HULK Q & A: DIRECTOR ANG LEE

QUESTION: Talk about actually acting as the Hulk for the CG people.

LEE: I was desperate to show them what it should. Usually animators do that without direction. Basically, they're doing creatures, not a human who you're supposed to identify as human, like an actor. So usually they photograph themselves, but that won't work for me. I have to show them what it meant to be there.

By the time they started animating it, the film is already cut with the backgrounds and the rhythms and how things are worked out in my head. So eventually the best way, the quickest way, is me showing them out to do it.

Facially, they captured it quickly with media references. But the Hulk physics, they still need some realistic reference to begin with. Then there's attitude, too, the body performance, the body language. So eventually I put on the suit and I started to do all the Hulk shots. Other than the three-mile jump, I would do everything. I do the father and the water and I would indicate what I mean by this and that. And it would really help them visualize what it's supposed to. At one point I thought I was going to be the dogs (laughs)…

QUESTION: How did it help you in terms of identifying?

LEE: It's like psycho-therapy. I was so stressed out in doing it. I got a chance to be the Hulk, it really helped me feel the Hulk. Making the whole movie was a Hulk out experience for me.

I hope viewers who watch the movie, they see the whole movie as the Hulk, not just a CG character. So that's the whole pursuit. That's how I talked to every actor. They're dealing with their inner Hulk. They're dealing with the Hulk subject. They're dealing with their subconscious and how to cover them up, how to reveal them, how to interact with the Hulk within that. That's the innocence and reasonable impulse in us to take the form of aggression.

So that's the Hulk. It's pretty intense. As a filmmaker, I also experienced it. It's like a Hulk out experience, too. So doing that helped me get aggression out and have a physical feeling for what it's like. It can be inspiring. Took a big toll on my body. But it's a very special experience for a director, to actually act out and get a taste of it and go back and forth.

QUESTION: Can you talk about your passion for this?

LEE: I had fortunate success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a mixture of pop art - in a Chinese way - and drama. To me, this is my new Hidden Dragon, an American Hidden Dragon, and I get a bigger canvas. And I get to do pyschodrama. And without a leading movie star to open it big because it's a franchise movie. And there's abundant visual inspiration from the original, back stories. I see it as my big chance to make a big movie. So that's how I started it.

But then to bring it to life, to come to terms with the audience and the market, which is still yet to be proven, what people are making of it … yeah, that's pretty nerve-wracking. If I think about it, which I had to the last three months or so … and before that, I was very excited. It feels like I got everything and everybody, although they don't understand what I mean by this and that … it seems like I knew, but I was guessing, too. I was experiencing that too. It seems like an interesting process, but I was nervous, too. On a given day, I feel like I'm very brave and courageous but at night, I feel like, "What have I done? I'm going to kill myself. This is the biggest mess I've made. How will I put it together?"

I said to myself when I decided to do a big movie, "Unless I can make it feel personal, I'm not good enough to take the project." It's not the size, it's the ambition. Unless I personally attend every element, which is the way I always make movies, I'm not worthy to taking this particular project.

QUESTION: You were also offered Terminator 3?

LEE: Well, I was attracted, but I couldn't find a way to break the material that was established. At the end of day, I would rather create original material, and this one was never put on screen yet. I felt like there was a lot more freedom than the other one. The other one has too many obligations to the fans, to the worldwide lovers of that project, including myself. It was too much pressure for me.

QUESTION: There are a lot of close-up shots. Was that taken from actual frames of the comic book?

LEE: I call it Hulk-size close-up. In the comic book, you see that. Sometimes they put part of the framing. I like the variety of framing in the comic book; it's like this or that, round or slash. I like that. Usually in movie, we lock into a certain aspect. That's good for the desert, but that's good be good for the mountain. It's always frustrating for the filmmaker trying to frame it. In this, we get to break that.

And I do that because I feel the need to see people as the Hulk. A big head and a big closeup, with only one eyeball, so I naturally go in there. Also, I want to compare the macro and the micro look. Inside of the cells or a big look at the universe, they almost look the same. So I was making ratio comparisons.

QUESTION: Do the box-office numbers and reaction of Joe Public now concern you?

LEE: It used to. Gradually, it's not. It's really about de-Hulk. When you're the Hulk, you're all pumped up, the energy goes in, the testosterone of whatever, it keeps feeding you and I don't get sick and all that.

But I gradually come to peace with myself. I'm very proud of everyone who worked on the film. And that adrenaline starts to go away. I started feeling weird and fragile and gradually de-Hulking and that doesn't feel very good to me. It's very draining.

I don't think about June 20 that much. I used to. I used to worry that it won't have a big opening. I think it will. Just the way they sell it. They cannot ignore it, they have to sell it. So a lot of people are going to see the movie.

I care about word of mouth, what people make of the movie. So many people are going to see it in the summer. What are critics going to say? What are 8-year-old boys going to say? What are women going to say?

That eventually will hit me. At this point, I don't really care. (Laughs). I think it's importantly to honestly introduce the film, speak my heart, talk my way out of it - whatever. I should do that. But psychologically, adrenaline-wise, I'm de-Hulking. I don't think about the numbers.

But I do care about it plays. I think it's my responsibility. Regardless of what I think Hulk is, how intense it ought to be, how bizarre it ought to be as an artist, I think it's a big movie. It should play well. I think that's my responsibility. And it's great fun. I hope that part serves well, too.

QUESTION: There are a lot of interesting transitions. When did you decide to do that?

LEE: At the very beginning. Before I wrote the script, I started testing it with my editor Tim Squires, and we always worked together. I didn't carry it out as much as I want. Tim kept telling me at this point, people might not used to it yet. It could be distracting. So I didn't go as far as I wanted to, but we did do a lot.

I don't want to call it split-screen. It's more like multi-image, choreographed multi-panels, imitating comic books. When you open it up, there's a structure. There's definite art design to it, and you pick and choose in your own ways.

The movie is ongoing; it has a linear structure of its own. So I have to choreograph it, unlike the comic book, for your cinematic eyes.

Look for part two of this interview on Saturday.

E-mail the Continuum at RobAlls@aol.com

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