Avenue Valley introduces you to the 5th friend: Ang Lee
Speaking of Ang Lee, in the film industry, people who love to watch movies should be no strangers.
There is a comment in the film industry: On the director of the East-West crossover, only Ang Lee.
Looking at Ang Lee's works, the first Chinese father trilogy "Pusher", "Wedding Feast", "Eating Men and Women" have achieved good results, and then the British film "Sense and Sensibility", the American blockbuster "Ice Storm" and "Riding with the Devil" have also won many awards, and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "The Fantasy Drifting of the Young Pi" have won the Oscar.
How many directors' works can eat the world? Handful.
How does a Taiwanese in the United States do it, a foreign country, he walked on the road of film art, what difficulties did he encounter, how to solve it? Why did he say: Even to this day, I am still an outsider, and Li An is not at ease?
Let's listen to his self-description.
1, the outside world rumors that I worked as a family cook at home, ate soft rice for six years, this is not a rumor, it is a fact. I came to the United States to study, graduated at the age of 30, who knew that after graduation, I was unemployed. Who would find an obscure Chinese director to make a film?
2, my wife is a doctor of microbiology, but she just graduated as a researcher, the salary is not high. Our two children were born one after another, and the economy was once very poor, but fortunately, the families of both sides occasionally helped each other in disguise. I was mainly responsible for cooking at home, taking care of the children, writing the script and changing the script in my spare time, and looking like an old man after being bored at home for a long time. My wife sometimes saw me hanging down and took me and my children into town to eat McDonald's, which was a luxury for us at that time.
3, some people are curious about how I spent that difficult time, to be honest, for a long time I also suspected that I came to the world to pass on the generations, I am a bit of a Japanese samurai backbone, I should have killed myself a long time ago, but I don't have the courage, there is no way to fight against fate, I just stay in the film circle with a dead face, and when the time comes, I will meet it, and so on.
4. Started a scriptwriting competition from Taiwan, when I was nearly 40 years old. I wrote two screenplays for "Pusher" and "Wedding Feast" to compete. As everyone knows, both works have won awards, one won the first place, one won the second place, and Taiwan China Film gave me about 15 million yuan budget to shoot for me. Taking this opportunity, I pushed open the door of the director.
5, to be honest, I don't know how to use this money, I started by relying on my classmates, acquaintances in Taiwan, and then found that they were not professional enough in organizational planning, and the efficiency was not very good. After being introduced by a friend, I found James, a good machine company that I have worked with so far. James can be said to be a marketing talent, a wide range of people, he teaches in college, and at the same time runs a magazine, understands the taste of the audience, and the market smell is very sensitive. Good Machines has its own team of partners and, in general, is very familiar with the business. So, I took the funds from China Film and started my first cooperation with them, and the result has been working together until today.
6, the cooperation with James, for the first time filming me, brings two major benefits: one is their production philosophy, compared to the time to put time on script creation, large funds shooting, slowly grinding the way of playing, the concept of good machine company is more attractive to me. He said to make efficient and low-cost filming, first of all, to make a plan, the plan is not expensive, after making a plan, it will be implemented according to the plan, such as how much money a day, how many shots a day, there are regulations, if you shoot multiple shots today, then you have to consider whether the remaining shots need to be reduced, this plan - > the style of execution, although the flow of water machinery, but for me at that time, it was very appropriate; secondly, James was an American, with him, my film had an international test.
7. The first film "Push hand" was launched and became very popular in Taiwan, winning the Taiwan Golden Horse Award in one fell swoop. This really encouraged me greatly, and the sullen breath that was held in my heart was finally a little out. I still remember that one day Xu Feng invited to dinner, there were Zhang Guorong, Chen Kaige, Wong Kar-wai and others present, the dishes on the table were really delicious, I thought that my wife who was far away in the United States could not share it, and my heart was very sad, so I talked to Wong Kar-wai next to me. I've been holding back for too long, and my breath has just come over. Not quite used to it yet.
8. The investment of "Pusher" was NT$13.5 million, and the final Taipei box office was 18 million, which was a safe base and a tie. While the iron was hot, China Film immediately urged me to make a new film, so there was "Wedding Feast". In terms of results, if "Pusher" is overjoyed, then "Wedding Feast" is suddenly cheerful and breaks out of a new situation, just like its name, bringing me a new change.
9, the inspiration for "Wedding Feast" comes from the flash of light when I took a bath, it tells the story of a gay man from Taiwan, living in the United States, in order to meet the expectations of his parents to get married, found a tenant who could not afford to pay rent to fake marriage, and the result was that the fake drama was really done and had a child.
