The life of Ang Lee: before Hollywood fame
The life of Ang Lee: before Hollywood fame
2024-07-28
The modern motion picture industry has been dominated by the U.S. and Europe. Taiwan’s film industry has developed a bit slower. In that context, the director Ang Lee, who successfully broke into Hollywood and whose films have been roundly praised, is truly "the Pride of Taiwan." In this first installment of a three-part report, we meet one of Taiwan’s greatest artists, and tell his story from the very beginning. Our Sunday special report.
When the KMT retreated to Taiwan in 1949, former education ministry secretary Lee Sheng and his wife Yang Si-chuang were among the refugees, and became high school teachers in Chaozhou, Pingtung.
Their first son, Ang Lee, was born five years later on Oct. 23, 1954.
His name, “Ang,” was chosen to commemorate the ship “Yun’an” which brought them to Taiwan, as well as their ancestral home De’an in Jiangxi, China.
When Lee was a toddler, his father was appointed the head of Hualien Normal College. The family moved to Hualien, and stayed there eight years.
Ang Lee
Director
As far as I’m concerned, my upbringing began in Hualien. My earliest memories are from Hualien. It was a simple, earthy time. The environment around me was full of people who were recent immigrants from China. Lots of soldiers, civil servants and teachers. I received an experimental U.S.-style education. It was quite sophisticated for Taiwan, at that time.
The lush landscapes of Hualien, and the inspiring education at the normal college elementary school, provided a backdrop for a happy childhood. When Lee was in fourth grade, aged 10, his father was reposted, becoming principal of Tainan Second Senior High School. The family relocated to Tainan.
Lee was now in a city of history and culture. He was also introduced to exam-factory education, corporal punishment and relentless tests.
Ang Lee
Director
I think it was a math exam. Everyone who had gotten a certain question wrong had to line up on their knees outside the classroom, and the teacher went along boxing their ears. A slap for each question wrong. The first time I was beaten, it felt like the world was ending.
Lee was a slow bloomer, quiet and introverted. He often suffered corporal punishment because of imperfect math scores. But he excelled in Chinese language classes, and became a different person on the stage, frequently triumphing in Chinese competitions. He was even elected “Children’s Mayor”.
Huang Chung-chia
Teacher of Ang Lee, National Tainan First Senior High School
I heard from his mother that Lee used to perform as a child. In elementary school, he wrote theater plays, directed plays, and even played the lead. He led his classmates in putting the play on.
Chen Chi-ho
Teacher of Ang Lee, Tainan Municipal Yanping Junior High School
He was quiet, gentle, moderate, not naughty, paid attention in class. He knew how to persevere. He wasn’t a cheeky troublemaker.
In the 1960s, junior high admissions required an entrance exam. Lee was stronger in humanities than sciences. He got into Yanping Junior High, his second choice, and then Tainan First Senior High, his first choice. But the joy at getting into the top school was quickly replaced by stress and pressure. The school principal was his father. His father’s example, and the eyes of onlookers, felt oppressive for the young and shy Lee.
Ang Lee
Director
I avoided him at school, I’d take the long way if I saw him coming. Should I call him dad? Or principal? Or make a formal greeting? I didn’t know how to act.
Chang Cheng-liang
High school classmate of Ang Lee
He was very well-behaved then. His classmate, Tang Kuo-ting, and I used to fold our school hats into wing shapes. Lee never dared fold his hat. He feared his father’s scolding. He was a good little boy.
Lee Sheng had high hopes for Lee, to excel at school and follow in his own career footsteps. The school itself was highly competitive. It was hard for Lee to meet his father’s standards.
Ang Lee
Director
I was the oldest son, and in traditional Chinese upper-class families, as well as Taiwanese families in the Japanese colonial period, you were meant to study. Good grades were the thing.
Huang Chung-chia
Teacher of Ang Lee, National Tainan First Senior High School
I think that Lee had two sources of stress during high school. One was his dad being the principal, which meant he wanted to do well. The second was, it was a science-oriented school. He told me once that during school exams, his palms would start to sweat, cold sweat, as soon as he read on the paper the words, “Tainan First Senior High Science Exam.” So I think it was very stressful.
But this stress led to the opportunity that propelled Lee towards film. Whenever he felt sad, Lee would hide from the world by watching Western films at a dollar theater.
