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Jiang Wen and NY, I Love You
Saturday, Apr 19, 2008 7:37AM / Standard Entry / Members only
16 commentsThe last couple of days, I went on the set of NY, I Love You (the omnibus project imitating Paris Je T'aime with multiple directors) and met Jiang Wen, as he'd just flown in to do his segment.
I love Jiang's Wen's work. There's so much physicality in his characters, and he's so intensely emotional and also has such a great sense of humor. I've always loved his debut feature, "In the Heat of the Sun." And "Devils on the Doorstep" is incredibly energetic and hilarious, if you haven't seen it. This trailer for "In the Heat of the Sun" makes me kinda weepy because it's such a beautiful film, and it reminds me of being in Beijing:
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeWN-SWLLbEHaven't yet seen "The Sun Also Rises," his recent film (2007).
JW was incredibly nice and generous, as was Mark Lee, who I also got to meet for the first time - a really nice surprise - he recently shot Hou Hsiao Hsien's "Flight of the Red Balloon" and a ton of other major Chinese films. Mark was great. He speaks English pretty well, and I noticed on IMDB he's doing a couple of American productions now. I was doing some translation between these guys and the American crew... I found it difficult, but was able to give them some support, and at the same time to get to know a bunch of great people, including the production designer who did Bertha Pan's film "Face," which was pretty uniquely designed:
("Face," with Bai Ling)You can't really tell what the design is like from just this one photo, but "Face" is on Netflix if you're curious about it. The whole movie is kind of like a hip, stylized Chinese look set in Queens, from what I remember. An interesting Asian American flick with some Asian stars.
Jiang Wen was directing Hayden Christenson, Rachel Bilson (from the OC), and Andy Garcia. Andy Garcia had to say a few phrases in Chinese, including typical Beijing phrases like, "wa cao!" (kind of like, 'holy shit') and "bu kao pu," ('sketchy') which was kinda funny. Overall, JW seemed really confident and comfortable working with the NY crew. There's something about working on a NY set with a Chinese director that's really comforting and encouraging for me.
The ADs and production design people who had also been working on his segment also did a lot of the other shorts, like the one Natalie Portman directed (she and Scarlett Johannsen both directed one.) Most of the production design team were also older, experienced women who were also good role models and really encouraging. For me, a good combination of people to be around.
They're kind of creating this "global film" format with these omnibuses. Supposedly they're doing one in Shanghai and Africa too.
All in all, a fun time and a good experience. Sorry no pix!
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