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GR: Socialism is dead? CK: I'm not sure capitalism is a very good idea. We pay a very high price to be successful. At the same time, you may lose a lot of things that you value. That's the question I ask in this movie: what do you really want? That's a very personal choice. |
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GR: Where are you in the struggle between art and commerce? CK: I face the same problems that the characters face in the movie. I try to make a balance for myself. On one hand, I still believe that filmmaking is my life. I want to make films to express myself, to tell people what I feel about this world like we did in the very beginning, 20 years ago. On the other hand, I realize that I need to make money to support my family - but not much. I don't want to be a billionaire. Because of our family background, we know that we never want to have a luxurious life with a Rolls Royce. GR: What is the secret to making audiences cry? CK: The answer is very simple. I had very close relationships with my wife, the guy who played the father, the guy who played the first professor. They're all very good friends of mine. I talked to them like a friend. I said, "This is a movie. It's a story. It's not real life. It's not a documentary." On the other hand, I want everything to be real. We needed to create small details that could improve the quality of the movie. For example, I think Hong made contributions of using small details to establish relationships between characters. We put a lot of attention to those small details. GR: What was it like working with your wife? CK: There was no difficulty at all. We got along not only as husband and wife but also as co-workers. We enjoyed being together. She's been very supportive as a producer as well. Many people ask this question, probably expecting us to have had huge fights. Nope. It never happened. She can be very tough, but she was okay. It was fine. CH: He was a very demanding director. That's why all the Chinese actors want to work with him. After the experience, I discovered I could act well. GR: Why did you choose to play the affluent violin teacher? CK: Why me? I didn't want to act because I was too busy. I said many times that I need a mirror for myself because I was the mirror for everyone else in the movie. But I didn't want to wait or waste time with my casting director traveling around trying to find a good actor. I was told by another director, who's my friend, that I was tough enough to play the part. He saw how I worked with my actors on the set, so I was sort of unconsciously walking around, talking, offering instructions to different people just like a professor. I think I could be a very good professor! GR: I think you and your wife had the juiciest roles as the bad guy and the vixen. CK: I don't know whether I can be considered the bad guy, but he doesn't believe that he's the bad guy. He doesn't know that, in other words. GR: Is it hard to make films in China these days? CK: It depends on who you are and what project you want to do. For some new filmmakers it can be very difficult financially and politically, and they have to pick their projects very carefully. For me, I've been very lucky to get support from film people in China. Yes, we still have censorship. I argue with the officials that it doesn't sense at all, but this is what it is. You have to submit film prints to the film bureau and screen them to government officials. But we're used to this. What can we do? I think that with conversation, the officials can understand. What they want is respect. If you say nice things about them, maybe they've got what they want. |