Movies became a psychospiritual refuge, and cinema arts began to subtly influence him.
Ang Lee
Director
I saw one movie each weekend, more or less. Normally I had to attend cram school, so I didn’t have much time. And there was summer vacation. I watched movies during vacation. In those days, there weren’t as many ways to have fun as there are now. Watching films was my only real nourishment, on a spiritual level as well as entertainment.
At the end of high school, Lee’s grades didn’t put him in the top 15% of students who got into college. The first year he missed the grade by six marks. The second year, he scored just 0.67 in math, missing the college grade by one mark. He couldn’t seem to catch a lucky break. His failure to get into college two years in a row was a devastating setback.
Chang Cheng-liang
High school classmate of Ang Lee
Of course it was a blow. His dad was the First Senior High principal. Were Lee’s grades that bad? No, not much worse than anybody’s. His general performance at high school would make you think he’d definitely get into college. But he couldn’t pass the exams.
Khan Lee
Younger brother of Ang Lee
The second time was even worse, of course. He disappeared. I rode my bike over an hour, to the seaside at Kunshen, and found him there. He was there, the sun was setting. He walked home, back to the sunset. There was nothing I could say. But we went home together.
In the end, Lee enrolled in the National Arts School, in the directing class of the film and theater faculty. It wasn’t ideal, but at least the class suited his interests. However, his parents, with their background in the scholar-official class, were very disappointed.
Khan Lee
Younger brother of Ang Lee
Ours was a scholar-official family, and they say, “All work is lowly. Only studies bring glory.” But my dad was very enlightened, when the whistle blew, no matter how reluctant he had felt, in the end, if you decided something, he would support you. That’s how our family was.
Filmmaking opened up a new world for Lee. In his first year at college, he played the lead for the first time, in a play directed by a classmate. Lee found himself onstage.
Ang Lee
Director
I was 18, and I was in a play. The first time I got up on the stage…I didn’t realize it during rehearsals, but on the first night of performances, I knew it straight away. It changed my life. I realized that my life was over there! It belonged to the stage.
That play was just the first of many wherein the quiet, reserved Lee would trip the boards. He acted in at least 15 stage plays during his three years of college. In 1974, he won “Best Lead Actor” in the college’s theater department. This was also when he started writing and directing.
Kuo Chien-hung
College classmate of Ang Lee
When Lee was at school, he looked pretty much how he does now. He was a young oldster at school. We called him “little oldster.” He was so polite and civilized. He played all the “good guy” roles.
Ku Nai-chun
College teacher of Ang Lee
He wrote and directed his own plays too. So he also impressed us in that area.
Alongside his theater, Lee got serious about films, learning how to appreciate and critique them seriously. More importantly, he started making them, handling lighting, scripts, art direction and camerawork.
Kuo Chien-hung
College classmate of Ang Lee
To improve his aesthetics for cinematography, he learned about art from his friends. He wrote scripts, acted, directed. When we lit our films, he paid attention, he arranged the lighting himself.
Ang Lee
Director
There’s a lot of stuff, technical and academic stuff, that I only really learned properly in the U.S. But I think that I found a space that inspired me at the National Arts School. That was really special, in those days.
Lee graduated from the National Arts School in 1975. His father still hoped he would go into academia. He urged him to go abroad for further study after completing his national service, and to aim for a career as a theater arts professor.
At the age of 25, Lee got into the directing course at the University of Illinois Theater Department. Two years later, he continued his directing studies at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. He completed five films as a student at NYU. They won him scholarships, as well as the honor of first place in his Master of Arts class. At 31, the world was his oyster.
Chou Hsu-wei
New York University classmate of Ang Lee
He was already very highly rated as a student filmmaker. When his student films were shown publicly at NYU, he got a contract with an agent.
The rising star signed on with an agent and waited for opportunity to come knocking. To his surprise, it was a long wait of six years.
Join us next Sunday in FTV’s Sunday special report, as we follow the twists and turns of Lee’s filmmaking journey.
