Economically, it's more expensive to make movies. I hope digital movies change that.
After making several tragic movies in a row, I was looking to do a comedy, and one without cynicism.
Thinking back to those earlier days, I felt I was weak when I wasn't making movies, and then when I was, I thought I was weak as a family member.
A movie is really provocation. It's not a message, it's not a statement.
Many times when you make a movie, it feels like your biggest mistake. But even if a film isn't a hit, you shouldn't view it as a mistake.
You become the movie you are making.
Every movie is unknown.
I have a lot of repression. So repression is what I make movies about.
I think a movie is a media that is evoking feelings.
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?'
I look at American movies, the big muscles, and try to apply that to Chinese film-making.
I think this year is the year that small movies get attention because they deal with complexities, they go to the gray area. They deal with issues, and they ask questions; they don't really give resolution. That's the mood this year.
I think each movie-making process is a very exhausting and satisfying and fulfilling experience for me.
I don't have incredible knowledge about films or of filmmaking history; I'm not that kind of person.
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.
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 think a lot of people do big movies not because they are talented artists but because they can function in the circumstances.