Trust, no caution needed

Tang Wei didn't know what it was that she was auditioning for, or who was involved with the production. She had no idea that 10,000 actresses, including many A-listers, were competing for the role.

In the little-known actress' first audition for the project, she read lines from a fake script. For the second audition, the director showed up.

It was Ang Lee.

Surprisingly, Lee poured a cup of tea for her, as if he had noticed her tension. They then talked about Tang's family, her school and her stage experience. After graduating from the Central Academy of Drama, China's best institute for theater arts, Tang has spent most of her time on stage. She told Lee her favorite director was Ingmar Bergman, but she had no idea he was also one of Lee's favorites. When she mentioned that her mother was a Yueju opera singer, Lee asked her to sing.

As Lee later described it, that day they found something in common - a love for theater and southern China.

"Lee was like a senior family member," Tang said in a phone interview. "He was a modest, good listener. I felt very happy when I found the communication was so smooth, no obstacle at all."

When the call for the third audition came, Tang was told to wear a cheongsam. "I had no cheongsam at all, actually I seldom wore dresses then," she said. After hanging up the phone, she rushed to a tailor's shop.

No one gave her any feedback at the third audition. She had the fourth and fifth soon after with makeup and full costume, which helped her get into the character, a student-turned spy in the chaos of 1930s' Shanghai.

After five auditions, Tang was getting nervous. "I said to myself, 'you have tried your best, now it's time to relax'."

Another call led her to Hong Kong last summer. There, she found that the crew had begun preparations for Lee's new project - the espionage thriller Lust, Caution.

"Everyone was busy," she recalled, "Material was piled everywhere, but no one came up and told me that I was the leading actress."

But she suspected that was the case, as Lee had told her they were planning a celebration.

"Celebrating what? I asked myself, but I felt that something was happening," she said. Even so, to stop the news from leaking to the press, the crew had a simple dinner.

"It was like, everyone has been busy preparing for the film. I knew work had begun."

To prepare for her role, Lee gave her a pile of historic records and books to read, and she had to watch plenty of films about 1930s and '40s Shanghai. She threw herself into Greta Garbo's films and the poems of Xu Zhimuo, one of the most famous Chinese poets of the 1920s. Rehearsals included walking with a book on the head and tying her knees together with a ribbon to emulate the elegant pose of Shanghai ladies. She also learned southern opera, Cantonese, Shanghai dialect and English.

The biggest torture for the 28-year-old, however, was trying on different clothes.

"I seldom shop. I think shopping is exhausting. When I had to change clothes, they jokingly asked me if I needed headache pills."

Tang said that Lee once told her: "What you will learn is more than 60 years of courses at the film academy."

The newcomer had to act alongside Asian superstars Tony Leung and Joan Chen and yet, of the 118 days of shooting, 114 were focused on her. She slept three hours a day, sometimes five to six. But despite these hardships, she said: "Even if it is the only role I have in my life, I feel content."

Tang became immersed in the role of Wong Chia Chi, an ordinary girl endowed with an extraordinary assignment.

"I thought the way she thought, dreamed the way she dreamed. She is a simple girl following her heart, I admire her for this," Tang said.

Perhaps influenced by her painter father, Tang specialized in art at high school. Most of her peers chose art college after graduation, but Tang got a chance to play a small part in a TV series before the university entrance exam. The experience made her determined to become an actress. Despite her parents' objections, she applied for a place at the Central Academy of Drama, the school of Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi.

"I think only when you follow your own heart will you be happy, and what you do is meaningful," she said.

And her gut instinct would eventually pay off in the form of a meeting with a director she regards as a visionary.

"Lee has very strong insight. When I had a different opinion, I would speak out, but most of the time I was persuaded by him." she said.

Tang clearly remembers their first scene. Playing Wong, Tang was chatting at an eatery, while behind the monitor Lee suddenly said: "Tang Wei, right eye, higher."

She was confused. How do you make your eye "higher?" She turned to the other actors, but they looked just as puzzled. Finally she figured out that Lee was speaking figuratively. Tang said that as an inexperienced player, sometimes it was difficult when no specific directions were given.

Before and after the premiere, the film's erotic scenes were the talk of the town. Cinephiles' jaws dropped at Lee's bold new direction, and Tony Leung said he had second thoughts about his role. On the other hand, Tang seems comfortable with the explicit material.

"Lee wanted to shoot the scenes, but he was too shy to give too concrete instructions," she said. "We had rehearsals, Leung is a great actor, he helped me a lot."

When Lee told her before filming started there would be sex scenes, she replied: "I gave myself to you!"

"I agree that the scenes are necessary and cannot be substituted by other methods," she added.

When the shooting wrapped up, Tang said she was sad, because the crew had become like a family. She even asked Lee: "Can we shoot for 10 more years?"

"It is hard to describe my relationship with Lee," she said. "It has too many layers, not simply like a father and daughter, or tutor and student. I think he is my benefactor, who has given me an important push," Tang said.

While Lee never revealed why he chose her, he has said that Tang "brings Wong Chia Chi to life."

"That's the best compliment I could get," she said.

(China Daily 12/19/2007 page18)