a breakthrough and change, we need to figure out the rules of the game, because they are globalized," he said. "We can't hide behind nationalist thinking. We have to study the rules thoroughly, then change and transcend our national characteristics on that basis."
credits to Karazen-
WAAAA? BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN WAS WRITTEN BY LEE? O_O I THOUGHT IT WAS SOME WHITE DIRECTIOR. x__X because normally chinese people are very strict about homosexuals.. my whole family thinks it's wrong but i'm not sure about other places.
HONG KONG (AP Writer Min Lee) June 22, 2006 - In unusually frank comments about his six years of unemployment at the start of his career, Oscar best director winner Ang Lee says he felt he was hopeless during the period and that his wife cried frequently.
"That period was very scary. I was like a roaming ghost. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't rob a bank to finance a movie. I just waited around," Lee said in a speech to university students in Shanghai last weekend published in the Nanfang Zhoumuo weekly on Thursday.
Ang Lee
The Taiwanese director, who won the Oscar this year for the gay romance "Brokeback Mountain," spent six years at home before making his debut with "Pushing Hands" in 1992 while his wife supported the family.
"For the first half year it was tough for my wife. She cried a lot, feeling that she couldn't continue with days like that," Lee said.
Lee said he believed his in-laws complained about his lack of work, but that his wife, microbiologist Jane Lin, filtered their comments. He said his parents were also unhappy, but "eventually they gave up on me."
The director said he considered switching professions, waiting tables and working for a film festival, but he didn't do a good job.
"I felt really bad then. I felt that I was hopeless," Lee said.
Lee said his subsequent success made those six unemployed years seem like a blur in the distant past.
"I've made nine movies. Now I'm preparing to make my 10th. I feel it's been a rich experience. Those six years when I didn't make movies feel like six weeks. I don't know how I got through them," he said.
Lee said he spent much of the six years writing and trying to sell scripts, and that the process of editing scripts and rejection was a great learning experience.
"In school you are encouraged to use your talent, cultivate your interests. Praise is more common than criticism. When you are looking for investors it's very different," said Lee, who studied first at Taiwan's National Arts School, then the University of Illinois and New York University.
Recalling his struggles breaking into the film industry, Lee said he was hurt by his shyness.
"I'm quite introverted. I'm not a good speaker, so I was at a disadvantage when selling myself," he said.
Lee said his wife is the dominant figure in his household.
"My life revolves around my wife. I've always listened to my wife at home. She also accommodates me. When she likes the movie I just made she'll be nicer to me, she'll be more even-tempered ... she won't scold me as much," he said.
In a wide-ranging speech, Lee also discussed his late father's influence.
Lee Sheng, the principal of an elite boys' high school in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan, expected scholarly excellence from his son, who failed his college entrance exams. When Lee was finally accepted to the National Arts School, it was a considered a disgrace because traditional Chinese culture looks down on the performing arts.
Ang Lee said he relieved the pressure from his father by making films. Father figures loom large in Lee's work, especially his earlier films, such as the stoic father of the gay son in "The Wedding Banquet."
He said filming "The Hulk" also helped him sort out his feelings about his father.
"I was only clearer about my father's influences on me, whether in terms of cultural and upbringing, after making this film, including my deep-seated male struggles and male tension," Lee said.
Lee discussed the prospects for Chinese-language films as well.
He said Chinese filmmakers need to move beyond the martial arts genre they're known for.
Lee added that the mainland Chinese movie industry, whose audience is still developing, needs to time to mature. Chinese theaters raked in just 2 billion Chinese yuan (US$250 million; €198 million) in ticket sales in 2005, while a single Hollywood hit alone can make that amount.
He said the key is to understand both indigenous Chinese and global tastes.
"To achieve a breakthrough and change, we need to figure out the rules of the game, because they are globalized," he said. "We can't hide behind nationalist thinking. We have to study the rules thoroughly, then change and transcend our national characteristics on that basis."
credits to Karazen-
WAAAA? BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN WAS WRITTEN BY LEE? O_O I THOUGHT IT WAS SOME WHITE DIRECTIOR. x__X because normally chinese people are very strict about homosexuals.. my whole family thinks it's wrong but i'm not sure about other places.