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Lust, Caution: Ang Lee interview

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Lust, Caution: Ang Lee interview

We caught up with Oscar-winning director Ang Lee to get the low-down on his new controversial film Lust, Caution, an espionage thriller set in the turbulent time of WWII-era Shanghai and starring Tony Leung and newcomer Wei Tang.

LOVEFiLM: Due to the explicit nature of some of the scenes in the film, you had to edit a lot for the Chinese audience, how did you manage to do this?

Ang Lee: I was surprised they even allowed me to do this movie and also allow me to have two versions like this. So that's a blessing. So they said to me there's no rating system. What can I do about the stabbing has to be taken out and also the sex scenes has to go.

LF: How does that make you feel having to cut those parts out?

AL: It's just so unfortunate but I knew they would be cut. There was no way they were going to show them, I was just hoping I would get to make the movie I wanted to make - so in part it totally achieved without compromising. I'm so glad I could show it [the film], to a big part of the world.

LF: Why do you think female sexuality is so controversial in cinema not only in America but elsewhere in the world, compared to violence?

AL: I think sex in general. I don't know. They seem to be Puritan when it comes to sex and when it comes to ratings. It's a moral thing.

LF: Were those scenes explicit in the novel or are they something that you felt where needed for the film?

AL: I think everything is necessary for me. In an ideal world that's the movie I wanted to show, even though it means losing money in the States. I think the establishment with America has a lot to do with violence. I first found that in directing Ride With The Devil, just from the reading how violent it was during the civil war. Certainly the border war between Missouri and Kansas was messy with violence.

Culturally there's a love of violence, wrestling and so on and so forth. In movies I also think there's a business side to it too because young men are one of the majority of cinema goers so they stretch the R rate the violence part and let people get used to it more and more. I think Europe is the kind of place which pretty much welcomes sex - you know 'make love' and anything goes. Particularly Germany I think, a lot more so than here. In Germany they put violence in the home, put anything with needles and they're shocked and you have to take it out.

LF: How about your cast - was it problematic for Tony Leung and Wei Tang to shoot these quite explicit scenes together?

AL: Essentially no, because I take precautions step-by-step. The first time she read the script she felt so similar to the character, we had a long talk about the role and from then I knew that sex was no problem. The second part is rehearsing them and just trying to get Tony to be intimate with Wei. That takes a little effort; he is a very shy person. And then the third part is right before shooting the scene. I take them aside and then it's let's go…

LF: What was it about Eileen Chang short story that convinced you to make this film on such a grand scale?

AL: It is somehow written like a movie I think. The main thing for me was this young actress, who through pretending and playing a part, gets attached to her real power and her real self, the truth is opposite from reality. That I could very much identify with as a film-maker. I had the exact same experience the first time I was on a stage, as she did. I shot a stage play very much from my memory of the first time I stood on stage. Life is a reflection of me. So I was very attracted to doing it, but afraid of doing it for a long time.

LF: Do you see any sort of dramatic parallels with Brokeback Mountain or some of your other films perhaps?

Identities and romance I think. When it comes to that it's like a sister work for Brokeback. Except I said Brokeback's like a paradise for me and I'm not going to try and go back to it, it's like a mystery, it's whimsical to me. Brokeback is like a great idea, this [Lust, Caution] is like hell. But they are both romantic tales for me. Impossible romantic tales.

Helen Cowley

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