By Terry Keefe / "The Hollywood Interview"
Proofreading: Issac
The translation was first published in "Iris"
"2046" once again witnessed the combination of Tony Leung and Wong Kar Wai, the former is one of the biggest movie stars in Asian movies, while the latter is one of the most mysterious and innovative directors of Asian movies.
This is the sixth film that the two have collaborated on, starting with The True Story of Ah Fei in 1989, and gained popularity in the United States with "Chongqing Forest" and "In the Mood for Love". "2046" is almost a sequel to "In the Mood for Love". The word "almost" is used because Tony Leung's role in this film can be said to be another incarnation of the character in "In the Mood for Love" or a different one shadow.
He inherited that image, but was a very different person indeed. The character Zhou Muyun, when we met him in "In the Mood for Love", was an aspiring writer, and he seemed to really be able to overcome his hobby of messing around and focus on a woman. He's also charismatic, stylish, and a bit like an old Hollywood star.
I don't know how many years have passed between the two films, and Zhou Muyun of "2046" has given up all his artistic pursuits and is now producing a lot of cheap paperbacks. He also gave up true love, and although he seems to stay forever in "the time of the year", circulating between different women, the film shows a series of dewy relationships with Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li, Faye Wong, Carina Lau, Dong Jie and Maggie Cheung.
You might think that Zhou Muyun would find happiness in such a karmic encounter, but it seems that he is not born with it. Zhou Muyun misses the past most of the time, although he won't admit it himself. He claims to want to move on and change, but keeps passing up any such opportunity.
Zhou Muyun in "2046" and "In the Mood for Love" look very similar, but their speech and behavior are very different, especially the voice, if not completely broken, it can be said to be almost reshaped. Wong Kar-wai uses non-linear editing and story structure to create a dreamlike state for the film. Although the film is ostensibly set in Hong Kong in the 1960s, "2046" may also be Zhou Muyun's inner world - a memory haunted mind.
The title refers to the room number that appears in both films, and it is also the year 2046, the background age set by a science fiction novel by Zhou Muyun. That particular book is about a mysterious train that can take you to 2046, a year in which nothing will change and you can rediscover lost memories.
Tony Leung has gradually built his star status through art films and mainstream blockbusters, with works that range from complex, like "2046," to sensational, like "Infernal Affairs" and "The Detective."
As for Wong Kar-wai, he is one of the most discussed directors of his generation, not only for his approach but also for his often captivating works. His shooting cycles are often very long, sometimes sporadically over a period of several years.
He often shoots without a fixed script, giving the actors only snippets of the story along the way.
Some who have worked with him say he had the entire story in his head from the start, while others believe he discovered it during filming and editing. The truth is often somewhere in between.
Q: "2046" is said to have taken five years to complete?
Tony Leung (hereafter referred to as Liang): We didn't finish filming all at once. We've been shooting on and off. We had a lot of difficulties because there were a lot of big-name stars in the movie who didn't expect to be filming for that long, and they had to be involved in other films during that time. There is a conflict in the scheduling of the actors.
Then the SARS virus broke out, and not only the entertainment industry, but all industries were shut down. No one wanted to work at that time. This epidemic has been going on for a long time. Then there are the filming locations. We were going to multiple places to shoot. In Hong Kong we can only shoot indoors, and in Bangkok we can only shoot outdoors.
Because we can't find the streets of Hong Kong in 1968, it has changed a lot. There are also labor costs. We have to build the backdrop for those future periods in the mainland. Another reason it took so long is that the directors are perfectionists (laughs).
Q: How long did your part take to shoot?
Liang : Overall, it's been about a year, but like I just said, we've been shooting on and off. I also made three other films during this period.
Q: So every time you go back to the set, is it difficult to get into the role of Zhou Muyun?
Liang : It's really difficult. Five years in one role is exhausting. It's hard every time I go back to the set. I need a week or two to warm up to get in shape again.
Q: And he's not a very happy guy. You probably don't want to be in that state all the time.
Liang : Occasionally. But at least there are so many beautiful actresses in the film. This helps somewhat.
Q: You and Wong Kar Wai made a lot of movies together. What was your collaboration process like from the beginning?
Leung : I think the way Kawai works is that he wants people to stimulate him and inspire him. He gave everyone a lot of freedom on the set, not just the actors, but all the crew.
Our relationship is strange. We never talk on set. He would give me a hint or clue at the beginning (what the movie is about). I knew very little when I first started shooting. We gradually sort everything out during the shoot.
