Ang Lee shares 'Lust' for life, filmmaking
By Susan Wloszczyna, USA TODAY
TORONTO — Ang Lee just flew back to this city's film festival after a quick stop in Venice, all the while toting a Golden Lion in a large box. And, yes, his arms are tired.
Actually, his whole being is exhausted after a quick trip to pick up the top prize at the Italian festival. He made the same journey when Brokeback Mountain took home the trophy in 2005.
This time, the win is for Lust, Caution, his espionage thriller opening Sept. 28 that is set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai during World War II. Beyond the fact it is Lee's first feature since taking the best-director Oscar for Brokeback, the movie has been gaining attention with its box-office-poison rating of NC-17.
The restrictive label is the result of three bouts of acrobatic sex between a collaborator with the Japanese (Tony Leung) and a seductive young student (Tang Wei), who goes undercover to set the stage for an assassination.
Just as the risk-taking Brokeback benefited from the awards attention, Lust, Caution needs similar help to attract more than the merely curious.
But Taiwan-born Lee, 52, and James Schamus, head of Focus Features and the movie's co-writer and executive producer, aren't about to cut a single frame of the explosive passion, save for showings in China, where Brokeback was banned.
"It's a miracle they let me do Lust, Caution there," Lee says. "This regime was never allowed to be portrayed on film before. I just hope in Taiwan I can show an uncensored version in every theater."
Lee, fortifying himself with sips of hot tea, talks about the depiction of lust in Lust, his continuing passion for boundary-pushing projects and the Brokeback aftermath.
Q: Your films often take a frank approach to the repercussions of desire and repression. Should we be surprised that you went for an NC-17?
A: Usually it's more subtle. I never really came from the exact desire, so to speak. It was never my thing. It's new territory. But it's Lust, Caution, and the lust itself is the theme of the movie. Not only lust for sex, but lust for life. I knew I wanted to go deep, I didn't know how deep. In making a movie, I'm a different person.
Q: At least the rating is making headlines.
A: People say it's the hottest sex scene they have ever seen. I don't know if it means they enjoyed it, because it is so intense. It's just the movie I wanted to make. I didn't care if it would lose money.
Q: What was it like to direct those episodes?
A: I coached the actors through the scenes and verbalized it. It kills. I'm embodying both of them. I end up playing both parts. With the girl, I put myself into her heart. It's driving me crazy. It's a film experience I never experienced before.
Q: Did the making of Brokeback free you somehow to do this?
A: That movie was easy for me, actually. I was kind of collapsing after the two big movies (2003's Hulk and 2000's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). I was wrecked. I sort of earned that relaxation making Brokeback Mountain, and I think people appreciated the modesty. It helped me recover my love for people and filmmaking. Lust, Caution scared me more. It came from a woman writer who examined female sexualities and challenged the patriotism of the Chinese. It was very brave of her.
Q: Why did you want to do another film in your native language and to shoot it in China?
A: The Chinese language takes so much more out of me. It's more personal, it's harder to make art out of it, and historically I feel more responsible to make it accurate. I'm kind of a big figure in filmmaking over there and also culturally. It's a lot of burden on my shoulders.
Q: There are more games of mah-jongg in Lust, Caution than steamy encounters. Why do the women engage in these marathons?
A: The short story it's based on, which is 28 pages in Chinese, a quarter of it involves mah-jongg.
Q: You were annoyed at your Venice press conference when someone asked whether the sex was real and you replied, "Have you seen the film?" But isn't that a compliment?
A. It's hard enough to direct those scenes. It's very hard to talk about it.