10, in addition to the gay identity, this man's other education and background, almost my true portrayal. My ancestors were very rich, and in the early days, Shi Dakai led the troops to pass by, and they all lived in my house. But when my grandfather's generation of family property was destroyed, fortunately, my grandfather was angry and accumulated through business. Once, he was treated unfairly by the government and was determined to send his father to politics. My father remembered the family's support and finally fulfilled the family's expectations, and during the Republic of China period on the mainland, my father became the secretary general of the Ministry of Education. I am the eldest son in the family, which shows what my father expects of me. But I don't argue, I sleep as soon as I read, and when I watch a movie, my eyes light up. There are so many good universities in Taiwan, I actually took the exam to an art college that no one cares about, and I heard that my father shed tears that night. Now, I have done what my father thinks belongs to the drama industry, I am full of guilt, helplessness, grievances, sorry is often stuffy in my heart, I want to have myself (to be myself), but also want to do filial piety (for the Son of Man). This contradiction has always been torn in my heart.
11, my contradictions, my thinking, my search, throughout my early father's trilogy works, from the creation of these works, to the feedback of the market, I also slowly found the answer, found myself, but also found my positioning.
12, shooting "The Wedding Feast", the script was co-written by James and me, especially the gay part, he has many friends in that circle, the writing is more real, and the other marriage parts are the true portrayal of my Ang Lee marriage. The plot is very lively and absurd, and once it is launched on the market, it is warmly welcomed. I was scheduled by local distribution companies to start carpet publicity.
13, I was very troubled by publicity at the beginning, and I didn't want to go. The experienced people next to me told me: This is an investment, and you will get back the 'interest' from here in the future." Sure enough, over the years, I built up my relationships bit by bit. Because Chinese films rarely have stars and are not large distribution networks, the publicity focus is mostly on the director. Media outlets that are interested in the director himself, the film, the language of the film, and the cultural background will come to interview, not from the movie star and the so-called high concept. In the beginning, I ran the propaganda in a penetrating way. I remember that in the two weeks of the last European propaganda, one place after another, an average of fifteen or six visits a day, from morning to night, were one-on-one of the hard states, reporters took turns, every half hour to an hour to change people came in, the middle can only take advantage of the convenience of drinking saliva, lunch and dinner for more than an hour, and the big media while eating and talking. In this way, little by little, through the media, I gradually introduced myself, the film and the ideas to the audience. And the audience will be interested in me and will have a feedback, which in turn will affect the media to be interested in me. After a few rolls like this, I began to establish friendships with distributors and media outlets around the world, and then continued to operate, which later became my network and money. At the same time, it also gradually establishes a sense of familiarity between the audience and me and the audience's expectation of me, forming a grassroots mass foundation.
14. In addition to the ability to shoot films, the support of film manufacturers and media around the world, and the familiarity and expectations of the audience for me, these factors have together formed a market potential, although it is not as big as Hollywood, it is a market, and it is my "waist pole". With this mass base, I will not just face an unknowable market, or I will have to listen to the boss's selling point to make a film. Because I already have my own foundation and am a market in myself, I am more able to shoot according to my own model. These are all derived from the "Wedding Feast". "The Wedding Feast" had a decisive influence on the development of my films.
15. I also found out the market positioning through "Wedding Banquet", in Taiwan and other Asian regions, my films went to the mainstream theater line of the public, and when it came to Europe and the United States, it was the art theater line. This market is not only my source of income, but also allows me to maintain considerable creative autonomy. Because the filmmakers knew that there were other investors, first, the risk was dispersed, and second, there was no big boss to manage, so I was able to maintain creative freedom.
16. After intensive publicity, "The Wedding Feast" sold at a good price everywhere, and in the United States, it sold for $750,000, refreshing the record of Chinese films. And "The Wedding Feast" brings sensational benefits, my next film has not yet started filming, and I have already paid for it.
17, although the film allowed me to learn and grow quickly, and brought fame, I did not make money. The real money was made in my fourth film, Sense and Sensibility. They wanted to remake Sense and Sensibility, so they approached me. It was the first time I was hired as a director to make a script by someone else, and it was shot in someone else's territory, the UK.
18, although I have already skillful cooperation experience with the American team, however, this kind of cross-regional, Raptors across the river, one person to cooperate with a group of people, facing the British film elite, but also engaged in their own line, Jane Austen's classic works, I still have no bottom in my heart.
19, the situation is indeed very impactful. Once again, I was growing fast. As a director, the general work habits are often to show their abilities first, expose two brushes or make it difficult, and first intimidate everyone before they can lead and rule. But I need to fumble around first, and gradually I don't know what to do, so I am very stupid in the eyes of others. The reason I do this is because I feel that everything is clear at the beginning and that it limits itself. I usually don't get into the situation until I'm halfway through the shoot, and it's at least a third of the way through. So it was questioned at the beginning.
