Wong Kar-wai: The Grandmaster Should Have Been a Trilogy
From The Beijing News (China). January 9, 2015. Interview conducted in Mandarin. Translated by Micky Lee from Chinese.
The Grandmaster in 2D that was released earlier has the best box office figure among all Wong Kar-wai’s films. In addition, its unique artistic achievement helped Wong’s career reach a new peak. This time the re-edited, re-released 3D version1 undeniably created a suspicion of recycling old materials or grabbing money. But the re-edited and renewed contents and format gave fans something to look forward to. Wong says: “To me, I hope more people will see this film. This film is about an era that has been forgotten by us. If more people revisit that era, I believe it will be very beneficial.”
An Ying: There has been a rumor that there is a four-hour version of The Grandmaster. Later you said there is no such thing. So among all the versions,2 is the 3D one the version that you are the happiest with?
Wong Kar-wai: I have always said those of us who make films have an idea, but it cannot be expressed in one single film. Sometimes you have enough materials, but you cannot simply divide one film into two. [The Grandmaster] should not be like this. Everyone says there is a four-hour version, but in fact there is not. To me, the 3D version is the ultimate version of The Grandmaster. I think many things in this version are very good, but they are not included in the 2D version. This time I let [the 3D version] greet everyone, and this is also the last time [that a version of The Grandmaster will be released].
AY: In addition to the tighter narration in the 3D version, the most important additions are the two extra segments of footage at the end. Can we say these two clips are the biggest surprises that you bring to the audience?3
WKW: Actually, no. After you watch the 3D version, you will have a clearer idea [of the story] when you re-watch the 2D version. The 2D version talks about a certain era, the Republican China. We can see the martial arts novels of Pingjiang Buxiaosheng or Gong Baiyu4 because the narratives of the novels were linear. But in the 3D version we follow the path of one person, the path of the grandmaster. There are three stages of his path: facing himself, facing the world of kung fu masters, and facing the era by keeping the legacy of kung fu.5 In this story only one person has completed all the stages; that person is Ip Man. Therefore, we follow the path of Ip Man’s life: people he met, things he encountered, and eventually how he achieved the path of being a grandmaster.
About the footage, we all want to know something that many people don’t. The narration of the 3D version has no space to accommodate the two clips. The unknown is very attractive for the audience and I would like to share the footage with them.
AY: Can we say the two clips are best not to be included in the narration because they contradict the story?
WKW: You can say that’s the case.
AY: At the end of the 3D version, there was a clip that re-enacts the “64 Hands” kung fu move [of the Gong School].6 This implies a slight change in the relationship between Ip Man and Gong Er. Some audience members feel their relationship has moved forward; others feel it is not as despairing as before, [and therefore less good]. What do you think?
WKW: This is like what Zhao Benshan [who plays the Ding Lianshan character, a senior classmate of Master Gong] said in the 2D version [in the snake stew scene], “It is hard to please everyone. It is very difficult to anticipate what everyone thinks.” In the clip where the “64 Hands” move was enacted, it is to fullfil Ip Man’s wish. He said he wishes that one day he could see the “64 Hands” of the Gong School. Earlier he also said he dreamed of walking in the snow a few times. You understand that in reality he has never been to Northeast China [where Gong Er came from]. but in his heart he has visited the place many, many times.
AY: In the footage Zhao Benshan has a dialogue that says, “Life and death, success and failure, right and wrong, glory and humiliation.” Are these four pairs of opposites something that you most want to express in this 3D version in order to talk about life value and philosophy?
WKW: In fact that dialogue is very important to me. Because in the film, Master Gong and Ding Lianshan represent the older generation of masters. In this duo, one is the mianzi—the public face, the winner, the main character. The other is the lizi—the loser, the supporting character. A lot of times, whether in the kung fu world or in reality, many people start at the same point. At the end, some become the winners; many, though, become the losers. The vicissitude in life is clearly reflected in this dialogue. Also, the most important thing for those who are losers is that they have to finally find out who they are and reconcile themselves.
AY: After the release of the 2D version, Chang Ta-chun7 wrote a blog entry entitled, “The life, death, and exile of Ding Lianshan.”8 He talked about Ding’s assassination of a Japanese militant [Bo Wugui] in occupied northern China as well as the unknown stories between China and Japan, the (Northern) Beiyang government and the (Southern) Nationalist government.9 Have you read that essay?
WKW: Of course, we two edited it together.
AY: Part of a Chang’s story adapted some historical facts about Ding Lianshan. Is this a clue of the whole story?
WKW: Why did Chang Ta-chun include this fable [of Ding killing a Japanese militant] in his book? All history is actually contemporary history. Very often when we read about history, we feel the facts are true. In truth, they are probably something that we made up and interpreted. Chang put this fable in the unofficial story about Ding Lianshan. Many people believe Ding Lianshan and some loser characters existed in history, but that is only a tale we made up for the film. First we had the concepts of mianzi and lizi; afterwards we designed the characters to fit those concepts.
AY: Like, that was only a background—you shot many scenes of those materials, but they did not deal with the face and the inner self?
WKW: But it would make a good film. It is a great idea to make a film about the story of the face and the inner self.
AY: This sounds like a grand historical epic.
WKW: I think if The Grandmaster was really talking about the world of kung fu during the Republican era, it would not be one film. It ought to be three. The first one is about Gong Er and Ip Man; the second one is about the face and the true self; and the last one is about how Razor (played by Chang Chen) was exiled to Taiwan.10
AY: Is the story about Razor’s exile to Taiwan just an idea?
