Guangzhou Daily News
Bejing Youth
January 22, 2001
By Feng Mei

You are the first director from the Mainland China to make Hollywood movies. How did the project be prepared?

It is not an accident for me to make a Hollywood movie. In fact, the Hollywood always attracts many well-known directors. About five or six years ago, I was contacted by some Hollywood studios and producers, but for them, it could take a very long time to realize a project. Since then, I have being given dozens of scripts. I read them all and tried to choose one suits my taste. By early 2000, the situation has gone clear and I chose this one among three scripts. This film was produced by one of the eight biggest US studios, MGM. The audiences should be very familiar with the studio – there is a big lion head in the beginning and when the lion roars the movie will start. Although its an American movie, the story actually took place in London. For another project, they even secured Pierce Brosnan as the leading man (The Tailor of Panama ?), but I still chose this one, which make that producer very disappointed.

Among the three scripts, why did you choose this one?

In the west, the classification is very clear. Pierce Brosnan is considered as an actor who does actions and movies with him as the lead all got lots actions. I didn’t want to include too many actions in my first Hollywood film and wanted to make a more dramatic one.

Should we say that you are good at making drama?

I have got used to it. London is a unique city and you can see many people with different skin colors from its former colonies. So it is very colorful and the aboriginal British residences of London are influenced by such internationalized culture. As a director from China, I feel it is very easy for me to handle the subject in a city that has embraced diversity and can well inspire my creativity.

Has the preproduction gone well?

Since March 2000, I had talked with the writer many times to alter the script. In June, I arrived in London for the first time to look for locations while started to do casting. In July, I formerly reside in London to cast actors, choose locations, and select crewmembers. The entire preproduction went very well. Before I went to Britain, Heather Graham, a young actress with very bright future in the US, has been chosen as the leading woman. Because the leading man must be a British according to the plot, the studio insisted on casting a British. In the end, we chose Joseph Fiennes. For this role, I think he is the best choice. In his more famous film Shakespeare In Love, he played Shakespeare.

Tell me something about your crew.

I have asked the production company to get the best crew and the best cast. I am very lucky because the film was made in London and most crew and cast members, except the producer and me, are British. I have been in a lot of international film festivals and heard the British crew is the best in Europe. So far I have felt about the same way. Two of my cinematographers are very well-known because of their previous works. Cinematographer Michael Coulter has made Sense and Sensibility, Notting Hill, Four Weddings and A Funeral and Elizabeth. My executive cinematographer not only was involved in the above four films but also operated the camera for Shakespeare In Love. My production designer is also very famous in Britain. She is very good at handling colors as well as comprehensive designs. The crew for cinematography, production, recording and other sections are the best in Britain.

What is the progress of the film and how do you feel so far?

Since October last year, we have completed about two third of the shooting. Because Christmas and New Year are two very important holidays, like our Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), we have to take a break. After the holidays, we will only need four to five week to finish the principal shooting. I can use this time to have a rest, which is good for the rest of our shooting. Being honestly, in the beginning, everyone was very nervous and hasn’t felt relieved until the first batch of footage came out. Everyday footages are sent back and forth between Los Angles and us. After the people of MGM seeing the first batch, which only from two days’ shooting, our producer has called us that they are very satisfied. By the time we finished one third of the shooting, they said, “no doubt this is a film with very strong director’s style, no doubt this is a carefully made film, and no doubt this is a film we enjoy very much. We are very satisfied by these footages.”

Chen Hong has said that you had never made this kind of film but you have handled it very well.

I feel making it is very interesting and enjoyable. When designing some shots, I feel very funny by imaging how the audiences going to react to such gruesome scenes. Not just the shooting is a fun thing to do, working with these actors is also very enjoyable.

When will this film be done?

According to the report from the studio, it will be release in September in more than 3000 theaters in the US (note: actually is in the US and Canada). I have asked them why release it in September and was told that films like Dangerous Liaisons, Basic Instinct and The Silence of the Lambs were all released in September. It is probably because of the consideration of the marketing strategy.

Two main leads are from two different countries. Do they work with each other well?

British actors have given me very good impression. They have a very long history of stage performance. Such tradition has huge impact on each actor. They work very hard with more than enough effort for their roles. I was surprised by how much they have put into and what self-satisfaction they have achieved from the process of creating their roles. For acting, they got practices as well as theories and are well prepared. When they are in front of the camera, I feel very relax as a director, and they are very glad to work with directors like me. I feel it is an interesting challenge and a very important opportunity to work with them. Joseph Fiennes has become a household name for his performance in Shakespeare In Love. He is very critical on selecting roles and not every role he wants to play. He is a Yoga practicer and is a very quiet man. We have worked very well and, with outstanding performance, he has done excellently in some scenes.

As what I know, Joseph Fiennes has some bad temper. He had some unhappy moments with other directors, like Bernardo Bertolucci. Have you encountered any problem while working with him?

I can see he is a man with temper and a strong personality, but so far, everything has worked just fine.

Then what have made him to pay attention on you?

He is an actor who wants to get to the bottom of everything. He calls me every weekend and said, “I know you are busy, but for the matter of next week’s shooting, do you have any time that I can talk with you for an hour?” During the past nine weeks, this has become a business as usual. Every weekend I discuss with him on how to handle the following week’s shooting and have respected each other very well. Also, I always get a lot of ideas and always give him some suggestions. I told him how to express in each scene and he has felt very glad on it. I think our happy experience was derived from a mutual respect and trust. He said what I suggested could hit the target.

How did you handle different acting styles from different actors?

