http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/show/story/0,4136,102041,00.html He dreamt of being an actor But acclaimed director Ang Lee's poor grasp of English drove him into directing instead February 15, 2006 （附赠安导既可爱又帅气的照片一枚 http://0rz.net/bb15y） ANG Lee didn't set out to be a director. His American dream was to be an actor instead when he went to the US 28 years ago. Ironically, it was his struggle to learn English that hampered his acting ambitions and he eventually switched his creative attentions to directing. The 51-year-old, who has a Masters of Fine Arts in film production from New York University, has since gone on to direct some of the most 'American' films - The Ice Storm, Ride With The Devil, Hulk and now, cowboy love drama Brokeback Mountain, which opens in theatres here on Thursday. # Q: Is it easier to observe American culture because you were born into a very different culture yourself? # A: Well, culture has two aspects. One, most of us learn from movies. The other is the reality. When I chose to live in the US and to work in the industry, the American things that I'd never seen in the movies attracted me... But there is a lot of rural life there, of which I hardly knew anything about, and yet this is the genuine, real America and Americans. # Q: Did Heath (Ledger) and Jake (Gyllenhaal) have any reservations about the roles? # A: Not these two guys. Some other talents, I felt I might have had to persuade. I think most people who read the screenplay really wanted to do it, but some you could see were a little nervous. As soon as I saw these two guys, I stopped seeing anyone else. SHOCKED FOR REAL # Q: What did you say to them when you were about to direct their love scenes? # A: The bottom line is they had to do it. I don't care. They are professionals and if I don't like it, they had to do it again and they knew what they were getting into. I had to believe it and they had to believe it. I'll tell you a funny story about Michelle Williams. We were shooting her reaction to the men kissing and she was behind the camera. She was looking through the crack in the door and the guys were sort of necking, just to give her something to look at. She asked them to kiss each other to help her out so she could get that look (of shock). They were faking the kiss. She yelled at them so they had to do it for real. When you see her face, it was worth the guys going through that. # Q: What do you think is the biggest difference between working in Chinese and American cinemas? # A: I cannot generalise them, but as a group, the actors tend to have certain dispositions, certain traits. The Chinese actor tends to show up in morning and look at you with blank eyes and say, 'Tell me what to do, tell me what you want.' And they expect you to work it out for them. They are very obedient in that way, very devoted to you. With the Americans, some of them are like that. A lot of them have ideas and you have to go over the scenes with them. A lot of them have background in method acting, so you have to go through the psychology of the characters. # Q: With Brokeback Mountain, did it feel like a return to some of the themes you had been working on earlier? # A: The gay theme, for example? Sure. I wasn't doing that because I wanted to revisit it or dig deeper but because the story attracted me and really moved me. FATHER'S LAST 'WISH' Q: Does your fascination with the father and daughter or son theme reflect your own relationship with your own father at all? # A: I thought I was done with the father theme, but it still comes back so I don't really know whether I'll deal with it again. After that movie (Hulk), my father passed away and he liked the movie. I thought I was going to quit making movies, but the last thing he said was, 'You will get really depressed.' He never encouraged me, even after the Oscar (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon won Best Foreign Language Film). He always thought I should find something real to do, but that was the only time he said, 'You should go ahead and make the movie (Brokeback Mountain), otherwise you will be depressed' and then he passed away. # Q: Is it true that you are planning a prequel to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon? # A: Well, I've been working on a script. We'll see. --

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