A look inside Wong Kar-wai's film world
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, December 9, 2014
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Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai and Taiwan actor Chang Chen pose for photos at the China Film Archive in Beijing on Dec. 8, 2014. [China.org.cn] |
"The Grandmaster" is an epic martial arts drama set against the backdrop of 1930s China and inspired by the life and times of Bruce Lee's mentor, Ip Man. The movie also tells the stories of other kung fu masters in that chaotic and poetic era. Wong said doing such a biopic takes a time and energy, because you have to investigate the true stories.
"I was able to collect the information and real stories of Ip Man after he arrived in Hong Kong after he was 50 years old," Wong said, but he regretted that Ip Man's youth could never be uncovered precisely since many witnesses were long gone." But I read Bruce Lee's biography and Bruce said in many interviews that Ip influenced him very much in his youth. So I decided to establish the youth of Ip Man based on Bruce Lee."
Wong is also a fan of 35 mm film. According to Yu, Wong used a million feet of celluloid stock from Fujifilm and Kodak, so "The Grandmaster" may be the last 35 mm Chinese film as Fujifilm closed its motion picture division and Kodak is struggling for survival, though several prominent directors like Christopher Nolan, J.J. Abrams and Quentin Tarantino are trying to save the format. Digital technology has taken over the market, and sales of 35mm stock have dropped by 96 percent over the past decade.
"I don't think celluloid will become extinct," Wong said, "It will just not be mainstream. I saw Christopher Nolan's 70mm IMAX 'Interstellar' recently, it is still fantastic. Digital technology is very good for making films such as science fiction when an image has a big contrast. But when you want something delicate, such as 'The Grandmaster,' celluloid is irreplaceable. If you say a celluloid movie is like an oil painting, then a digital movie is like a replica."
Wong said he doesn't resist digital filmmaking, which he believes is just another approach to make movies, "The only thing I need to know is what kind of visual effect I wanted to present on the screen, and it is not necessary for every movie to have 3D version, it depends on its content, " he said, adding he is still fascinated with the era of celluloid and the sound of the camera rolling.
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