When I look at 'Fallen Angels,' I realize it is not a film that is truly about Hong Kong. It's more like my Hong Kong fantasy. I want Hong Kong to be quiet, with less people.
I think, to be a director, sometimes you need to have certain hunches - you have to believe in some gut feeling.
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.
Sometimes, we have to turn our camera to a mirror to shoot something, and people think, 'Oh, that's very stylish.' Yes it is, but at the same time, we did it because we are shooting in a very small space, and that was our only option.
I didn't know anything about martial arts. I'm a big fan, but I never practiced martial arts.
I was born in Shanghai and moved to Hong Kong the year I was five.
'Ashes of Time' was my third film, and as a young director at that point, it's not very often that you have the chance to make a big martial arts film, so of course I jumped at this opportunity.
The original title for 'In the Mood for Love' was called 'A Story About Food.' The idea was to tell a love story through different courses.
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.
One's memories aren't what actually happened - they're very subjective. You can always make it much better, right?
In most kung fu films, they want to create a hero who's always fighting a bad guy. In the story of Ip Man, he's not fighting physical opponents. He's fighting the ups and downs of his life.
I don't do rehearsal. Some directors prefer to do rehearsal - readings before the actual shooting - but I don't like this process because I think there are certain things that are so spontaneous, and they cannot happen twice.
I never studied film formally at school, but as a kid, I spent most of my time in cinemas.
I don't want to be a grumpy old man or too pessimistic, because if I have a chance, I would prefer to watch a film in the cinema with an audience on a big screen instead of watching it on a cell phone. It's a very different experience, but somehow I think this form will have its own future and life.
After the Revolution in '49, all the films were propaganda. They serviced the government and carried the message that the government wants to relay to the people. But I think, in the last 10 years, because the film market is opening and there's an expansion of all the cinemas in China, it's now a lot like Hollywood productions.
What's so great about inspiration is sometimes it finds you when you're not looking.
I am just the band leader, and I just keep everything in tune.
When it's time to let go, I don't look back, and I start another project as soon as possible. One thing I remind myself is that I don't want to Photoshop my past.
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 have an image of Shanghai, which is quite different from other directors, I think. The story of Shanghai should happen in back alleys.
