The hand that pushed Ang Lee

He set up his own production company Zoom Hunt International in 1997, which has already released six films and five TV dramas, including April Rhapsody and Fleeting by Night, and of course the most popular Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

"Actually Ang Lee himself put in a lot into the production of the film, especially during the shooting in China," he said. "I mainly helped him at the pre-production stage." For Crouching Tiger, Hsu recommended scriptwriter Wang Hui-ling (王蕙玲), also writer of Eat Drink Man Woman, April Rhapsody and Fleeting by Night. Hsu also took care of his specialty -- fundraising, bringing in US$15 million for the movie.

Of course, because of the film's record-breaking success in the US, there is little worry about fundraising for Lee in the future.

"My new task is to talk [Lee] into making a sequel -- in fact a preceding story according to the novel -- to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," said Hsu.

"The novel is at my bedside every day. And I will make all kinds of preparation for the sequel and then begin nagging him."