By Jason Sanders / Filmmaker
Proofreading: Issac
The translation was first published in "Iris"
The night before my interview with Wong Kar-wai, he attended a special screening of one of his greatest films, 1994's "Chongqing Forest," and addressed a packed audience. Anderson Le, the longtime curatorial director of the Hawaii International Film Festival, kindly picked up on some of Wong's opening jokes ("Anderson, why are you asking me this question! It's been 25 years, and 25 years later, it's still the same old question!" He jokingly answered the first somewhat innocuous question) and coaxed some great stories and memories from him.
"Every movie has its own fortune," Wong Kar-wai said. "Some films have really tough shooting processes: the weather is not right, the actors are not right, the location is wrong. That said, a lot of things happen during filming. But with "Chongqing Forest," it's the opposite. I think it's a film Very lucky movie. Why? Well, we shot it in six weeks. By comparison, it was the shortest time I've ever made a movie.
Basically, the entire movie was shot in two locations, one of which was Chungking Mansions. For those who have never been to Hong Kong, next time you should check it out because I think it's a landmark. It was a building with hundreds of hostels, so people from all over the world, especially backpackers, went there. It used to be very different; in the 1950s, it was the apartment where movie stars lived, but it has since turned into a hotel of sorts.
"It's also where I grew up. I know the area well, so half of the film was shot there. For me, Chungking Express is like day and night in Hong Kong. Some people say the film is about This or that character, but my thought was, 'No, this movie is about Hong Kong, this is my love letter to Hong Kong.' It's a place I'm familiar with. The movie was shot where I grew up .
I never went out too far when I was a kid, and while the whole area (Tsim Sha Tsui) is a great place for entertainment and nightlife, Chungking Mansions is where the nightclubs are. There is one of the best nightclubs in Hong Kong - called Bayside. (It's also where Wong Kar-wai's father used to work). When the Beatles visited Hong Kong, they held a press conference there. Truly an iconic building. "
“I was also shooting in Central for a few days. There was an escalator over there, and our director of photography, Du Kefeng, lived next to the elevator. I thought, ‘This is a good idea.’ I said to Du Kefeng, ‘Your apartment is for filming. The best place for this story.' So we took over it, and of course we messed it up. The house was flooded before. Interestingly, he was filming with a camera when we flooded his apartment.' What?" he said. "Okay, let's start shooting.""
"But, you know what, he was rewarded later," Wong Kar-wai joked. "After the release of "Chongqing Forest", there were many fans, especially girls - they were all from Japan. He would tell me every night that every time he returned to his apartment, there would always be a few fans waiting there, Ask him, "Ah, are you Du Kefeng, is this your apartment?" "Well, yes, do you want to come in and see?" So he has a lot of girlfriends."
“We had a limited budget and time. Also, it was the first time that a character like Brigitte Lin – she was a bit like the goddess of Hong Kong cinema – was acting in front of a camera that never stopped. The camera was always moving, and She was always playing against a group of non-professional actors. They were basically tourists to Hong Kong, and we asked them, 'Do you want to make a movie?' And they said, 'Of course.' "We were filming without a permit and we were always getting troubled by the police, but it was a very smooth process and we were done in six weeks."
About filming in Chungking Mansions
"I named the movie 'Chongqing Forest,' but I've never been to the city of Chongqing. In fact, I went there a few months ago. They said, 'You made a movie called 'Chongqing' "The Forest" movie, but you've never been here,' so I went there and found it was actually very similar to Hong Kong. But at the time, I was developing the whole story based on Chungking Mansions in the 1960s. There was a ( Baguio) nightclub where my father works.
When I was little, sometimes my father would invite my mother to dance there, but I was never allowed to go to Chungking Mansions. For me, it was a curious place. Later, many hostels were built there, so the surface looks dangerous and not suitable for children. That building was also extremely dangerous in terms of electrical installations, as it was improperly wired in the illegal hostel, and a fire would have resulted in a large number of casualties. So very few people get permission to shoot there, and no film is shot there. "
"When we decided to shoot there, I sent my assistant there for a month. 'Pretending to be a backpacker,' I said, 'living there, syncing my notes every day, about all the daily activities, and All the routes between each floor and so on.' Waiting until the end of the film because we didn't get permission to shoot, like we were going to do an actual robbery. We had a map because Chungking Mansions had different entrances and exits.
'Qingxia,' we would say, 'just go in and the camera will follow you. The security will also come after us, so we go out through this exit. 'In the first shoot, none of us were ready, and neither was the security; after all, they didn't expect someone like Brigitte to show up at Chungking Mansions. Then when we try a second time, they know it and the whole thing becomes routine.
We had to switch entrances and exits every time. We usually go around 7pm, which is the security's meal break. Du Kefeng will go in with two crew members, who are responsible for protecting him because the security guards are not happy. It was very dramatic and Du Kefeng would have a lot of bruises after every day of filming. Later, when filming "Fallen Angels", we became like VIPs, because "Chongqing Forest" made the whole building famous internationally. It's good for the tourism industry, it's good for their business and their reputation, so we're suddenly getting better treatment. "
The reason for making this film
"We started Zedong Pictures (Wong Kar-wai's own production company, co-created with Lau Chun-wai), and the first film we made was East Evil and West Poison. It took us two years. So we wanted to make a film later. The movie buffers a bit; the process of filming "Dong Xie Xi Du" was full of challenges and pain. In martial arts movies, people can't actually fly, so you have to create the whole scene, all the costumes. You have to do it step by step, So we decided to do a modern drama where you don't have to prepare too much. At that point, I felt like it wasn't just me, my whole team felt like we were doing the same thing over and over again."
How did Lin Qingxia get involved in this movie?
