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发帖数: 141625 | 1 http://jeffjlin.com/2013/02/23/ang-lee-and-the-uncertainty-of-s
Ang Lee and the uncertainty of success
jeffjlin
Recently I was going through some old things I had put away for safekeeping,
and I found these:
Business card and interview tape, circa 1993.
In 1993 I interviewed film director Ang Lee before the US premiere of his
second movie, “The Wedding Banquet,” at the Seattle International Film
Festival (at the time I was editor of the International Examiner and we were
one of their media sponsors). At the time, Lee was an unknown in the U.S.,
an anomaly as a Taiwan-born immigrant director in the United States, mostly
notable for having been the NYU classmate of the more famous director Spike
Lee.
Nearly two decades later, it’s Ang Lee who’s up at Sunday’s Academy
Awards for Best Picture (his fourth nomination) and Best Director (his third
), for “Life of Pi.” And in terms of overall tally, “Life of Pi” (11
nominations) trails only Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” (12 nominations).
It’s hard not to root for Lee — an unassuming, down-to-earth guy that
sends his kids to public schools, does the cooking and shuttles his sons to
cello lessons when he comes home. I have always had a personal affinity for
him, partly because he was super-nice to my parents (they were seated next
to him at the premiere of “The Wedding Banquet”); partly because he was
gracious both times I interviewed him; partly because he’s from Taiwan (he
has the same accent as my parents) and is kicking ass but not in
semiconductors, manufacturing or medicine. Those are all factors.
But the thing that I perhaps relate to most (and the part that you hopefully
find as inspiring) is the part of his story that’s between the lines,
specifically these lines:
1984: Graduates NYU, signed by William Morris agency after winning the
Wasserman prize with “Fine Line”
1990: Wins prize for two scripts in a contest sponsored by the Taiwanese
government. Gets backing to direct his first feature, “Pushing Hands”
From age 30 to 36, he’s living in an apartment in White Plains, NY trying
to get something — anything — going, while his wife Jane supports the
family of four (they also had two young children) on her modest salary as a
microbiologist. He spends every day at home, working on scripts, raising the
kids, doing the cooking. That’s a six-year span — six years! — filled
with dashed hopes and disappointments. “There was nothing,” he told The
New York Times. “I sent in script after script. Most were turned down. Then
there would be interest, I’d rewrite, hurry up, turn it in and wait weeks
and weeks, just waiting. That was the toughest time for Jane and me. She
didn’t know what a film career was like and neither did I.” It got so
discouraging that Lee reportedly contemplated learning computer science so
he could find a job during this time, but was scolded by his wife when she
found out, telling him to keep his focus.
Put yourself in his shoes. Imagine starting something now, this year, that
you felt you were pretty good at, having won some student awards, devoting
yourself to it full time…and then getting rejected over and over until 2019
. That’s the middle of the term of the next President of the United States.
Can you imagine working that long, not knowing if anything would come of it
? Facing the inevitable “So how’s that film thing going?” question for
the fifth consecutive Thanksgiving dinner; explaining for the umpteeth time
this time it’s different to parents that had hoped that film study meant
you wanted to be a professor of film at a university.
It wasn’t until 1991 that Lee finally got a chance to helm his first movie,
“Pushing Hands,” which wasn’t even released in the U.S. But after “
Pushing Hands” came “The Wedding Banquet,” the film that would be his U.S
. breakout and net him a Best Foreign Picture nomination; two years later,
“Sense and Sensibility” would bring him into worldwide prominence; then a
string of hits: “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Brokeback Mountain,”
and now “Life of Pi” that have made him a common figure in the Oscar
proceedings and the box-office charts ($576 million and 11 nominations for
“Life of Pi” alone).
Of course, looking at the Ang Lee story now, who wouldn’t want to trade
places: what’s six, seven, ten, even more years if you knew it would result
in massive worldwide commercial and critical success? It’s common to hear
“follow your bliss” or “do what you love and success follows.” Sounds
great, right? Except here’s one small detail: You never get to know if it’
s ever going to happen. You don’t get to choose if and in what form the
success manifests; you don’t get to choose when it arrives.
