Lee is quick to hand credit to his wife, Lin Hui-chia (
"She is very independent, and decisive, whereas I am more irresolute. In our house, she sets the rules and I follow," Lee has been quoted as saying.
During a Q&A session at Crouching Tiger's US release, Lee again let down his guard: "I'm more interested in tough women. Maybe because I'm not very macho, so fragile women don't usually intrigue me."
Crouching Tiger was also a chance for Lee to give expression to his fantasies about ancient China and martial arts and dabble in the stock techniques of the kung fu genre. He mixes stunning long and close shots in the first fight scene, as Yu Siu-lien and Jen run up and down walls and jump from roof to roof. He transforms a bamboo grove into a poetic battlefield in which the actors fight on the top end of bamboo stalks. And through clever use of wires, he makes the actors defy gravity.
"Learning to shoot a martial arts film was a lot of fun," Lee said in an interview in Taipei at the Golden Horse Awards. "Before, I have been like a good student when making films, being careful at every step. Now after the experience of Crouching Tiger, I would like to take bigger strides in the future," he said.
Indeed, five weeks ago Lee just finished a US$2 million five-minute BMW commercial which involves a high-speed car chase. Lee is clearly in the film industry's big league now. No wonder his wife likes to tease him by saying, "whatever he couldn't achieve in his childhood, he can now try to achieve with his films."
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