Director Ang Lee welcomes an NC-17 rating

[summertime]

Director Ang Lee welcomes an NC-17 rating

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By MARSHALL FINE

Sunday, September 30th 2007, 4:00 AM


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He has taken his camera into the treetops for martial arts magic, wrangled scenes of gay cowboys getting it on - and even tangled with the Hulk.

But nothing was harder for Oscar-winning director Ang Lee than getting intimate with actors Tang Wei and Tony Leung Chiu-wai as they grappled in graphic sex scenes for his controversial film "Lust, Caution," which opened Friday.

"It drove me insane," said Lee, shortly after his film took the top prize at the Venice Film Festival. "It made me extremely uncomfortable. After getting two shots, I'd be spent. And then I'd still have to slog through a half day of shooting. I just kept pushing until I was on the brink of hysteria or insanity, and then I'd quit. Really, the actors were better about it than I am."

The sex in "Lust, Caution" is part of a larger story of deception and betrayal, about Chinese resistance to the Japanese occupation in Shanghai during World War II. The plot focuses on Wang Jiazhi (Tang), part of a group of Chinese students bent on assassinating Mr. Yee (Leung), a Chinese collaborator who heads the deadly secret police. To further their plot, Wang becomes his lover, entering into an increasingly risky - and passionate - relationship.

The sex scenes - three lengthy sequences - have earned "Lust, Caution" an NC-17 rating in the U.S., limiting its release. Despite the restrictive label, the sex may, of course, actually attract American audiences. Which is fine by Lee, who hopes they absorb a little history as well. The Japanese occupation of China is an unfamiliar story to most Americans.

"But you can't give Western audiences a history lesson," the filmmaker says. "If you do, they won't remember the movie."

Japanese brutality and Chinese collaboration during World War II are unpopular topics in those two countries: "If anything, Japan is in more denial about it than China," says Lee, a native of Taiwan. "They want to forget that it happened. But I don't think history should be forgotten or distorted. It should be dealt with."

If he didn't have a pair of Oscars (for best director for "Brokeback Mountain" and best foreign-language film for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"), Lee believes he wouldn't have been allowed to shoot in Hong Kong, Shanghai and elsewhere in mainland China.

"The fact that it was me who wanted to tell this story helped," he says. "Even three years ago, if I'd wanted to do it, I don't think it would have been possible. As it was, it was a stretch. But I think Chinese audiences are ready to look at this now."

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2007/09/30/2007-09-30_director_ang_lee_welcomes_an_nc17_rating-1.html