I asked each if [Yao Xingtong and Zhang Lanxin] was afraid of heights. Each said no, and although they had never had the action movie experience they were willing to be trained. Then I asked if they could swim, and each said yes, but she (gestures toward YX) is better. She said, I can also dive, in fact I once won a diving championship in an international competition. Then she said, "But big brother, I'm not very strong," and I said that's all right.

We live now in a global village and we are in one single family. It's our responsibility to bring friendship and love from all different places around the world and to live together in peace.

Nothing makes me more determined to succeed than someone telling me something's impossible.

I want to be an Asian Robert De Niro.

Actually, the few good Chinese movies that foreign countries choose to import are Zhang Yimou's, and mine, a few directors, but how many movies can we make in a year? We can only make a few, while they turn them out continuously.

Sometimes you think the movie is good and BOOM! Sometimes you think it's no good. BAAM! The movie business is a big gamble. You never know.

I love animals. When I was young, I had two St. Bernards, I still have a dog, I have a lot of cats in my company. My wife always says, "You spend a lot of money on animals. More than even me!"