"I think doing period piece is easier, because after a certain distance, everybody is equal, I think. The relative contemporary is harder. I think that's the way it is."
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Quote collection
Ang Lee quotes (page 5 of 7)
137 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"If the movie is quiet I generally feel the audience is busy. That's when they're working."
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"After making several tragic movies in a row, I was looking to do a comedy, and one without cynicism."
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"3D is quite a lot more advanced in animated movies; for live-action movies we're just taking baby steps, we're just in the beginning."
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"The thing we call critics are not really reviewers, they are not really critics. They don't have the discipline to write what we would term as critique - it's really just reviewers. They have a common man kind of taste. If you watch them overall, they are not different from the box-office. That's my view."
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"Usually with this genre the first thing that happens is a good fight sequence to show that you're in good hands. So we broke that rule. I think a lot of that comes from the western audience."
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"The way I go about a lovemaking scene is that we will talk about it during the rehearsing time."
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"When something possesses me, I go ahead and do it."
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"You can get rich or famous by doing the same thing."
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"Not taboo - it's just that straight actors still risk their careers commercially and economically. They have to please the crowd - they're movie stars; their image is their industry. It goes beyond acting."
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"I am not particularly religious. But I think we do face the question of where God is, why we are created and where does life go, why we exist. That sort of thing. And it is very hard to talk about it these days, because it cannot be proven. It is hard to discuss it rationally."
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"The L.A. weather is a lot like Taiwan's, where you don't observe four seasons, so the years can pass and you don't feel a thing."
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"My mother loves me and everything goes well. I have no conflict with her, so that's not dramatic."
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"Making this movie as a period piece about a period that was very recent in people's minds. I was in Taiwan [during the 1970s], so I hope I did all right. Otherwise, it could be the biggest embarrassment of my life. Also, the story is not linear, it's patchy, like a cubist painting, and there is always the possibility it will not hold together, it will fall apart. The tone is part satire, part serious drama, part tragedy, all mixed together, and it has to hit an emotional core. That's also very scary."
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"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."
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"I like to go back to Chinese film-making from time to time. I don't think I can make Chinese films back to back; it's such a big effort. I'd have to take a very long break."
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"American films are less American every day, because you have to please a world audience. There's less authenticity, so it's more accessible."
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"My father's family were liquidated during the Cultural Revolution in China because they were landowners. He was the only one to escape. I was born and brought up in Taiwan. But you absorb the trauma. My parents had no sense of security."
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"If there's something that can be formulated, regulated, give you security, then nobody would lose money. Every movie would be successful. And that's certainly not the case."
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"I think each movie-making process is a very exhausting and satisfying and fulfilling experience for me."
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