20, the team members at that time, all of them were from Cambridge, Oxford, or the Royal Theatre, everyone had a lot of ideas, my language was not in place, people asked various questions, I did not know how to respond, that kind of bitterness can not be said, eating a state.
21, Later, James came to England to visit the class, helped me brag in front of them, saying that I was an Oriental Zen master, and many problems could be solved. Then I slowly realized in the process that I used my strengths to make up for my shortcomings, such as China is good at using blank space and vision to express feelings. At first they were not convinced, Hugh Grant read the dialogue in large sections, and it turned out that I just took a shadow from a distance, and did not shoot his voice and expression, very dissatisfied, until later sent a test film, everyone came around to see, the effect was good, and then began to slowly breathe.
22. Through this time, I have deeply realized the huge difference between the communication of the Chinese and their communication. They say what they have, and we Chinese preach thickly, pretend to be confused, take what we need, and take a step back. As long as it is passable, everyone will turn a blind eye. When making movies in Europe and the United States, the director is like the president, you have to take care of a lot, please each person, shoot in the Asia-Pacific region, just like the emperor, the director says, everyone does it.
23 At the UK premiere of Sense and Sensibility, Prince Charlie also asked me how to make British actors play by the rules: how do you keep English actors in order? I'm still fake polite: they're fine, haha.
24, in fact, at that time, it was very bitter, but this practice of "earning the respect of others" through strength made me grow a lot. During my time in the UK, I also summed up how to deal with this situation: when making a movie, you must summarize it within the scope of what can be handled in order to make it well. Treat the material, divide it first, and then eat it, that is, first distinguish it to the scale you can handle, and then manage it carefully.
25, so, in the later period, I went to other unfamiliar areas and worked alone with others as a team, and I was no longer afraid. I can now cooperate with various teams, such as using the American team in the United States, using the Hong Kong team in Hong Kong, and using the British team when I go to the United Kingdom. With the confidence of cooperation.
26, the most critical thing is that the success of the play "Sense and Sensibility" brought me a reward of 180,000 US dollars, and when I took this check to fill out the tax bill, I could not sign it softly. $180,000 proves that I can finally rely on the director public to earn food, and I can do this line of work.
27, shortly after the end of "Sense and Sensibility", I also made two Western films, and then went back to shoot the Chinese film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" again, this film uses the Hong Kong team, martial arts I am not good, but according to my experience for so many years, as well as my own media, audience popularity, and James Good Machine Company, their strong, professional teamwork, we won the Oscar, almost naturally. Since then, the work has also been step by step, and it has embarked on the right path.
28, for me to win the Oscar - the highest award in the film industry - my father's reaction is the same attitude as Yang Dechang's mother: Xiao An, almost retire and go to teach.
29, in the eyes of my father, the director is never a serious business. Leaving aside his father's approval, filmmaking is indeed a great drain on physical and mental effort. Filming is often overnight work, the physical strength is extremely overdraft, the work and rest time is often upside down; in terms of mental strength, a film is to enter a new world, like shooting "Color Ring", I often feel that Zhang Ailing's ghost is not scattered with me. Many actors have a period of melancholy, and it takes a while to get out of the role after filming. I started out too, but then the warmth of my family healed me, and as soon as I got home, I forgot and went back to reality.
30, movies and reality, it is difficult to say which is good, which is not good, I am a very clumsy person in reality, many problems will not be dealt with, in the movie world, I can free myself.
31. Xu Zhiyuan, who was invited to the thirteenth, interviewed me, and I told him that in our line of work, we are playing with our lives in our hands, and according to China's fate, this is a price to pay. But I had to shoot again, I tried, I didn't do anything, I just made movies. I remember Ogilvy was one of those people, and he said in Confessions of a Man Advertising Man: I am a poor idiot except for advertising. I can't read balance sheets, I can't use computers, I can't ski, I can't golf, I can't draw.
32, there is another advantage of making movies, it gives me a voice. If you don't shoot, everyone thinks it's ready-made; if you shoot, people have one more choice over ready-made. I think that everyone should cherish their right to speak, do not be stingy, and let it pass like this with everyone's habits or stereotypes. Art and literature workers are to reflect it and let the world see the real voice of people.
33, filming, to some extent, so that I can live in the world of outsiders. In reality, I have been an outsider all my life. I am a foreigner in Taiwan, I am a foreigner in the United States, and I am a Taiwan compatriot when I return to the mainland. Among them, they can't help themselves, but they also have their own choices. Fate is destined, I have been an outsider all my life, there is Taiwan feelings here, there are Chinese knots, there is an American dream, but they have not been implemented. Over time, I actually felt that I was lazy in the end of the world, but in the imaginary world of the movie, I found a temporary place to live. I often say, Ang Lee, is actually uneasy.
