Wong
Kar-wai is one of the most remarkable Chinese directors in Asia, who
won the Best Director Award at Cannes 1997. He always hides his eyes
behind a pair of sunglasses, supposedly because of the drain of shooting
films. Famous for his spectacular style of filmmaking, Wong Kar-wai
is mysterious in real life as well.


In
In
the Mood for Love, the two spouses do not appear, what's the reason
for that?



I'm not condemning love affairs in this film, so if there are fours faces
there, I'll have to give the audience some hints as to who do I think
is right and who is wrong. I just wanted to tell a story of two people.


It
is said that some affectionate scenes were cut.



Yes, I found that it had no use to tell the story in such detail, I should
leave room for the audience's imagination. It's a story about how to cover
love, so I'll have to cover something.



The hotel room that Tony Leung stayed in in the film has the room number
2046, which is also the title of your next film, are you suggesting that
is an outlet of their secret love?



I just wanted to combine the two films into one, you know it's a torture
when you love two women at the same time, you wish they were one.



It's often said that you don't need a script before shooting a film.
Is it practical to write the script while shooting the film?



Of course not, and I don't like this way of shooting film at all. The
consequence is that it is hard to get enough sleep. I always write in
the daytime and then shoot it at night.

Your
style of filmmaking is widely employed by many young directors, such as
Lou Ye (Suzhou River). What do you think of it?



Well, I don't think of the style thing while shooting films. Every film
I made is compatible both with style and stuff. The In the Mood for
Love is an exception, there are many stories outside the camara, which
is left for the audience to explore.



Your films are mostly not commercial at all, but surprisingly they
have all hit the box office. How did you make it?



I have experienced every step of the improvement in Hong Kong film industry,
having known about all kinds of audience's taste, maybe that's it.

Interview
by Fanfan Ko

Also
interviews with

Maggie
Cheung

Tony
Leung