WKW: I have a concrete story. Why did I choose Baji Quan?11 Baji Quan has a legendary background. All the bodyguards of Chinese leaders in the past century were trained in Baji Quan: [the last Emperor of Qing Dynasty] Pu Yi’s bodyguard, Chiang Kai-shek’s, and Chairman Mao’s was said to be. The prototype of Razor is based on Liu Yunqiao, the master of Taiwanese Baji Quan.
AY: Will you make a film about this?
WKW: If the opportunity arises.
AY: After the release of The Grandmaster, many fans online talked about their close readings of it. You have once said in the scene that took place in the tea house,12 Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s character [Ip Man] is like Chow Mo-wan [in In the Mood for Love and 2046]. You wish Ip Man and Chow Mo-wan could have met. There are even some fans online who suggested because you used “Deborah’s Song” from Once Upon a Time in America, The Grandmaster is like “Once Upon a Time in the Republican China.” Do you read the online fans’ close readings and find joy from their discussion every time after your film is released?
WKW: I believe that no matter what one does, someone will try to find clues throughout the entire process: from the time you conceptualize the film to the final product. This is actually a very happy thing. This is interaction in another dimension; you can say this is a friend in the know. I have always said The Grandmaster is not called The Story of Ip Man or The Story of Gong Er because it is about a past event in the Republican China. It is about a past event in the world of kung fu. That’s why I used “Deborah’s Song.”
Many people’s impression of Tony Leung comes from Chow Mo-wan in In the Mood for Love. The audience is very familiar with his character. I suddenly realized Chow Mo-wan is a character who lived in the ’60s of the last century. The grandmaster Ip Man also lived in the ’60s. If the two characters met at a tea house, it would be quite intriguing. Certainly, I did not do this in the film, but I did have a scene in which Tony Leung [as Ip Man] wore a western-style suit. Historically, that was true. Ip Man only wore a western-style suit once, and that was when he took his passport photo. His apprentices told him, “When in Rome, do what the Romans do; do wear a western-style suit to apply for an identity card.” He wore that once, and he never wore it again. He felt that is not something he likes.
AY: During the film promotion in Guangzhou, Li Yuchun was invited to re-interpret a song of Tony Leung. The audience wonder how Wong Kar-wai and Li Yuchun are connected.
WKW: Just because of The Grandmaster. The biggest motivation of editing the 3D version is I could not forget about the film. I kept on thinking about it. I tried to express this motivation so I thought of Tony Leung’s song “It Is so Hard to Forget You.” At that time I wondered who would sing it well. When I was contemplating it, I saw the serious attitude of Li Yuchun when she makes music. Her aura, her pursuit for the ideal is very much like Tony Leung, or perhaps like a grandmaster. Another point is that I never thought she would say yes when we talked to her about this arrangement. She was willing to do it, she said, “I like The Grandmaster very much.” I never thought Li Yuchun would like The Grandmaster, but she told me she really likes The Grandmaster very much. That’s why she was willing to do it, hoping to promote The Grandmaster for us. Here I thank her a lot.
NOTES
1. The 3D version was only officially released in mainland China and Taiwan in 2015. It was in the theater two years after the 2D version. In 2016, the 3D version was shown at the 40th Hong Kong International Film Festival as part of “In the Mood for Films—25th Anniversary of Jet Tone films.”
2. The four versions are the North American (108 min.), the Cannes/European (123 min.), the domestic (130 min.), and the 3D (111 min.). The differences among them are described in http://ent.ifeng.com/movie/dayinmuhou/special/dymh012/.
3. The footage contains Gong Er showing Ip Man the “64 Hands” of the Gong School, and Ding Lianshan talking about “life and death, success and failure, right and wrong, glory and humiliation.”
4. Pingjiang Bixiao Sheng (1889–1957) and Gong Baiyu (1899–1966) were martial arts writers.
5. This is one of Gong Er’s lines of Gong Er; she quoted from her father, Master Gong. The English subtitle in The Grandmaster states that the three stages of mastery are being, knowing, and doing. Gong Er says to Ip Man, “I know myself. I’ve seen the world. Sadly, I can’t pass on what I know. This is a road I won’t see to the end. I hope you will.”
6. The move “64 Hands” is the signature move of the Gong School. In the 2D version, Gong Er vowed to the Buddha that she would not have an apprentice, would not marry, and would not have children if she was allowed to avenge her father.
7. Chang Ta-chun (1957–) is a well-known Taiwanese writer and critic. He is also the script consultant for The Grandmaster.
8. Chang’s blog can be found at: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6b736b5b0102e272.html.
9. The Republican China was a politically chaotic time in modern Chinese history. It started in 1912 and ended in 1949 when the People’s Republic of China was established. During the Republican era, the country was ruled by different local warlords and governments as well as foreign powers. The Japanese military government was resisted by the Nationalists (Chinese National Party, as known as Kuomintang).
10. The Razor character is fictional but is based on two Baji Quan masters. Many Baji Quan masters were assassins or military leaders who rebelled against the Japanese occupation. In The Grandmaster, an injured Razor was shown in a train after an operation. Gong Er asked him to lean on her shoulder to disguise them as lovers. This fooled the Japanese army who overlooked Razor being the assassin.
11. Baji Quan can be literally translated as Eight Extremities Fist.
12. It is the scene where Ip Man last meets Gong Er in a tea house in Hong Kong. Gong Er returns the button to Ip Man and says, “I once cared about you.”