2008CELEBRITIES
HRN-2698
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
Wayne Wang & Henry O
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
Wayne Wang & Henry O
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| 10:52:25 0 |
A01. HRN-2698
In: 10.52.25 Out: 10.53.48 Sound Bite: Wayne Wang & Henry O – is he shooting both films at the same time? Wayne – No I’m not. Actually I um, Thousand Years and Princess in Nebraska were both short stories in the same collection by Yiyun Li um and I chose to do A Thousand Years first but as I was doing that one I kept thinking about Princess in Nebraska um because they’re related. I mean the Thousand Years is about a father and the daughter and the daughter’s in their 40s and um she was very much affected by the cultural revolution and wants to forget her past so to speak, and Princess in Nebraska’s about a young woman in her early 20s, grew up in the economic boom of China and in a way she doesn’t really have a past and she’s just trying to find an identity for herself so hence I did one and then I during editing I had some money left so I shot Princess in Nebraska very cheaply, very you know guerilla style back to the ? missing days. (talks) They take place in 2 different locations. One is in Spokane one is in San Francisco. They’re very different styles of films um so that’s why actually they, one’s going to be released in the classic way A Thousand Years in the movie theater and Princess in Nebraska will be released on the internet. |
| 10:53:50 85.83 |
A02. HRN-2698
In: 10.53.51 Out: 10.55.11 Sound Bite: Wayne Wang & Henry O – where did he grow up? Henry – You mean my personal history? (talks) Oh I was brought up in Jai Hai by American missionary schools uh and uh then I uh became interested in drama so I became an amateur worker uh but mostly revolutionary. Actually these kind of activities were organized by underground you know communist party. Anyway so gradually I would became involved in theatrical activities and after the takeover in 1949 I joined the theater stage performances for 30 years uh with uh using mandarin, all kinds of uh dramatic productions for children uh for 30 years then and also sometimes I also did some TV and film projects and also some uh co-production films. |
| 10:55:20 174.83 |
A03. HRN-2698
In: 10.55.20 Out: 10.56.07 Sound Bite: Wayne Wang & Henry O – character he plays is very different from himself Henry – There are 2 things I can relate with this character. One is that uh I have also undergone uh similar treatments uh as this character I was criticized and kind of demoted because of something that I didn’t do. Second things is uh we have 3 children and uh my wife and I are always concerned about 2 of them because only 1 of them is prosperous and the other 2 not. Wayne – And 1 of them not married yet. So that’s also a concern, yeah. |
| 10:56:49 263.83 |
A04. HRN-2698
In: 10.56.49 Out: 10.57.35 Sound Bite: Wayne Wang & Henry O – how would he describe the similarity to all his movies Wayne – Well I guess I you know in looking back at a lot of my work it’s always about this insider/outsider you know um because I was born in Hong Kong uh which traditional Chinese parents Hong Kong was a British colony, I was educated by Irish Jesuits and coming to America I’m always sort of inside and outside, looking at it from both angles so a lot of my characters are kind of like that. Even Maid in Manhattan, she’s a maid, she does the room for the guests, but then she’s mistaken to be one of the guests so it’s always kind of somebody who’s inside but you know looking at it from the outside at the same time. |
| 10:57:42 316.83 |
A05. HRN-2698
In: 10.57.42 Out: 10.58.15 Sound Bite: Wayne Wang & Henry O – does he approach things differently Wayne – Yeah they’re very different. I mean you know the big project you work very closely with producers, you work very closely with the studio and the executives and you aim to make a movie that pleases an audience, it has to do well in a preview, and this kind of a movie you have a story to tell and characters that you care about you and you make them as interesting and as complex as you can and you try to control things creatively. |
| 10:58:40 374.83 |
A06. HRN-2698
In: 10.58.40 Out: 10.59.40 Sound Bite: Wayne Wang & Henry O – the cultural difference between the daughter and father Henry – Yeah. Uh generational gap, cultural gap, and the third factor is that since the father was demoted and uh he kept silence for so many years and he stopped communicating with his family, uh which caused uh the situation, the daughter’s situation, so um this is something a little complex and I think that’s the uh the feature of this film, uniqueness of this film. Wayne – Yeah and I think that what happened during the cultural revolution and what happened with the father and his denial uh of that you know really affected their relationship and that’s a very important element in this. |
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