I feel like all of my characters now take this congested situation, they clash, and from there you purge yourself.

Emotions serve characters' purposes. That is their motivation.

I think the book struck me in a few ways that I thought very interesting to pick it as my first martial arts film. It has a very strong female character and it was very abundant in classic Chinese textures.

Every movie I make. That’s my hideout, the place I don’t quite understand, but feel most at home.

Many times when you make a movie, it feels like your biggest mistake. But even if a film isn't a hit, you shouldn't view it as a mistake.

When I grew up, in Taiwan, the Korean War was seen as a good war, where America protected Asia. It was sort of an extension of World War II. And it was, of course, the peak of the Cold War. People in Taiwan were generally proAmerican. The Korean War made Japan. And then the Vietnam War made Taiwan. There is some truth to that.

When I started out, nobody gave me scripts, so I had to write...