Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Interview: Wong Kar Wai, director of My Blueberry Nights

When it comes to poker, Mr. Wong plays them close to the vest.

By John P. Meyer

On Wednesday, April 2, I had a chance to speak by phone with director Wong Kar Wai, whose first English-language feature film - My Blueberry Nights - showcases chanteuse extraordinaire (and DISD Booker T. Washington High School alumna) Norah Jones in her first acting role. Turns out he actually wrote the part for Ms. Jones, who must have made an amazing first impression.

The movie opens in limited release this Friday (April 4), but you won't be able to see it here in North Texas until April 18, when it plays at the Magnolia and the Angelika Plano - at which time I'll be posting a review of the film.

Here are highlights of the appended audio interview with Wong Kar Wai, which runs about 10 minutes:

* The story derives from an earlier short film he made that ended up not becoming part of Fa yeung nin wa (In the Mood for Love)

* When he met with Norah Jones, he felt that she had real star quality and was frankly surprised she'd never been in a film; he wrote the new treatment with her in mind (collaborating with American novelist Lawrence Block)

Interview: Wong Kar Wai

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* The Memphis segment is intended as an homage to Tennessee Williams

* The film was shot on a tight schedule: 7 weeks in four cities, mostly on location

* Mr. Wong refuses to take the dangling bait of my Einsteinian relativity question (dang it!)

* "Do you play poker yourself?", I ask. "Sometimes," says Kar Wai. And leaves it at that.

* How many takes did it... um... take to get the kissing scene between Jude and Norah just the way he wanted it?

* He's working on a film called The Grand Master, a story about Bruce Lee's teacher

NOTE that the audio ends rather abruptly with me thanking Wong Kar Wai for talking with us - he did, in fact, go on to express his kind appreciation, but my finger must have punched the stop button at that point, cutting off his gracious goodbye.

Related stories

• Movie review: Ashes of Time Redux (Dung che sai duk redux) (Oct. 24, 2008)
• Movie review part un (“he said”): My Blueberry Nights (April 18, 2008)
• Movie review part deux (“she said”): My Blueberry Nights (April 18, 2008)
• Pegasus News Week in View: Dallas tells AFI, “That’s a wrap!” (April 3, 2008)

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• Arts > Movies / Film > Independent Films