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Asking Chen Kaige About 'The Emperor and The Assassin' | ||||||
Montage: What drew you to this subject and how long have you wanted to make this film? Chen Kaige: Well, I’ve wanted to make this particular picture for 13 years but I never thought I could make it because I was busy doing other things and I understood it would be a big movie and I would have to spend a lot of money on it. But I was pretty lucky. I was so interested in those characters. They are fantastic characters [and it’s a] fantastic story. Really like a Shakespeare play or something similar. Five years ago I got some money from Japan and I started pre-production while I finished the writing of the script and started to do the research. That took a long time to do [since] I had to travel around the country. We had to go to many museums and look at historical records and costumes. M: Could someone watch this film and view it as history or have you taken some liberties? CK: Yes. Most of the things were real. Of course some of the direction is my own creation. But we have some real costumes. Some in China have said that the costumes were similar to Japanese but I say no because the Japanese society was influenced by the Chinese -- especially the Cheng dynasty some 2000 years ago. M: How much did you know about the assassin? CK: The assassin (Jing Ke) really existed and was written about in historical books. He hated the first emperor. I guess that’s the reason the assassin is in the historical book [we used] because he’s not really the one who helped create China. He’s less important. Why did he put him in the book? I think the author is trying to say there is a spiritual significance there. Like he is a star over us. I compare this guy with the guy who was standing in front of tanks ten years ago [in Tianamen Square]. Most people forgot about that. He was just standing there. When I saw that image for the first time I started to cry. This is the hero. I think the assassin is the same; just like him. Because he is facing the terror and the military force and the most powerful emperor in the world and he is saying, "Fuck you. Stop it." M: One of the bigger themes in your movies is the theme of betrayal. Can you talk about that? CK: I think betrayal is always the theme of cinema. Betrayal is something that is part of real life. This emperor while he used to be an innocent reasonable person he tried to be a big protector of everyone but later on he betrayed himself and what he used to dream about. And he betrayed his beloved. As a filmmaker I was deeply involved in this story. I feel like I was one of them. Especially this emperor, I felt sorry for him. You see how lonely he was at the end of the story. He was a loser. He was standing on a bridge just saying something to himself like, "I’ll never forget what I wanted to do." I remember when we did that shot the guy who played the emperor (Li Xuejian) came to me and he started crying. He said he felt so sad and so bad for the guy. M: You often frame the emperor alone on this large canvass. Can you talk about cinematography and the framing? CK: I always try to find a different style for different film. I think this time you don’t see a lot of camera movement except those battle sequences. I frame the characters and you see a lot of things happen in the background. The people stay in the background and walk toward the camera. Something is continually happening behind him. That’s how I wanted to make the story. Each character can be important in the same frame walking back and forth. Creatively it’s interesting talking about a style because it’s so different from Farewell My Concubine and all the other movies. M: Some of the criticism of your films in China is that you make films that deal with feudal decadence and Westerners love that. Yet some of the criticism in the West is that the nature of your films are too artistic and emotionally remote. How do you feel about the criticism? CK: I think this is normal that some people like my films and some don’t and that’s fine with me. I think it is great to hear a different voice from people no matter if they like the film or criticize the film. I think that’s normal. But you have to do that with kindness. You have to be nice with the filmmaker. In my country some people have lost respect for anything. They don’t believe. They don’t trust and that is so bad. In this country film critics always want to see something so different from Hollywood. Maybe they think this film is commercial. I cannot do anything for someone. I’m not making a film just for critics although I have received strong support and I appreciate it. This time I might pay attention to what critics say about my movie. For FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE some critics in New York said I should make small movies and concentrate on the minority people who live a simple life. But as a film director you can’t… you have to do something different. M: Can you talk about working with the actors and what they bring to the film? CK: Well, obviously I’m the decision maker. I know pretty clearly what I want and what I want [the actors] to do. But sometimes it’s not so easy so we have to do a lot of work. We prepare so well. We had a very detailed discussion every evening before we started to shoot each sequence. We would talk and we both would say something like, "we are going to do this tomorrow." That’s really helpful. If you have a close relationship with your actors that’s a good thing. But I appreciate when that they brought something in. They say, "Well I think we should act this way because..." That’s good. I’m open to discussion. M: I notice that you often don’t work with the same actors. Gong Li being the exception. Any reason? CK: Well I always wish to find new talent. There is always new talent and they want to work with me and I want to work with them. But unfortunately we only have one Gong Li. I think that she is good and lucky and doing okay. Let’s see what happens in two or three years time. As you know I think I’m going to do another picture here soon in this country. And I ‘m developing a project in China. M: The scope of your films must impress the Hollywood producers. Have you been offered many scripts in the past? CK: Yes, I’ve got several offers. But I regard myself as a demanding director and it’s difficult for me to compromise. It really depends on the project. Artistically, sometimes you feel you’re not afraid. And that’s fun. M: I know Miramax cut some of your last film. Did Sony Picture Classics cut anything on this one? CK: They gave me some suggestions For instance there may be something I don’t know about Western audiences. But I don’t think that hurt the film. I cut the film in a way I really wanted. Matt Langdon |