Ang Quotes & Sayings

I'm not Ang Lee who knows so much about western market and the taste of western audiences. — Zhang Yimou

Mother made sure her little kids were subjected to a strict routine. We were given a timetable which covered our every waking moment, copies of which were posted by our bedside, in the sitting room and in the kitchen. Story hour meant that mother would read us novels and short stories by Guy de Maupassant, Oscar Wilde and Edmondo de Amicis. Soon we graduated to Tolstoy, Gogol and Turgenev. She read them to us in Chinese and I never realised until much later that the writers wrote them in different European languages. Comics were absolutely forbidden and so were Enid Blyton adventures and pop music ... Lee Cyn and I soon went to a primary school nearby ... After mother's rigorous timetable, school became fun and easy-going. — Ang Swee Chai

San Francisco is one of my favourite cities in the world ... I would probably rank it at the top or near the top. It's small but photogenic and has layers ... You never have problems finding great angles that people have never done. — Ang Lee

If it was a choice between making movies and doing nothing, he'd probably still wish me to make movies, So he made me keep going. — Ang Lee

Depending on the budget. I think I prefer 3D to 2D now. Also, because of 3D I have to use a digital camera, which is the way it's going anyway. That still confuses me, a digital camera versus film. — Ang Lee

And the PRCS [Palestinian Red Crescent Society] had not lost just one hospital: thirteen clinics and nine hospitals all over Lebanon had been destroyed in this way. Only Gaza Hospital, for a reason I was to discover three years later, was still standing. At the height of the air raids, when the Palestinians found out that every single PRCS hospital and clinic was a bomb target, they put three Israeli soldiers captured in south Lebanon on the upper floors of Gaza Hospital, and radioed a message to the Israeli Army saying that any further military action on Gaza Hospital would result in Israeli lives being lost. That saved Gaza Hospital from further destruction. — Ang Swee Chai

taste it! it's to die for! — Vee Jocson

Not taboo - it's just that straight actors still risk their careers commercially and economically. They have to please the crowd - they're movie stars; their image is their industry. It goes beyond acting. — Ang Lee

I'm not macho, I'm not a Mel Gibson sort of person. — Ang Lee

My cultural roots are something illusive. — Ang Lee

The thing that is so great about Ang Lee is the diversity in his filmmaking, from 'Brokeback ... ' to 'The Hulk.' — Sam Taylor-Johnson

We will pick our way through the shards of broken objects folly leaves behind. And some of what breaks will be very beautiful. — Guy Gavriel Kay

There's a certain time in the core of making a movie from pre-production to halfway through post-production I don't read any project, my agent will tell people that "he's not reading." And then when I know how the movie's probably gonna work halfway into post-production, I'll come along. — Ang Lee

I did my 'Hulk,' but it was not easy. If I do another Hulk film it will always be compared to the Ang Lee thing, and my first one ... if I come back, I'd love to do another superhero, something different that I can really put my touch on. — Louis Leterrier

I think people are universal. — Ang Lee

I would die if anything happened to you, and I'm not there to save you this time. — Stylo Fantome

I'm not a romantic. In life I didn't have much experience with romance. — Ang Lee

These days I'm mostly familiar with two parts of L.A.: one is movie culture, and the other is Asian culture. The Westside is work, and the Eastside is Chinese - which means my friends. — Ang Lee

You can use martial arts to tell a different story. Ang Lee used martial arts in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' to talk about love. — Jet Li

Fighting for identity is something that is very much in my life. — Ang Lee

Lintang was very rational; Mahar was a daydreamer. Mahar was easily inspired by just about anything. Like Lint- ang, Mahar also was a true genius - just a different kind of genius. This kind of genius isn't easily understood by most people and is rarely considered "intelligent" by ordinary people's standards. — Andrea Hirata

I'm a shy human being. — Ang Lee

I think the book struck me in a few ways that I thought very interesting to pick it as my first martial arts film. It has a very strong female character and it was very abundant in classic Chinese textures. — Ang Lee

I try to please everyone. — Ang Lee

When I see something I like, that's all that counts. What they use, how they get there, I never bother them. — Ang Lee

The library was a great sprawling complex with rolls and rolls of paper tucked into many shelves. Between the reading rooms were courtyards with living fountains and singing birds and butterflies that would transform into handsome young women to guide or entertain anyone who stayed there any length of time. I saw one among the stacks, explaining an older style of calligraphy to the newly appointed Heavenly Marine Official of the South China Sea. In another wing, a librarian stepped from her chrysalis for the first time, reciting T'ang Dynasty poetry to the flowers. That's how I knew I was in the right section. — Larissa Lai

As artists, we like night more than day sometimes. — Ang Lee

When I'm not working, I get very down, but when I am working, I get very immersed in it. — Ang Lee

It's one of the most beautiful scripts [Brokeback Mountain] I've ever read, and it was Ang Lee, and at the time Heath [Ledger] was a friend of mine - before we even shot the movie - and always sort of alluring to me. — Jake Gyllenhaal