It’s not as if you say, “Okay, universe, I’m ready for my turn! Any day
now!” For some people it happens immediately; for others they get steady
bits of success over time; and for others, they have long, long stretches of
nothing over years. Another detail that I’ve always wondered about: during
this long period at home, his NYU classmate Spike Lee releases three films,
including the commercially successful and universally acclaimed “Do The
Right Thing” in 1989. Having been in similar situations I can only imagine
it stirred a very complex set of emotions.
If you’re an aspiring author, director, musician, startup founder, these
long stretches of nothing are a huge reason why it’s important to pick
something personally meaningful, something that you actually love to do.
When external rewards and validation are nonexistent; when you suffer
through bouts where of jealousy, wondering “How come so-and-so got signed/
is successful/got a deal/etc?”; when every new development seems like a
kick in the stomach, the love of what you are doing gives you something to
hang onto.
Much is made of genius and talent, but the foundation of any life where you
get to realize your ambitions is simply being able to out-last everyone
through the tough, crappy times — whether through sheer determination, a
strong support network, or simply a lack of options.
On Sunday, as they announce “Life of Pi” as a contender in its 11
categories, make a note to remember it the next time you hit another rough
patch — a series of rejections, a long stretch of nothing. Your
achievements of tomorrow may be very well be planted with the seeds of today
’s disappointments.
P.S. “Life of Pi” is an adaptation of Yann Martel’s 2001 Man Booker Prize
-winning novel of the same name. It recently surpassed sales of 3.1 million
volumes. Of course, first it was rejected by five London publishing houses
before being picked up by Knopf Canada. | k***l
发帖数: 2396 | 2 给你google translate 一下
1993年，我采访了电影导演李安之前，他的美国首演
第二部电影“喜宴”，在西雅图国际电影
节（当时我是国际考官“的编辑，我们
他们的媒体赞助商之一）。当时，李在美国是一个未知的，
作为一个台湾出生的移民在美国的导演，大多异常
值得注意的是纽约大学的同班同学，著名导演斯派克
李。
近二十年后，它的李安在周日的奥斯卡
最佳影片奖（他的第四次提名），最佳导演（他的第三个
），“少年Pi”。整体符合“少年Pi”（11
提名）仅次于史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格的“林肯”（12个提名）。
这很难不为root的李 - 一种不事张扬，朴实的家伙，
送他的孩子到公立学校，做饭和梭他的儿子们
学习大提琴，当他回家。我一直有一个个人的亲和力
他说，部分原因是因为他是超级孝顺父母（他们坐在旁边
他在“喜宴”）的首映式，部分原因是因为他是