"Before filming "Dong Xie Xi Du", Brigitte Lin filmed more than 10 costume/martial arts movies in two years. She was a little tired of costume and martial arts movies because every time she spent 2-3 hours on makeup and Dress up. After filming "Dong Xie Xi Du", I asked her, "Aren't you tired of it?" She said, "Well, I'm tired of it, I want to make a modern drama." I said again, "I have There is exactly one. Do you want to do it?" She replied, "Of course." So timing is also important, and if you find an actress at the right time in her career, the whole process is easier. But like As I said, "Chongqing Forest" is very lucky."
“We met Brigitte a week early for the film (to start building her character). Like Sunset Boulevard. In her imagination, she was playing Gloria – Cassavetes’ film Gina Rowlands in Gloria. So we spent two days getting Brigitte Brigitte to play this actress, the Sunset Boulevard version of her, and I thought, 'Okay, let's just go straight Enter the image of Glory.” Then the shooting started.
For Brigitte Lin, she has made more than 100 films, and I think "Chongqing Forest" may be her 100th film. She's tried various roles, but this one really takes her out of her safety net because, first of all, she's wearing sunglasses. How could anyone want her - the biggest star in Hong Kong cinema - to wear sunglasses?
Brigitte Lin often spends two hours putting on makeup, and you just have to wait there. But when filming on the street, you can't wait two hours. So the best way is for her to say, 'This character is wearing sunglasses, so I don't have to bother. ' So we put on her sunglasses and a wig so we could say, 'Well, let's start shooting right away. 』No rehearsal, no control.
It was a very new and exciting experience for her, and you could notice: she looked very different, she acted very differently, her rhythm was different. So I'd rather drop the idea of Sunset Boulevard. I don't usually make changes - imagine the time you've already spent on scripts and ideas. The only reason you have to change is the situation, the budget, and whatnot. Another reason is that you feel like you can do better. In this case, you shouldn't be afraid to make changes. "
About the cooperation with Tony Leung
"Compared to Brigitte, Tony Leung isn't as famous yet. That means he's more flexible; we've been working together since my second film, so we know each other very well. Don't know why, we have That kind of tacit understanding. He wasn't curious about what the next movie was about, or even what this movie was about; he just said, 'Okay. Let's do it. Let's play together because I know you It will be changed constantly during the shooting process, so I will shoot first and then talk about it.””
English title of the film
"No particular reason, I was very casual with the title. The first part of the movie takes place in Chungking Mansions, so we have 'Chongqing'. The second part of the story takes place in a fast food restaurant called Midnight Express. So I said: 'Chongqing...Express.' Pretty tacky, right?"
About getting investment without a playbook
"Sometimes it's better to negotiate without a script. If you send them a script they don't like, the chances of getting an investment are slim. But if they ask, 'Have you finished writing the script, I need to see it? See?" You say, 'I'm still working on it,' and you have a 60 percent success rate."
About the music in the film and the collaboration with Faye Wong
"Although Faye Wong is a singer, she is not an actress after all, she has not received any acting training. So when we started filming the film, she was actually very nervous - especially when we were shooting night scenes in Central, there The equivalent of SoHo in Hong Kong, we didn't have permission to shoot. In the footage you can see her standing in the fast food restaurant. But behind the camera, there are 50 or 100 people watching, people are going back and forth, there are people Look at her. So it's not an easy challenge.
To help her, I said, 'In order to catch Faye's rhythm, let's play this song. She will feel much better. 』When you watch this movie, you notice how the music matches the body of the characters. Normally you would sync the music and sound/picture after the shoot, but we actually put the music on during the shoot because it helped her to play naturally. She is attracted to music, develops a rhythm for it, and feels more confident. "
About making Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro's roles all police decisions
“In Hong Kong in the 1990s, in order to get investment, in most cases you had to show some pictures first. But in most cases, you don’t have a script, but you already have a cast, and you have to tell the publisher that What is the synopsis of the film. In the case of "Chongqing Forest", it is difficult to explain to them: "This is a story about Hong Kong", "This is a film about music" and so on.
Forget it, they won't accept it, and they won't be interested. So you explain to them, 'This is a story about a very dangerous woman in Tsim Sha Tsui who the detectives tried to get close to! ' Then they would jump up and say, 'Ah, this is a cop movie!' ' Then they will accept. That's why their role is that of the police. "
Inspiration for making a movie
"I don't make movies because of Hong Kong; I make movies about Hong Kong because I was born in Hong Kong. , my mother is a movie buff, we go to the cinema almost every day. I like being in the cinema, I like being in that world. That’s why I love making movies.”
As the executive producer of many young Chinese and Asian directors, Wong Kar-wai's views on the Chinese film market
"It's getting stronger. The film market is expanding, and that's giving more opportunities not only to Chinese directors, but also to Asian directors. Like I said to my friends, as a young director 20 years ago, You would try to find investment in Europe, but the best place to get investment today is China. Young directors in China are very lucky. The market is ready for them, there is money waiting for them to make a film.
But it's not just Chinese filmmakers - I'm also overseeing films by young directors from places like Thailand. We need to find new blood; each generation should have their strengths, their perspective, the way they tell their stories. I'd love to help them and be part of their luck. "
Advice for young directors
"Let go and shoot. First of all, we all go through a process. Most of our techniques or techniques are learned from other directors. Some of you may say, 'We learned from film school' ,' but I think we always have a process of learning, imitating, and at some stage you'll find your own way, your own way of telling the story, and that's fine."
Seeing this movie again after more than 20 years
"I would advise actors to make more movies early in their careers because it's always there. Watching 'Chongqing Forest' now, I'm still amazed, 'Wow, how fresh Tony Leung and Faye Wong look. The two characters are there, forever young.”
View more about Chungking Express reviews
