Ang Lee

Ang Lee

31 quotes

Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee (b. 1954) is someone whose language could distill vast ideas into a single sentence. Beyond their emotional charge and exploration of repressed, hidden emotions, Ang Lee proved equally skilled at capturing ideas in a sentence or two. Our collection holds 37 quotes from Ang Lee, each offering a different angle on Movies, Work, Money, Truth, and Romantic. Here is a taste of their wisdom: "I don't have incredible knowledge about films or of filmmaking history I'm not that kind of person."

“The source of all the material comes from nothingness, illusion is working more on things you can prove. That's the principle, the essence of life, it is actually an illusion, not immaterial. That's worth pursuing. So illusion is not nothing. In a way, that is the truth.”

— Ang Lee

Truth

All Quotes by Ang Lee

“You can get rich or famous by doing the same thing.”

— Ang Lee

Famous

“Summer blockbusters are very expensive to make. They have things that have to be expensive, such as 600 effects shots or CG characters that have to go a certain way, or a film design that is different but expensive.”

— Ang Lee

Design

“The fear factor actually brings the genuineness.”

— Ang Lee

Fear

“I think the American West really attracts me because it's romantic. The desert, the empty space, the drama.”

— Ang Lee

Romantic

“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.”

— Ang Lee

Truth

“After making several tragic movies in a row, I was looking to do a comedy, and one without cynicism.”

— Ang Lee

Movies

“I don't have incredible knowledge about films or of filmmaking history I'm not that kind of person.”

— Ang Lee

History

“I'm actually living my life with the material I choose to work with.”

— Ang Lee

Work

“Sensitivity and money are like parallel lines. They don't meet.”

— Ang Lee

Money

“I'm just a pretty regular dad.”

— Ang Lee

Dad

“Making movies is a way of understanding myself and the world.”

— Ang Lee

Movies

“I hope people don't compare 2D and 3D because 3D's new, it's unfair to compare to 2D which is really sophisticated, even when we're jaded about it. 3D just began, give it a chance, let the equipment and projection system catch up and be better, let the price go down, let more filmmakers get a hold of it more easily.”

— Ang Lee

Hope

“I think each movie-making process is a very exhausting and satisfying and fulfilling experience for me.”

— Ang Lee

Experience

“The father figure is something I love, but also suffocate from and want to work against.”

— Ang Lee

Work

“I have a lot of repression. So repression is what I make movies about.”

— Ang Lee

Movies

“Over the years Woodstock got glorified and romanticised and became the event that symbolised Utopia. It's the last page of our collective memory of the age of innocence. Then things turned ugly and would never be the same again.”

— Ang Lee

Age

“I think I can work with any type of actor.”

— Ang Lee

Work

“If there's something that can be formulated, regulated, give you security, then nobody would lose money. Every movie would be successful. And that's certainly not the case.”

— Ang Lee

Money

“My father was the center of the family, and everyone tried to please him.”

— Ang Lee

Family

“I think a lot of people do big movies not because they are talented artists but because they can function in the circumstances.”

— Ang Lee

Movies