I always tell the actors that I have to learn to keep my hands in my pockets, I can’t tell them how to do and I can’t do the performance for them, because it is up to them to create their characters. I said the same things when I was in China. I said sometimes I am the fuse of a firecracker or a match, I will ignite you and let you to express yourself; sometimes I am a screwdriver, when a screw got loose I have to tighten it. They laughed but all agreed with me. Acting is each actor’s business, but under my arrangement and planning, it is quite possible that an actor can bring out something more vivid than what I have imaged. This is what I always expect.

What is the biggest satisfaction from working with them?

The biggest satisfaction is telling a lively story, a story which can happen to anyone in any time, and I can try my best to transform a story, which looks fictional and very commercialized, into a real life story. I told the actors they were not acting and this was a real event. When making films in Chinese, I didn’t do many rehearsals, because we don’t have this kind of process according to our tradition. However, British actors and other Western actors emphasize on doing rehearsals. What they are looking for is not the right feeling, but the way to make every scene real. The participants include not just actors and the director, but the cinematographers. On the set, the director will describe the arrangement of the whole scene, the relationship among actors and movement of the camera, and everyone will participate the discussion of how to make it real. Also, I am very satisfied by the sense of responsibility of each crewmember. For instance, during one scene, according to the script, smoke should come out of an extinguished cigarette inside an ashtray. But during the shooting, the cinematographer said he couldn’t see the smoke. I said we used an ashtray with the wrong color and went look for the prop manager. Actually, according to their rule, I cannot contact with any crewmember who in charge of any specific task and they should always contact me through the first assistance director. After known what happened, the prop manager’s face suddenly turned red. He said he was very sorry, he should not let me to worry about such little thing, and as a professional, it was his fault for not considering it properly. In another example, I found the person who pushed the dolly handled his job so perfectly and I joked about being his student to learn how to push it. He laughed and said his job everyone could do but not everyone was able to do. “Everyone can master the skill sooner or later but I was doing my job with close attention and was pushing the dolly according to the actors’ movement based on the shot you designed,” he said, “you are all actors, the actors behind the camera.” All crewmembers doing their best for their jobs with high productivity, effective coordination and lots of teamwork. They told me that they were ensuring my job well done. They would be glad if they saw me smile, while sitting in front of the monitor.

Some says that Hollywood is the world of producers and directors are just employees without freedom of creation. As a director with unique thinking, how did you handle the matter with the studio when you present your own understanding of the plot or want to change the plot?

Different director might encounter different situations. They fully know that I am a director with very strong personality, was well prepared for it, and showed much understanding and respect. During the shooting, I have freedom and authority to do anything about the characters, the story and the plot, and to change lines. Of cause, I have to show some respect to them. When making big changes, I always inform them. Also, I believe I have the support of the actors, because scenes cannot be done without them. If the actors said something is not right, any reasonable producer would listen to them. We used many discussions to handle the shooting, which has made me a lot more confident. In the Western world, efficiency is very important. A director might be in trouble if he or she arbitrarily changes the schedule or extends the shooting. I basically arrange the shooting according to the planned and everybody was satisfied by it.

I have read an interview on you, which was done entirely in English. You have no difficulty to communicate with everyone during the shooting?

It is impossible for me to have better English than Chinese. Because Chinese is my mother tongue, I can handle it fluently. No matter how I say, the listener can always understand me. My English will never be as good as my Chinese, but I have paid a lot of attention on it. I am not just started to learn English after I decided to make a film in English and I was experienced and well prepared. English is a strict language and cannot be sensed without proper explanation. Like what Beijingers always say “hi, what’s up”, which has more than one meaning, if you translated it into English, nobody would understand you. In Chinese, I can say words with multiple meanings, but in English, I have to clearly present the exact meaning, otherwise there will be some misunderstanding. A drama like this one, has a lot of detail description of characters’ feelings and emotions. I have to give each actor the exact direction – “what is your state”, “what are you going to do”, even “what are your thinking now”. I am in the status of practicing, which requires me to achieve a certain level of freedom to show my idea. For me, language is not a big problem.

The Emperor and The Assassin was release in Britain in July last year when you an in London. What reaction about the film have you heard?

One week after I went to London, it was released. The Emperor and The Assassin was list among the top ten films of 2000 in Britain. Every day some of my friends or crewmembers told me they had saw the film. People are always asking me, for a film with such huge production, how much have I spent and are those extras real or CG. For a director just about to direct a new film, a previous film was release at that time is something should be celebrated.

Can the British understand the film?

The British is very proud of their country’s diversity and their culture is internationalized. Overall, they don’t despise the poor but they despise the one without culture. For a country or a nation without culture, their despite is open and straight. In their mind, China has long history and rich culture. They highly respect Chinese culture as well as the Chinese in Britain. Of cause, for The Emperor and The Assassin, they would not understand it from our angle of view, but at least they have shown a lot of interest in it and understand the message of the film.

There are so many projects waiting for you overseas, will you ever go back to China to make films?

I am a Chinese director. Chinese directors are no worse than others and I am very proud of it. We have the responsibility for the growth of Chinese film industry and the sense of such responsibility is even stronger during the difficult time. In addition, I am interested in many things and want to express myself when getting excited. Yes, I will continue to make Chinese film. I have continued to look for a proper subject and have never given up. Just like what you said, there are so many people ask me to direct. This film has not finished yet and more scripts have been sent to me. But I feel more opportunities you have more you should be careful in term of selecting your next project. Such cautiousness cannot properly fit into the rule of the market. Not because of any good condition or more funding, but because I think it is very important to insist on making what you like, but it is not easy at all.