When there is a strong woman character in a story - that always grabs me

Not taboo - it's just that straight actors still risk their careers commercially and economically. They have to please the crowd - they're movie stars; their image is their industry. It goes beyond acting.

First we pre-visualized it [the flying fish scene in 'Life of Pi'] so the actors could act. It took a long time to get that to come to life and to design those coming out of the screen. We had great fun with that. It takes a long time, a year maybe.

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.

For a filmmaker, it's a rare chance to do a personal film on a big canvas.

I see a movie as a way of learning about the world, about myself, and learning about my relationship with people and art.

I have two sons in America, and all they care about in Chinese culture is Jackie Chan and Jet Li.