Quotes by Ang Lee

“I did a womens movie, and Im not a woman. I did a gay movie, and Im not gay. I learned as I went along.”

“Mainstream films have occupied Hollywood, but you can get bored very easily. It can be very repetitive, and I think now we want something fresh and something inspiring and different, daring. The mainstream film is very expensive to make and it scares people. Its made for the worldwide audience, you have to please so many people, and the business men start running the movies rather than artists.”

“In the past Ive made movies that were pretty universally liked. You cant really hate them. You can discard them, but you cant really hate them.”

“On a Chinese film you just give orders, no one questions you. Here, you have to convince people, you have to tell them why you want to do it a certain way, and they argue with you. Democracy.”

“Bubble.”

“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ... just a small element in a big cultural event”

“[Woo is dipping into the popular Chinese historical genre with his latest project,] The War of the Red Cliff, ... Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

“I dont really believe in film competitions or that you can compare filmmakers. But I do believe this recognition is a great honor.”

“Its overwhelming. This is the climax.”

“This was supposed to be my homecoming project. Im really taking to heart how this film is performing in America.”

I think the American West really attracts me because its romantic. The desert, the empty space, the drama.

You can get rich or famous by doing the same thing.

For a filmmaker, its a rare chance to do a personal film on a big canvas.

I hope people dont compare 2D and 3D because 3Ds new, its unfair to compare to 2D which is really sophisticated, even when were jaded about it. 3D just began, give it a chance, let the equipment and projection system catch up and be better, let the price go down, let more filmmakers get a hold of it more easily.

I have a lot of repression. So repression is what I make movies about.

Making movies is a way of understanding myself and the world.

Summer blockbusters are very expensive to make. They have things that have to be expensive, such as 600 effects shots or CG characters that have to go a certain way, or a film design that is different but expensive.

Im not a romantic. In life I didnt have much experience with romance.

Sometimes, you have to get angry to get things done.