亲切的两次我采访了他，一方面是因为他是从台湾（他
具有相同的口音，我的父母），和被驴踢了，但不是在
半导体，制造和医药。这些都是重要的因素。
但是事情，我也许涉及到最（以及一部分，你希望
找到鼓舞人心的），他的故事线之间的部分，
特别是以下几行：
1984年：纽约大学的毕业生，获胜后，威廉·莫里斯经纪公司签署
沃瑟曼奖“精品线路”
1990年：荣获一等奖在比赛中的两个脚本由台湾主办
政府。获取后盾，以指导他的第一个特点，“推手”
从30岁到36，他住在一个公寓中白滩市（White Plains），NY尝试
得到的东西 - 什么 - 去，而他的妻子珍妮支持
她的薪水很微薄，一个四口之家（他们也有两个年幼的孩子）
微生物学家。他在家里度过每一天，脚本上的工作，提高
孩子，做做饭。这是一个为期6年的跨度 - 六年！ - 填充
希望的破灭和失望。 “没什么，”他告诉
“纽约时报”。 “我给脚本后，脚本。大多数被拒绝。然后
会有兴趣，我会重写，赶快行动起来，把它在等待数周
和几周内，只是在等待。这是简和我最艰难的时期。她
不知道是什么电影事业一样，也没有我。“它变得如此
沮丧的是，据报道，拟学习计算机科学，所以
在此期间，他总能找到工作，但他的妻子被人骂时，她
发现了，告诉他要保持他的工作重点。
把自己摆在他的鞋子。想象一下，现在开始的东西，今年，
你觉得你还不错的，已经赢得了一些学生的奖励，投入
自己充分的时间，然后拒绝一遍又一遍，直到2019年
。这是美国下届总统的任期中间。
你能想象有工作那么久，不知道如果有的话，它会来
？面对不可避免的“，所以那部电影的事情是怎么回事？”的问题
连续第五次感恩节晚餐，解释为的umpteeth的时间
这一次是不同的父母，希望电影研究意味着
你想在大学教授电影。
但直到1991年，李终于有机会执掌他的第一部电影，
“推手”，甚至没有在美国发行，但之后“
推手“来了”喜宴“的电影，这将是他的美国。
。休息区和净他一个最佳外语影片提名，两年后，
“理智与情感”，给他带来了全球范围的显着性;然后
一系列的成功：“卧虎藏龙卧虎藏龙”，“断背山”
和现在的“少年Pi”，让他一个普通人物在奥斯卡
程序和票房图表（5.76亿美元，和11项提名
“皮”单独生活）。
当然，在李安的故事，谁也不会想交易
地方：什么是六，七，十，甚至更多年，如果你知道它会导致
在，大规模全球商业和成功的关键？这是常见的听
“按照你的幸福”或“做你所爱的东西，成功就来了。”声音
太好了，对不对？除了这里的一个小细节：你永远不知道，如果它'
小号会发生。您如果不选择以何种方式
成功的表现，你不选择，当它到达。
这不是因为如果你说，“好吧，宇宙，我已经准备好了轮到我了！任何一天
现在！“对于一些人来说，会立即发生，为他人，他们获得稳定的
随着时间的推移和对他人的成功，他们有位长，很长一段
没有多年来。另一个细节，我一直在想：在
这漫长的时间在家里，他的NYU同学斯派克·李（Spike Lee）发布三部电影，
包括商业上的成功和有口皆碑的“做的
在1989年的正确的事“。已经在类似的情况下，我只能想象
这激起了非常复杂的情绪。
如果你是一个有抱负的作家，导演，音乐家，创业者，这些
很长一段没有什么是一个巨大的原因，为什么它是重要的挑
个人有意义的东西，什么，你真正喜欢做的事。
当外部奖励和验证是不存在的，当你患
通过一阵阵嫉妒，想知道“如何来得到签署和/
成功/了一个交易/等吗？“时，每一个新的发展似乎是一个
踢在肚子里，给你的爱，你在做什么的东西
挂到。
很多的天才和天赋，但任何生命的基础
实现你的野心仅仅是到了最后大家
通过艰难的，糟糕的时候 - 无论是通过坚定的决心，
强大的支持网络，或只是一个缺乏选择。
上周日，“少年Pi”作为一个竞争者，因为他们宣布在其11
类，记住了一张字条给它下一次，你打另一个粗糙
补丁 - 一系列的拒绝，没有一个长长的。您的
可以很好地种植的种子，今天成就明天
的不如意。
附： “少年Pi”是适应晏Martel的2001年布克奖
获奖小说相同的名称。它最近销售超过310万
卷。当然，首先拒绝了5个伦敦出版社
前，被拾起诺普夫加拿大。 | w***r
发帖数: 7173 | 3 haha, gotta love google translator.
kicking ass - 被驴踢了 | a******e
发帖数: 6689 | 4 这个写得挺好。理想主义本来就是这么回事，人是在失败中学会理想主义的，不是成功。
我觉得不管干什么，为了掌声啊、共鸣啊、被欣赏啊等等这些外界标准其实很难坚持到
最后，除非一开始就特lucky；能经历种种失败最后还坚持的，都是内心深处追逐月亮
的，不追不行，简直就是本能冲动。 | w***r
发帖数: 7173 | 5 不如你写的那个好. 真的.
功。
【在 a******e 的大作中提到】
: 这个写得挺好。理想主义本来就是这么回事，人是在失败中学会理想主义的，不是成功。
: 我觉得不管干什么，为了掌声啊、共鸣啊、被欣赏啊等等这些外界标准其实很难坚持到
: 最后，除非一开始就特lucky；能经历种种失败最后还坚持的，都是内心深处追逐月亮
: 的，不追不行，简直就是本能冲动。
| a******e
发帖数: 6689 | 6 谢谢。你是说Three Idiots的影评吗？
【在 w***r 的大作中提到】
: 不如你写的那个好. 真的.
:
: 功。
| w***r
发帖数: 7173 | |
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