All I knew at first was my character. This is how we work together. We do it all the time. That's how we collaborated in the early days of "A Feifei". No one will work like Wong Kar Wai. I find this very inspiring. Sometimes you have more room to create your character.
Because he won't give you a clear instruction, you can do whatever you want. Nothing is right or wrong because you don't know what's right or wrong. Every shot feels like an adventure. No one knows what will happen during filming. No one knows what this story is about.
Not just me, but everyone on the set. We shot so many shots that we could even cut them into five different films.
Q: But do you think Wong Kar-wai thought about what the movie should look like in the first place?
Liang : I'm not sure. I think he probably had an idea at the beginning, but it kept changing as the filming progressed.
Q: In terms of dialogue, does he have a fixed script?
Liang : Sometimes there are. We were used to him giving us the script on the day of shooting.
Q: "2046" has some characters from Wong Kar Wai's other films. You say this movie is almost the sum of all your previous movies. Do you think you'll be revisiting these characters?
Liang : I hope not (laughs). I don't want to enter Zhou Muyun's world anymore. I think we should do something different. I talked to Kar Wai on the set and said it was the best we could do, and we've been making these kinds of movies from "A Feifei" to "2046." We can't do better, we should try something different.
Q: Did you spend a lot of time thinking about Zhou Muyun in "In the Mood for Love" when creating the characters for this film?
Liang : I try not to think about the original Zhou Muyun. Because on the first day, Kar Wai told me he wanted me to play the same role again, but this time he wanted me to play it differently. He wanted me to play him as a melancholy, cynical playboy. He wanted me to perform in a different way, but still pretty much the same shape.
So I tried to get rid of Zhou Muyun, to get rid of his past. It's a lot like what characters in a movie do. I didn't ask Kar Wai why he let me do it the first day, but I think he has a reason. When I watch this movie, I realize that Zhou Muyun is trying to get rid of his past, but things around him always remind him of the past.
In the first few months, when I tried to create a new Zhou Muyun, I would subconsciously jump back to the original Zhou Muyun. I do not know why. I'm having trouble.
Kar Wai kept reminding me, "No Tony, that's not right. This is the voice of the old Chow Mu Yun." I tried to create a new Chow Mu Yun, but there was always something that reminded me of "In the Mood for Love". Scenes, room numbers, everything.
You want to be a whole new person, but things always remind you of the past. That's how I felt when I was shooting.
One day, I was discussing with the art director, "Do you know what we're doing? '2046' or 'In the Mood for Love'? It seems like everything reminds me of 'In the Mood for Love'." At the time, I didn't know what the story was about About lost memories (laughs). But it's helpful for the character.
Q: Do you think Wong Kar-wai knowing this conflict will help your shoot?
Liang : Yes, but he never said that to us during filming.
Q: Wong Kar Wai's shots look very detailed in structure. Even the smallest, least-looking lenses are well designed for movement and framing.
Liang : He spends a lot of time on each shot. In a sense, we spent a lot of time waiting there. Each shot took an average of three to four hours to shoot.
So we didn't do much in one day of shooting. He spends a lot of time lighting and moving the lens. We shoot over and over again. I took a lot of shots.
Even very intense scenes, like the kiss scene with Gong Li...he took it maybe 40 times. Gong Li will cry forty times! This is very draining of energy. We used 1,000 feet of film for every shot. Each shot takes ten minutes.
Q: Will he give you guidance between each take, or will you just keep adjusting yourself over and over?
Liang : We usually keep shooting. He thought everything was fine, but something might not be right...lighting, moving the camera, so we had to reshoot over and over again.
Q: It sounds a bit like Stanley Kubrick's work style. Repeated remakes and meticulous perfection.
Liang : Aha. I sometimes feel that Kawai is trying to exhaust people (laughs). Makes you lose all your skills. Because in the first few takes, you still have a lot of energy and try to do some technical acting. I think he hates that very much.
He wants you to be yourself. Give up skills. Give up acting.
I think that's why he always shoots over and over. Because then you'll be exhausted, and then it will come out naturally.
Q: What do you think will happen to Zhou Muyun after this movie? Will he be happy?
Liang : No. He will never be happy. Because he likes to live in his dreams. He likes to live in the past, and he never wants to take risks again. He never wants to commit to any emotional relationship again because he doesn't want to get hurt. I think he's a coward in a way. He doesn't take failure well. So his ideal love exists in the past.
Q: What does the title "2046" mean to you?
Liang : In the movie, it refers to the room number, or the train going back to the past. To me, "2046" means something very personal. A secret you can't share with others. I think so.
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