Wong Kar-Wai Quotes & Sayings

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. — Wong Kar-Wai

Love is all a matter of timing. It's no good meeting the right person too soon or too late. — Wong Kar-Wai

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

I'm a big fan of martial arts films, novels and radio programs. — Wong Kar-Wai

Heritage is something martial-arts films don't often talk about. — Wong Kar-Wai

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

1936 is a very important year: a golden time for martial arts, right before the Japanese invasion. — Wong Kar-Wai

There are certain types of genres that are impossible in China. Ghost stories, something too graphic, too violent, and of course if it's too political. Other than that, it will be fine. — Wong Kar-Wai

What makes cinema so attractive, so fascinating is that it's not just a one plus one process. It's a chemistry between sounds, words, ideas and image. — Wong Kar-Wai

In a way, 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

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

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

I was born in Shanghai and moved to Hong Kong the year I was five. — Wong Kar-Wai

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

I didn't know anything about martial arts. I'm a big fan, but I never practiced martial arts. — Wong Kar-Wai

I never had a problem with genre because a genre actually is like a uniform - you put yourself into a certain uniform. But if you dress up in a police officer's uniform, it doesn't mean that you are an officer; it can mean something else. — Wong Kar-Wai

'Ashes of Time' was my third film, and as a young director at that point, it's not very often that you have the chance to make a big martial arts film, so of course I jumped at this opportunity. — Wong Kar-Wai

I'm not coming from film school. I learned cinema in the cinema watching films, so you always have a curiosity. I say, 'Well, what if I make a film in this genre? What if I make this film like this?' — Wong Kar-Wai

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

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

I wanted to know what exactly martial arts is. 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

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

We love what we can't have, and we can't have what we love — Wong Kar-Wai

I always think to shoot action scenes is not really about the stunts. It's more about an expression and about imagination. — Wong Kar-Wai

I'm not afraid to delay the schedule to make sure that this is the film that I want, that this is the best that I can do at that point. — Wong Kar-Wai

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. — Wong Kar-Wai

We're all unlucky in love sometimes. When I am, I go jogging. The body loses water when you jog, so you have none left for tears. — Wong Kar-Wai

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. — Wong Kar-Wai

I think the martial arts tradition has a big influence on our generation - we all read these novels when we were very young. — Wong Kar-Wai

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. — Wong Kar-Wai