We are all from different cultures. Heath's [Ledger] Australian, really. I'm from here. Ang's [Lee] from China. But I think Ang gets very close in preproduction and rehearsals. And then he allows his actors - I don't think scared of actors, but I think he's scared of getting in on the scenes he's watching. The space he's watching. So he just totally disconnects from you while you're shooting. — Jake Gyllenhaal

My mother loves me and everything goes well. I have no conflict with her, so that's not dramatic. — Ang Lee

I look at American movies, the big muscles, and try to apply that to Chinese film-making. — Ang Lee

I'm a big boy now, and I have to deliver. — Ang Lee

It is made up of one character each from the names of three of the major female protagonists of the novel (P'an Chin-lien, Li P'ing-erh, and P'ang Ch'un-mei) that would literally mean Gold Vase Plum; it can be semantically construed as The Plum in the Golden Vase, or Plum Blossoms in a Golden Vase; and it puns with three near homophones that might be rendered as The Glamour of Entering the Vagina. — David Tod Roy

You are worth every minute I have ever spent with you! More than that! — Stylo Fantome

I like so many different directors: Scorsese, Coppola, Cassavetes, Jarmusch, Gus van Sant, Woody Allen and the greats like Fellini, Bergman, Tarkovsky and among current filmmakers von Trier, Ang Lee, Wong Kar-wai. — Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Even the favorite reviews, the audience response is the movie is too slow, deliberately slow. But for the Chinese audience, the biggest complaint is it happens too quick. I think the historical background that build into our genes is different. American people has never been occupied. The deep sadness and sentimentality, the cultural background that relates to melodrama that we relate to and grow up with, the propaganda, I didn't imagine the difference is so big. It's a very interesting cultural phenomenon. — Ang Lee

My daily activities are not unusual -
I am just naturally in harmony with them,
Grasping nothing, discarding nothing,
And everyplace there's no hindrance, no conflict.
My supernatural power and marvelous activity
Is drawing water and carrying firewood. — Yun P'ang

Edward finds Elinor crying for her dead father, offers her his handkerchief and their love story commences. Ang [Lee] very anxious that we think about what we want to do. I'm very anxious not to do anything and certainly not to think about it. — Emma Thompson

Ang Lee is very precise. He will show you everything, and will let you know what he is thinking about the whole project. There are a lot of rehearsals before shooting, and you already reach a certain standard. Then he will ask for more. — Tony Leung Chiu-Wai

I think it[3D] should be used as a new artistic form, not as a gimmick, not to impress you but the existence of an environment that you view as a theatrical dramatic experience is - you don't just have the X-Y axis, you have the Z and that makes a difference. You still have the framing, you still use lenses, so most of the cinematic rules and languages still apply but I think it's a different existence. — Ang Lee

I had to test a new terror in myself. — Ang Lee

Other times you can get showy for three minutes, and that's OK with certain films. But that isn't right with an Ang Lee movie, you have to fit right in. You have to understand Ang, respect him and be part of the team and not be in charge of it - he is in charge of it. — Dennis Muren

I think I can work with any type of actor. — Ang Lee

An unhealthy life is destined to end with an unhealthy death. — Nancy S. Mure

You're my best friend's kid sister, Ang. I've known you since you were eight." He ducked his head, dragged his hands through his hair with all the frustration winding through him. "Christ, if your brother finds out, he'll have my hide. — J.M. Stewart

I like to do drama, something about life that could be disappointing. — Ang Lee

Summer blockbusters are very expensive to make. They have things that have to be expensive, such as 600 effects shots or CG characters that have to go a certain way, or a film design that is different but expensive. — Ang Lee

You become the movie you are making. — Ang Lee

The ship continues to sail further from our mother land, and I continue to want to be with you, wherever and however that may be. — Elbert Or

Americans are hidden dragons to me. — Ang Lee

For six years, from 1985 to 1991, I felt pretty weak and useless. — Ang Lee

I hope people don't compare 2D and 3D because 3D's new, it's unfair to compare to 2D which is really sophisticated, even when we're jaded about it. 3D just began, give it a chance, let the equipment and projection system catch up and be better, let the price go down, let more filmmakers get a hold of it more easily. — Ang Lee

Sometimes, you have to get angry to get things done. — Ang Lee

It's just what I am. When I am in the zone making one movie, I just didn't want to read anything else or do anything else, so I don't really develop projects. — Ang Lee

Every movie is unknown. — Ang Lee

I guess in Hollywood you chart your life by Oscars. You say to each other, 'Remember when that movie won that year? It was 2006. Remember that?' — Ang Lee

I have two sons in America, and all they care about in Chinese culture is Jackie Chan and Jet Li. — Ang Lee

The source of all the material comes from nothingness, illusion is working more on things you can prove. That's the principle, the essence of life, it is actually an illusion, not immaterial. That's worth pursuing. So illusion is not nothing. In a way, that is the truth. — Ang Lee

Even dramatically how you position some person, the depth, the existence is different than a flat image even though by itself it has depth, we create the illusion of depth. For example, some of the shots I have to stay closer to the actor because it's a young actor, I like it closer for some of the shots. I watch 2D scenes next to the camera, then when I go back to my station and watch it in 3D I have to go back and reduce his acting, he has to shrink a little bit because he peeks out more. — Ang Lee

