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" I didn't know anything about martial arts. I'm a big fan, but I never practiced martial arts. "
Wong Kar-wai
Know
Anything
Arts
Related Quotes:
" I started out my career as a screenwriter and quickly discovered that adhering to a script isn't always the best way to make a film. You have to take into consideration the nuances of the characters and what the actors bring to their roles. "
Wong Kar-wai
Film
Always
Best
" The industry and support in China has really matured because there are so many productions there. At the same time, there's been a lot of changes in the market, which I think also has enabled productions like 'The Grandmaster' to happen and to be possible to shoot in China. "
Wong Kar-wai
Support
Possible
Think
" 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. "
Wong Kar-wai
You
Build
Dress
" One's memories aren't what actually happened - they're very subjective. You can always make it much better, right? "
Wong Kar-wai
Memories
You
Right
" At film festivals, I put on my sunglasses and go to sleep because I don't want to see my films again. "
Wong Kar-wai
Sunglasses
Festivals
See
" 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. "
Wong Kar-wai
Life
Create
Fighting
" 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. "
Wong Kar-wai
Encouragement
Better
Silence
" 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. "
Wong Kar-wai
Time
Think
Space
" I sometimes compare making a film to cooking. Some dishes need to be stewed, while others need to be fried. "
Wong Kar-wai
Others
Film
Cooking
" 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. "
Wong Kar-wai
Time
Back
Past
" 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. "
Wong Kar-wai
Difference
Own
Know
" 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. "
Wong Kar-wai
Circumstances
Decision
Problems
" 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. "
Wong Kar-wai
Start
Never
Film
" Chinese martial artists consider themselves to be gardeners, and it's an honor for them to take care of this garden, to better it and hand it over to the generations that follow. I think that's a very important message in a time when personal achievement seems to be the only criteria of success. "
Wong Kar-wai
Time
Think
Success
" 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. "
Wong Kar-wai
Coffee
Day
I Can
" I have an image of Shanghai, which is quite different from other directors, I think. The story of Shanghai should happen in back alleys. "
Wong Kar-wai
Story
Image
Different
" 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. "
Wong Kar-wai
People
Struggles
Way
" I don't want to be a grumpy old man or too pessimistic, because if I have a chance, I would prefer to watch a film in the cinema with an audience on a big screen instead of watching it on a cell phone. It's a very different experience, but somehow I think this form will have its own future and life. "
Wong Kar-wai
Experience
Think
Future
" To make a film like 'The Grandmaster,' I know I'm not going to make just a standard kung-fu film; it's not going to be just tricks or like wire works. So I spent seven years on the road interviewing different schools and a lot of real grandmasters from Chinese martial arts. "
Wong Kar-wai
Arts
Know
Like
" I think, to be a director, sometimes you need to have certain hunches - you have to believe in some gut feeling. "
Wong Kar-wai
Feeling
Gut
Need
" I never studied film formally at school, but as a kid, I spent most of my time in cinemas. "
Wong Kar-wai
Film
Most
School
" 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. "
Wong Kar-wai
Way
You
Words
" What makes international cinema so interesting is that each territory has its own sensibility. When you look at an Indian or French film, there's a certain flavor. And even though the language is different, if the film is successful, it has something very common and understandable. "
Wong Kar-wai
Look
You
Cinema
" 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. "
Wong Kar-wai
Trust
People
Past
" 1936 is a very important year: a golden time for martial arts, right before the Japanese invasion. "
Wong Kar-wai
Time
Right
Arts
" 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. "
Wong Kar-wai
Time
Technology
Relationship
" 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. "
Wong Kar-wai
Mom
Watch
Day
" 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? "
Wong Kar-wai
Arts
Look
Like
" Ip Man was an extraordinary man who lived during extraordinary times. He was born to a rich family when the country was still a monarchy and lived through various civil wars, revolutions, the Japanese invasion, and the establishment of the Republic. "
Wong Kar-wai
Rich
Born
Country
" I've always wanted to make a film about the Tong Wars, the rioting and the crime factions in San Francisco's Chinatown in the early part of the last century. "
Wong Kar-wai
Last
Wanted
Early