A Movie Is Really Provocation. It's Not

Not Taboo - It's Just That Straight Actors Still Risk Their Careers Commercially And Economically. They Have To Please The Crowd - They're Movie Stars; Their Image Is Their Industry. It Goes Beyond Acting.

Making This Movie As A Period Piece About A Period That Was Very Recent In People's Minds. I Was In Taiwan [during The 1970s], So I Hope I Did All Right. Otherwise, It Could Be The Biggest Embarrassment Of My Life. Also, The Story Is Not Linear, It's Patchy, Like A Cubist Painting, And There Is Always The Possibility It Will Not Hold Together, It Will Fall Apart. The Tone Is Part Satire, Part Serious Drama, Part Tragedy, All Mixed Together, And It Has To Hit An Emotional Core. That's Also Very Scary.

Meanwhile, The Ice Storm Was Still In Development, And That Was Something I Really Wanted To Do, And Frankly I Don't Think I Was Ready To Do A Big Production Like This.

I Just Did A Dramatic Love Story. Whether It's A Cultural Phenomenon Is Not For Me To Say.

When I Grew Up, In Taiwan, The Korean War Was Seen As A Good War, Where America Protected Asia. It Was Sort Of An Extension Of World War Ii. And It Was, Of Course, The Peak Of The Cold War. People In Taiwan Were Generally Proamerican. The Korean War Made Japan. And Then The Vietnam War Made Taiwan. There Is Some Truth To That.