Wong Kar-wai Quotes

I was born in Shanghai and moved to Hong Kong the year I was five.

It is always good to work with a very regular group of people because we know how high we can fly and what are the parameters, and it becomes very enjoyable.

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.

My mother has a very big family in Shanghai, so I have, like, almost 40 cousins, so we stayed together all the time. So by the time I get to Hong Kong, I become the only child and the only one surrounded by adults, you know.

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 came to Hong Kong when I was five, but we didn’t have any relatives in Hong Kong. My mom is a big movie fan, and she watched all kinds of movies, so when I was a kid, basically, we went to watch a movie every day.

Each production has certain circumstances that will bring you to a certain way of making it. It is not intentional, it is not an artistic decision, the way we make films, it is the way we address to our problems.

Americans always see China through the looking glass, and I think it’s about time – with technology and of the growing economic relationship between these two countries – I think it’s natural and better for all of us to have a better understanding of each other.

I’m a big fan of martial arts films, novels and radio programs.

In our case, we have no script. So the only people we can work with are people who have been working with us in the past, and they know we are going to do something; it’s kind of a trust.

This is what the difference is between Hong Kong and Chinese cinema – Chinese cinema was made for their own communities. It was for propaganda. But Hong Kong made films to entertain, and they know how to communicate with international audiences.

Some actors like encouragement. Some actors prefer to have pressure. And sometimes, for some actors, its better to give your comment by silence, because they are so skillful, so gifted, that they understand without talking too much.

Heritage is something martial-arts films don’t often talk about.

I have an image of Shanghai, which is quite different from other directors, I think. The story of Shanghai should happen in back alleys.

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?

The Chinese government promised Hong Kong ’50 years, and change.’ And 50 years later, after 1997, will be 2046; I think, ‘Well, that’s a very interesting promise.’ So I want to make a film about promise.

1936 is a very important year: a golden time for martial arts, right before the Japanese invasion.

To make films, it always begins with two words: what and how. First of all, you have to find a story, or what are you going to tell? And you have to find a way to tell it visually.

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.

I am just the band leader, and I just keep everything in tune.

During shooting, you have the idea, like, of this certain dress on this actress, but it’s not to fit, so you have to make all of these alterations and modifications. So in a way, I build the characters with the cast, and it’s sort of custom-made, the whole process, and then you have to make all of these adjustments.

It used to be when you eat, you eat with people. But instant noodles are so instant that people eat by themselves. And it’s a very convenient way of eating but also a very lonely way of eating.

I think one day I can make a book about coffee shops in Hong Kong. I spent almost most of my time in coffee shops, in different coffee shops.

In my first film, we always tried to have a script and work in a normal way, but I was constantly changing things during shooting. Because I worked as a scriptwriter for 10 years, I understood that directors always wanted to change what was originally written, to improve on it.

Sometimes, when you’re on the streets, certain music inspires you, and then you have a vision. But, at the end of the day, it’s a synthesis of visions, so you have to think, as a director, of a scene, or how to deliver a line, or how do this visually.

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 never studied film formally at school, but as a kid, I spent most of my time in cinemas.

In much the same way Ip Man embodied the struggles of the Chinese people, I wanted Gong Er to represent the changing role of women.

I’m not very aware of styles. We never talk about styles before we start shooting, or even during shooting, because I think the film will bring you there.

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.