I'm a shy human being.
— Ang Lee
The father figure is something I love, but also suffocate from and want to work against.
I'm not a romantic. In life I didn't have much experience with romance.
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.
As artists, we like night more than day sometimes.
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?'
These days I'm mostly familiar with two parts of L.A.: one is movie culture, and the other is Asian culture. The Westside is work, and the Eastside is Chinese - which means my friends.
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.
I'm a storyteller.
I feel like all of my characters now take this congested situation, they clash, and from there you purge yourself.
I'm a big boy now, and I have to deliver.
For a filmmaker, it's a rare chance to do a personal film on a big canvas.
I try to please everyone.
I think each movie-making process is a very exhausting and satisfying and fulfilling experience for me.
My culture doesn't regard acting highly.
I don't lead a Hollywood lifestyle.
I think people are universal.
A movie is really provocation. It's not a message, it's not a statement.
Every movie is unknown.
I think I prefer 3D to 2D now.
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.
My father was the center of the family, and everyone tried to please him.
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.
I think life without spirit is in the dark, it is absurd.
The source of all the material comes from nothingness, illusion is working more on things you can prove. That's the principle, the essence of life, it is actually an illusion, not immaterial. That's worth pursuing. So illusion is not nothing. In a way, that is the truth.
I do like challenge.
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.
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.
I don't like to deal with studios.
I have two sons in America, and all they care about in Chinese culture is Jackie Chan and Jet Li.
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.
I was very quiet, very shy and docile.
Directing, I get all kinds of inspiration. It's working with people. It's a lot more fun.
I think the American West really attracts me because it's romantic. The desert, the empty space, the drama.
My mother loves me and everything goes well. I have no conflict with her, so that's not dramatic.
I'm such a late bloomer.
I hope people don't compare 2D and 3D because 3D's new, it's unfair to compare to 2D which is really sophisticated, even when we're jaded about it. 3D just began, give it a chance, let the equipment and projection system catch up and be better, let the price go down, let more filmmakers get a hold of it more easily.
Emotions serve characters' purposes. That is their motivation.
When I grew up, in Taiwan, the Korean War was seen as a good war, where America protected Asia. It was sort of an extension of World War II. And it was, of course, the peak of the Cold War. People in Taiwan were generally proAmerican. The Korean War made Japan. And then the Vietnam War made Taiwan. There is some truth to that.
There's a level of sophistication of filmmaking that's mind-boggling. Anything you need for your movie, there's an establishment that can make it happen really fast.
I hate to think life is just facts and laws.
I think I can work with any type of actor.
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.
No matter how widely spread out the films are, how different, you still are you.
I don't think the Hulk is a superhero. He's the first Marvel character who is a tragic monster. Really an anti-hero.
I look at American movies, the big muscles, and try to apply that to Chinese film-making.
I like to do drama, something about life that could be disappointing.
I think a movie is a media that is evoking feelings.
In Taiwan, I'd be like Michael Jordan walking down the street.
I am a shy person.
