Ang Lee reveals he was ready to quit filmmaking just before ‘Brokeback Mountain’
Oscar-winning movie director Ang Lee has spoken to Deadline about how he contemplated retirement before being persuaded to make Brokeback Mountain. The iconic movie celebrates its 20th anniversary this month and will enjoy a limited theatrical run again this June.
Lee was born in Taiwan. He says his father, a school principal, was initially unimpressed by his son’s desire to go into filmmaking. He says his dad for many years thought Lee’s filmmaking was something he needed to get out of his system before moving on to something “more serious.”
Ironically, it was at his father’s insistence that Lee made Brokeback Mountain.
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Early career
Lee first made a name for himself with movies such as The Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman in the early 90s. His Hollywood breakthrough was Sense & Sensibility in 1995, followed by The Ice Storm (1997).
In 2000, he enjoyed great success with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. However, the shoot was grueling and a steep learning curve. Lee had never made a martial arts movie before, one that relied on wires instead of special effects for its groundbreaking fight sequences.
“It took a little bit over five months to shoot, and they were long days because we traveled to many places and those martial arts scenes take a long time,” Lee says. “Each fight scene would take at least two weeks, from 16 to 20 hours a day. For the first two months I shot over 12 hours a day.
“It’s the hardest movie I ever made. I cannot do that anymore.”
“I thought I’d retire after Crouching Tiger because I was literally spent. At the end when I was mixing sound, I couldn’t even sit down. I was lying down on the couch. It was that bad. I said, ‘I’ve had enough. My dad was right.’ And then three months later, what am I doing? I’m doing Hulk. That was another exhausting five-month shoot.”
Hulk (starring Eric Bana) proved another punishing learning curve for Lee. He had to fully acquaint himself with the latest in digital special effects.
Once it was finished, Lee, then 49, thought he couldn’t put himself through another movie and seriously contemplated retiring.
Ang Lee
Promise to his dad
It was his father who said retiring set a bad example to Lee’s son. He made Lee promise to make another movie.
“My father, for the first time in his life said, ‘Go ahead and make another movie. You’re only 49. It’s a bad example for your boy.’ And then two weeks later, he passed away.”
Lee had chosen Hulk over Brokeback Mountain. When he learned the rights to the latter novella were still available, he snapped it up.
The experience of making the movie, and its subsequent success, made Lee realize he did not want to retire.
“I think Brokeback Mountain brought me back, nursing me back to love life, to love filmmaking. And I’m still standing, still making movies, thanks to that movie. That was the one movie where I felt, ‘There’s a movie god who loves me. He wants me to keep going.’ And the movie was so perfect. What have I done to deserve that movie? Everything about it was good.”
“I don’t know what it is about that movie. It’s a sad movie, but it’s about love. It’s so nurturing. Everybody’s in love. And it was great. Every actor turned out to be great. I didn’t do much, I just did the coverage. I didn’t have a cinematic ambition. I just basically made the day and secured the performances. And then, in the first cut, I realized I’d got something. People are so affected by it.”
“Making Crouching Tiger was a thousand times harder than making Brokeback Mountain. And Brokeback Mountain was a great success that just seemed to happen on its own,” he added.
Lee went on to win a Best Director Oscar for Brokeback Mountain. Controversially, the movie lost out to Crash for Best Film that year.
20th anniversary rerelease
Brokeback Mountain starred Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway. As a mark of how beloved it is, the movie is getting a 20th-anniversary re-release in June in select US theaters.
Check out a new trailer for the 20th anniversary re-release below.
