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SINGAPORE: A haunting image or a piece of music. These are usually the things that prompt Lee Ang to make a movie.
"For Lust, Caution, I remember reading some scenes in the short story and a piano piece by Brahms was just ringing in my head. It's like a taste - you cannot describe it but you want to share that with somebody," said the 54-year-old Taiwanese director.
His new movie, however, was the result of a book being shoved in his face.
Taking Woodstock is roughly based on a memoir of the same title by Elliot Tiber. It's a coming-of-age flick about young Elliot (played by comedian Demetri Martin), who was instrumental in organising the legendary music festival of 1969. Contrary to expectations, the movie focuses on the events surrounding Woodstock and not the concert itself, which is hardly seen in the movie.
Lee met Tiber in 2007 when they were guests on a TV show. The director was promoting Lust, Caution while Tiber was promoting his memoirs.
"Elliot was behind me with his book. Usually I just go around the corner and throw 'em away. It happened that I read this one. And I'll just do it once!" he said, laughing.
When we asked if he considered himself an auteur, the Oscar-winning director of Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Sense And Sensibility laughed.
"I don't know. I wish I can be that person," said Lee. "I made (his first films like The Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman) to please the Taiwanese mainstream audience. But they ended up in art houses and film festivals in the West.
"I wanna think myself more as an 'actor' than an auteur. I put myself in different roles and experience the environment."
Where were you when Woodstock happened in 1969?
I was 14 and in Taiwan. I remember seeing a very brief report about it on television news. Where I grew up, if you had long hair, police patrol trucks would come and they'd cut it for you. That's the conservative environment I grew up in. We were at the front line of the Cold War.
So when I went to the States in 1978 and saw everyone had short hair ... I was disappointed. (Smiles)
Did music play an important part of your life?
Not really. As a teenager, I'm sorry to say, I led a boring life. Preparing for college or middle school entrance examinations, tutoring from morning till midnight - that was my life. On Sunday, I could go to see a movie. That's the best thing that could happen. The (Western) Top 10s were on-air and you'd hear them.
But I was not a cool kid.
What made you decide to take on Woodstock?
Years ago I did the movie The Ice Storm and so I was thinking of doing the "hangover" episode with Woodstock. And then, much later, I did Lust, Caution. I was longing to do something lighter and warmer (after) six tragedies in a row! Thank god I did it.
Was it easy getting into a particular frame of mind while making the film?
It wasn't hard for me. Gradually you tune into it. Pretty soon, you're teaching people how to be in that time zone. In Chinese, we say "teaching is learning" and as you're talking about it, you're actually learning and tuning into that world.
You've done a film about Woodstock without a single shot of the concert itself. Why did you do that?
I felt it was very interesting to take something so grand and impossible to grasp from a very small person's point of view. I had no desire to shoot "Janis Joplin" on stage. Most audiences (back in Woodstock) didn't even see that.
What do you think is the legacy of Woodstock?
I think what happened in Woodstock is miraculous. To think that there were half a million kids there, with that kind of conditions, and no violence happened. It's probably never gonna happen again. And the bands were from all over the place. Imagine The Who fans listening to Ritchie Valens or the Grateful Dead ...
But I think the essential idea was taken more seriously. Like the idea of equal human rights, women's or gay issues. Those became reality and they planted the seeds. Of course the mainstream media took them lightly and called them hippies. But it's not that simple.
So where do you see that Woodstock innocence today?
In the election of Obama. That was generated by the younger generation. That's encouraging. But I think they're less dreamy. I work with the actors, I know my kids - I know they're not like that. They're more pragmatic and seem to have a purpose in life. But I feel an ounce of optimism.
Taking Woodstock will be out in cinemas on Thursday.
- TODAY/yb
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