I brought a lot of geek love to the Regis Dialogue last night with Ang Lee and James Schamus. Geek. Love.
Ang was so cute! So funny! So inspiring! James seemed to be his perfect professional complement.
Photo: Kimberley French, 2005, Focus Features
Lee told of his initial attempts to be an actor, studying at a US school where he had trouble with the language. As a result, his only really significant role was as a mime. A mime! (This is totally a shout out to my boss who has a strange programmatic phobia with mimes.)
Another co-worker asked a great question about the prominent role that food often plays in his films, and he responded that early on he was fueled by the experience of cooking for his children while his wife was away at work. He also talked about the portrayal of human desires on film, such as eating, sex, etc. “[In today’s films] we see the sex, but not enough food.” Awesome!
Schamus provided a great counter to Lee’s softspoken explanations – tossing in anecdotes and one-liners – and the audience was totally in to it. I can just imagine Lee on the set of Sense & Sensibility, shying away from those powerhouses of British acting. Schamus also talked about the move from producing to writing, and how he likes to underwrite scripts for Lee so there is room to breathe, create, and fill in the gaps. Lee readily agreed, stating that most of the scripts sent to him are “built like battleships.”
Overall a fantastic evening with plenty of insight into Chinese and American filmmaking. I am SO over Brad and Angelina. Ang and James are Hollywood’s cutest couple!