TonyLeung.Info
This is an Archival Discussion Board (2003-2012)
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   
Click here to go to 2013- New Tony Board

Ang Lee wasn’t cautious about ‘Lust, Caution’ sexuality

 
   www.tonyleung.info Forum Index -> Tony Leung Movies
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
summertime



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 923

PostPosted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 4:04 am    Post subject: Ang Lee wasn’t cautious about ‘Lust, Caution’ sexuality

Ang Lee wasn’t cautious about ‘Lust, Caution’ sexuality

SOREN ANDERSEN; The News Tribune Published: October 26th, 2007 01:00 AM

Losing on Oscar night stung for only a little while.

Ang Lee had just won a golden guy for directing “Brokeback Mountain.” A Taiwan native, he was the first Asian ever to be honored in that category.

Standing backstage at the Kodak Theater, statuette clutched tightly in hand, Lee waited for the announcement of the next award, the Big One, for best picture. He felt confident Jack Nicholson would open the envelope and finally confirm the inevitable. After all, Lee said during a recent visit to Seattle, “we had won everything up to that point”: numerous critics group awards, the Golden Globe, you name it.

And then inevitability got tossed in the trash can. The hopes of Lee and “Brokeback’s” passionate partisans were dashed when Nicholson intoned “Crash!”

Knowing a TV camera was trained on him, Lee struggled not to show his disappointment at what has since gone down in Oscar lore as one of the biggest upsets in Hollywood history. “I took it sort of matter-of-factly,” he said. But it hurt. For a night.

By the next morning, the sting was fading fast because Lee already was turning his attention to his next movie, “Lust, Caution.” Within a week, he was jetting off to Asia to begin work on the picture, a caustic Chinese-language drama set in Japanese-occupied China during World War II. (It opens today at Tacoma’s Grand Cinema.) There was no point looking back. There was work to be done, and Lee chose to look forward and do it.

As with “Brokeback,” sexuality is at the core of “Lust’s” story. But rather than a couple of closeted gay American cowboys grappling with their feelings for each other, “Lust” focuses on the complex relationship between a ruthless Chinese official and a young woman involved in a plot to kill a man reviled by his countrymen as a traitorous collaborator with the Japanese.

The relationship has sadomasochistic overtones and is graphically portrayed. The explicitness of that portrayal has earned the picture an NC-17, America’s most restrictive rating.

The sex is unvarnished and sometimes brutal. The brutality underscores the power of the man over the woman, shines a light onto the man’s coldblooded nature (he oversees the torture of regime enemies) and accentuates the woman’s submissive and conflicted nature.

The explicitness of the sex, portrayed in two key scenes, was without precedent in a film made by a prestigious Chinese director in China itself (Shanghai and Hong Kong were primary locations). Lee said the script was vetted by government censors who, he said, raised no objections. He believes that was partially due to the fact that he is revered in China for his Oscar wins.

In addition to his director prize for “Brokeback,” he also took home the Academy Award for best foreign language film for his martial-arts blockbuster “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” In China, the Oscars are “huge,” Lee said and his wins are a source of great national pride.

But one other factor certainly played a role in the acquiescence of the censors to Lee’s request to film in the country. They didn’t really know what they were acquiescing to.

“Crouching Tiger” is famous for its exquisitely choreographed fight scenes. But in the script, Lee said, nothing was spelled out. All it said, basically, was, “they fight.” It was the same with “Lust, Caution.” “The sexual part is not in the script,” Lee said.

“I didn’t try to hide anything,” the soft-spoken filmmaker said. “I had no idea what I was going to do.” Certainly his actors, Tony Leung and Tang Wei, had no idea what would be expected of them when they signed up to play the couple. At rehearsals two weeks before shooting, Lee informed them they would be performing nude. And, a few days before the cameras rolled, he told them what he really wanted.

“I let them know to really go for it,” he said. Leung, one of China’s biggest stars, had no hesitation, Lee said. He saw it as his most demanding challenge, “the ultimate performance,” Lee said.

Tang Wei, a newcomer to features, had no qualms either, according to Lee. He said she thought such demands were routine in moviemaking. “She said, ‘I’m in your hands,’” Lee recalled.

“Go for it,” he told them. They went for it. And made Chinese movie history.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/ae/story/188396.html
Back to top
Display posts from previous:   
   www.tonyleung.info Forum Index -> Tony Leung Movies All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group