You have to know the rules, otherwise you have no tools to communicate to the audience, but to keep it fresh you have to break some. I don't choose genres as the element, but the material itself is the element, then I'll decide what genre I need. That's just how I work.
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 LeeI think the American West really attracts me because it's romantic. The desert, the empty space, the drama.
Ang Lee