That's a great feeling to know that I'm going into a project that I have no idea what will become of that movie, but I really trust Ang Lee. And I really trusted Ron. It's just really nice to work with people that you feel that way about. — Jennifer Connelly

Thinking back to those earlier days, I felt I was weak when I wasn't making movies, and then when I was, I thought I was weak as a family member. — Ang Lee

I don't know if I make the best gay films. — Ang Lee

The woman's perspective is like the dark side of the moon: it always exists, but it is never exposed, at least not in my culture. — Ang Lee

When I grew up, in Taiwan, the Korean War was seen as a good war, where America protected Asia. It was sort of an extension of World War II. And it was, of course, the peak of the Cold War. People in Taiwan were generally proAmerican. The Korean War made Japan. And then the Vietnam War made Taiwan. There is some truth to that. — Ang Lee

I think a movie is a media that is evoking feelings. — Ang Lee

I think doing period piece is easier, because after a certain distance, everybody is equal, I think. The relative contemporary is harder. I think that's the way it is. — Ang Lee

I am not particularly religious. But I think we do face the question of where God is, why we are created and where does life go, why we exist. That sort of thing. And it is very hard to talk about it these days, because it cannot be proven. It is hard to discuss it rationally. — Ang Lee

I grew up pretty much prevented from knowing anything from Communist China except that they were the bad guys that stole our country. — Ang Lee

American films are less American every day, because you have to please a world audience. There's less authenticity, so it's more accessible. — Ang Lee

It's not a pleasure torturing actors, although some of them enjoy it. — Ang Lee

Good & Evil struggled between us. It was all a matter of control. And choice. Nothing more ang nothing less. — Paulo Coelho

I do like challenge. — Ang Lee

In the past I've made movies that were pretty universally liked. You can't really hate them. You can discard them, but you can't really hate them. — Ang Lee

My hometown was one of the major U.S. Air Force bases. — Ang Lee

The father figure is something I love, but also suffocate from and want to work against. — Ang Lee

With 3D you're right there immersed in the world. — Ang Lee

Wheels have been set in motion, and they have their own pace, to which we are ... condemned. Each move is dictated by the previous one - that is the meaning of order. If we start being arbitrary it'll just be a shambles: at least, let us hope so. Because if we happened, just happened to discover, or even suspect, that our spontaneity was part of their order, we'd know that we were lost. A Chinaman of the T'ang Dynasty - and, by which definition, a philosopher - dreamed he was a butterfly, and from that moment he was never quite sure that he was not a butterfly dreaming it was a Chinese philosopher. Envy him; his two-fold security. — Tom Stoppard

When someone told me, 'Ang ganda mo' I answered 'Sana ikaw rin.' — Miriam Defensor Santiago

But you don't hire Ang Lee to do a typical children's movie. But it's such an interesting combination, whoever thought of getting Ang together with a comic book, that was just great. — Dennis Muren

There's only one movie in my career I've had regrets with cutting it shorter, and I think some scenes maybe I shouldn't have cut. — Ang Lee

Emotions serve characters' purposes. That is their motivation. — Ang Lee

What we do is bring out things that have been waylaid over time. Stories that have been forgotten. — Elbert Or

Wong Kar-wai and Ang Lee are two Asian directors I'm really fond of. — Bai Ling

I find it hard to deliver straightforward things. — Ang Lee

Ang [Lee] gave us a lot of books about cowboys who had been gay or stories about it and all that stuff. And I just talked to a lot of my friends - who [was] their first, particularly same-sex, first situation. That was fascinating to me - trying to learn what that was in a certain period of time. Certain age. The secrecy involved in it. All those things. — Jake Gyllenhaal

Kids don't even read comic books anymore. They've got more important things to do - like video games. — Ang Lee

I hate to think life is just facts and laws. — Ang Lee

I'm still a novice student. — Ang Lee

If the movie is quiet I generally feel the audience is busy. That's when they're working. — Ang Lee

The L.A. weather is a lot like Taiwan's, where you don't observe four seasons, so the years can pass and you don't feel a thing. — Ang Lee

I don't have a superpower. — Ang Lee

Bad is the trade that must play fool to sorrow,
Ang'ring itself and others. — William Shakespeare

Jelle, if you really love Guji, you'd be willing to let him go and allow him to be happy with the woman he loves. Walang problema kung nais mong ipaglaban ang feelings mo pero dapat alam mo rin kung paano sumuko lalo na kung alam mong talo ka na. — Marione Ashley

Now I'm kind of established as a director, I much prefer directing to writing. — Ang Lee

I make movies for a long time. It doesn't get easier. — Ang Lee

I think each movie-making process is a very exhausting and satisfying and fulfilling experience for me. — Ang Lee

You have to know the rules, otherwise you have no tools to communicate to the audience, but to keep it fresh you have to break some. I don't choose genres as the element, but the material itself is the element, then I'll decide what genre I need. That's just how I work. — Ang Lee

I'm a drifter and an outsider. There's not one single environment I can totally belong to. — Ang Lee

I think a lot of people do big movies not because they are talented artists but because they can function in the circumstances. — Ang Lee