Stephen Chow Speaks

I got to sit down with Stephen Chow recently and he was an incredibly nice guy. Very funny, soft-spoken and sporting the kind of non-haircut that only a totally confident superstar can get away with. Here's what he had to say:

ON DIRECTING
I think i started directing becaue I can't control myself. I had this idea that in order to make sure the film is good quality I needed to have more control. I kept asking questions and asking more questions about it, until I had to do it.

ON WHAT HE WANTS HONG KONGERS TO GET OUT OF KUNG FU HUSTLE
I just want them to laugh. I just want to entertain them, and make them happy.

ON THE US MARKET
I think...I don¹t know...I don¹t quite understand the US market and I¹m still learning that. I'd like to find a way to fit in, actually, but of course it's a lot of adjustment. But one thing that I always believe is that a film that has good ideas and is of good quality will be accepted by different people all over the world.

ON NG MAN-TAT
I met Ng Man-tat on a TVB drama. Somehow you just meet someone that you feel easy to work with  and Man-tat is one of them. But also I think I learned a lot of things from him. There's a story that I like to think about. The first time I saw him sitting  on the ground and reading a script, only one page, and Ithink he had one line, one single line on that page, and he's just reading it fiercely. I go away for dinner or lunch, and then I came back after a few hours and he was still reading the page, looking at that one line with a lot of concentration and I was curious why he's doing this. So I say, "Are you really reading the line or are you thinking about something else?"

And he says, "Yeah I was reading the line. But it's only one line. You take a couple of hours to read this."

And he told me, "Yes, just because it's only one line I have to figure out how to make it exceptional. It has to be unique and very different because I only have one."

And this thing inspired me.

Who is Ng Man-tat? Go here and scroll about halfway down the page for photos and a bio.