Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai, BBSis a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylised, emotionally resonant work, including As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Ashes of Time, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, 2046and The Grandmaster. His film In the Mood for Love, starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, garnered widespread critical acclaim. Wong's films frequently feature protagonists who yearn for romance in the midst of a knowingly brief life and scenes...
NationalityChinese
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth17 July 1958
CityShanghai, China
CountryChina
I wanted to know what exactly martial arts is. When you look at martial arts films, the later ones became more and more exaggerated. It's like, wow, is martial arts only a show?
I think the martial arts tradition has a big influence on our generation - we all read these novels when we were very young.
Normally, filmmakers would just write a script and cast people to act as certain characters in the story. But in my way of doing things, I have the actors in my mind already, so I'm trying to borrow something that's unique to them. The characters have a very natural connection to the actors themselves.
I always think to shoot action scenes is not really about the stunts. It's more about an expression and about imagination.
I think one day I can make a book about coffee shops in Hong Kong. I spent almost most of my time in coffee shops, in different coffee shops.
Some actors like encouragement. Some actors prefer to have pressure. And sometimes, for some actors, its better to give your comment by silence, because they are so skillful, so gifted, that they understand without talking too much.
I never studied film formally at school, but as a kid, I spent most of my time in cinemas.
In a way, this is what the difference is between Hong Kong and Chinese cinema - Chinese cinema was made for their own communities. It was for propaganda. But Hong Kong made films to entertain, and they know how to communicate with international audiences.
I'm not coming from film school. I learned cinema in the cinema watching films, so you always have a curiosity. I say, 'Well, what if I make a film in this genre? What if I make this film like this'
I never had a problem with genre because a genre actually is like a uniform - you put yourself into a certain uniform.
My films are never about what Hong Kong is like, or anything approaching a realistic portrait, but what I think about Hong Kong and what I want it to be.
I'm not afraid to delay the schedule to make sure that this is the film that I want, that this is the best that I can do at that point.
I'm not coming from film school, I learned cinema in the cinema watching films.
What makes international cinema so interesting is that each territory has its own sensibility. When you look at an Indian or French film, there's a certain flavor. And even though the language is different, if the film is successful, it has something very common and understandable.