Ang Lee Quotes

After making several tragic movies in a row, I was looking to do a comedy, and one without cynicism.

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.

What is really a stretch to me is to make quick decisions.

My first instinct was to cast as close to the short story as possible, but then I realized that I needed actors who could go for it and that they had to function well as a couple in a love story.

The fear factor actually brings the genuineness.

I grew up pretty much prevented from knowing anything from Communist China except that they were the bad guys that stole our country.

I feel that everyone has a Hulk inside, and each of our Hulks is both scary and, potentially, pleasurable. That's the scariest thing about them.

The way I go about a lovemaking scene is that we will talk about it during the rehearsing time.

I'm just a pretty regular dad.

I don't like to deal with studios. I don't like to have conversations with executives. I pitch to the studio, then never talk to them until the test screening.

I just did a dramatic love story. Whether it's a cultural phenomenon is not for me to say.

Making a martial arts film in English to me is the same as John Wayne speaking Chinese in a western.

My father was the center of the family, and everyone tried to please him.

I like to do drama, something about life that could be disappointing.

In my culture, there's a tradition that when you're in an overwhelming situation and you don't know what to do, you put yourself in a woman's shoes.

I had to find my way of translating the excitement you get when you're reading comic books to the big screen.

I guess in Hollywood you chart your life by Oscars. You say to each other, "Remember when that movie won that year? It was 2006. Remember that?"

You become the movie you are making.

I don't think the Hulk is a superhero. He's the first Marvel character who is a tragic monster. Really an anti-hero.

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.

With 3D you're right there immersed in the world.

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.

Every movie is unknown.

Directing, I get all kinds of inspiration. It's working with people. It's a lot more fun.

I think that at heart I am an old-fashioned Chinese, really I am.

Beautifully-acted and precisely observed, ILO ILO is an amazing debut, full of heart and intelligence.

No matter how widely spread out the films are, how different, you still are you.

My cultural roots are something illusive.

The woman's perspective is like the dark side of the moon: it always exists, but it is never exposed, at least not in my culture.

I grew up pretty peacefully, in that Eastern way. You easily solve problems, believe in harmony. Reduce conflicts, take orders until one day you give orders.

Emotions serve characters' purposes. That is their motivation.

I'm aware of what's missing from my life.

I don't care about writing really.

There's only one movie in my career I've had regrets with cutting it shorter, and I think some scenes maybe I shouldn't have cut.

I'm a big boy now, and I have to deliver.

I find it hard to deliver straightforward things.

I like to think I'm un-categorisable.

I think each movie-making process is a very exhausting and satisfying and fulfilling experience for me.

In Taiwan, I'd be like Michael Jordan walking down the street.

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.

American films are less American every day, because you have to please a world audience. There's less authenticity, so it's more accessible.

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.

My mother loves me and everything goes well. I have no conflict with her, so that's not dramatic.

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.

If you try to act, you're going to look like you're acting. So don't act.

A movie is really provocation. It's not a message, it's not a statement.

When something possesses me, I go ahead and do it.

I think a movie is a media that is evoking feelings.