I don't have incredible knowledge about films or of filmmaking history; I'm not that kind of person.
Ang LeeThe thing we call critics are not really reviewers, they are not really critics. They don't have the discipline to write what we would term as critique - it's really just reviewers. They have a common man kind of taste. If you watch them overall, they are not different from the box-office. That's my view.
Ang LeeI don't have a checklist. Whatever material excites me, they'll call for a certain genre or combination of genres. It'll come naturally and I'll be eager to learn how that thing works. I learn the rules, and I'll probably break some of them.
Ang LeeAt times I can't help going for visual comfort. Sometimes a picture fills up your head, and you try to move the actors around to make that visual statement.
Ang LeeA lot of people will think I changed the book: โso youโre the tiger instead, youโre the tiger who ate the cook.โ Thatโd be totally expository, like in the book, โyouโre the tigerโ and then it stops there. That seems to have the magic touch. I bring everything together. Thatโs why he made up the story, the whole thing becomes internalized. That might be the magic, but all I did is not so much interpreted, but try my best to keep everybody still staying in the movie. And I was like, โGod, itโs so hard to do.โ I make movies for a long time. It doesn't get easier.
Ang Lee