For more Taiwan news, tune in:
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Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53
金獎導演李安的故事
2024-07-28
近代動畫藝術，電影工業領導旗艦在歐美，台灣相形緩步見拙。因此出自於台灣，真正打進好萊塢影業，又得獎連連的金獎導演李安，就是名符其實的台灣之光。一連三個禮拜，我們將為您介紹台灣之光導演李安的故事。
隨著1949百萬軍民大撤退，原任中國教育部主秘的李昇和妻子楊思莊，來台後，落腳屏東潮州，在中學任教。
五年後，1954年10月23號，長子誕生了。
為了紀念老家江西德安，以及撤退時及時搭上「雲安號」輪船，於是給孩子取了個單名「安」字，就叫李安。
就在李安剛學會走路時，父親李昇，被派任花蓮師範學校校長。於是舉家遷居後山，這一待就是八個年頭。
[[導演 李安]]
“我的成長對我來講，是從花蓮開始。從我有記憶，都是在花蓮。那是一個很單純、泥土性很強，然後在我的生活環境裡面，是相當外省人的一個環境。就是軍公教這樣的環境，受的教育，是美式的實驗性教育。在那時候台灣是相當先進的。”
花蓮的青山綠水，加上花蓮師範附小的啟發式開放教育，讓李安擁有快樂的後山童年。直到十歲，小學四年級，父親再次轉調，擔任台南二中校長，於是全家再搬遷到了台南。
李安從此受到府城書香的薰陶，但也因此體驗到，升學主義下的打罵式、填鴨教育。
[[導演 李安]]
“我想是考數學吧。就是哪一題沒有做，就是到(教室)外面排隊跪一排，老師就打耳光，一個個打過去。就是看你錯幾題，那我第一次被打的時候就覺得，好像世界末日一樣。”
少年時期的李安，青澀、寡言、內向。還常因為數學成績不理想，而遭體罰。反倒是國語文程度優異，一上台就換了樣，經常在競賽中過關斬將。甚至還當選過兒童小市長。
[[李安南一中老師 黃重嘉]]
“我這是聽李媽媽講的，她說他小時候就會表演。唸小學的時候，他也能夠自己寫劇本、自己當導演，甚至當主角。然後帶動同學，表演一齣劇。”
[[李安初中老師 陳啟和]]
“就是文靜、保守、上課也不怎麼調皮，很注意聽講。就是說他有一點執著啦，他不會說有調皮搗蛋的現象出來。”
六０年代上初中得考試。文史優於數理的李安，考上第二志願台南延平中學。接著高中考上第一志願，台南一中。只是金榜題名的心情，很快被壓力給取代。因為這時的台南一中校長，正是父親－李昇。父親的榜樣和眾人的矚目，讓年輕羞澀的李安，感受無比沈重。
[[導演 李安]]
“我在學校就是躲他，看到他在那邊過來。我就繞道跑。不知道要叫爸爸？還是叫校長？還是要敬禮？都不曉得該怎麼辦。”
[[李安初高中同學 張正良]]
“那時候李安就是很乖。像我跟唐國定(李安同學) 就會把它(校帽)彎、拉，變成很像翅膀一樣。李安從來不敢去把它(校帽)彎，他怕他爸爸罵他。所以他就是乖乖牌、小小的。”
校長父親望子成龍，希望李安學業成績好，將來克紹箕裘。但身處強龍爭鬥的南一中，李安很難達到父親的理想標準。
[[導演 李安]]
“我是長子，就是在中國傳統士大夫這種家庭也好，或是台灣日式的家庭也好，反正讀書就是你應該做的事情，讀書好就是好。”
[[李安南一中老師 黃重嘉]]
“我覺得導演在一中，他可能有兩個壓力來源。一個爸爸是校長，他一直想要表現好。第二一中它本來就是一個數理傾向比較強的學校。他有一次曾經跟我說，他考試，段考或平時考，只要看到「台南一中數學科考卷」這幾個字，手心就開始冒冷汗。所以我想這個壓力是很大。”
升學壓力，反倒促成李安和電影接觸的機會。因為每當情緒低落，李安就躲到二輪片戲院看洋片。逐漸的，電影成了李安的心靈避風港。影藝藝術也開始對他潛移默化。
[[導演 李安]]
“那我大概一個禮拜會看一次，週末的時候。因為平常都要補習，也沒有很多時間。還有暑假。反正假期會看電影。我們那個時候，沒有現在這麼多好玩的東西。看電影是唯一的一個精神，還有娛樂上一個主要的糧食。”
南一中苦熬三年，李安終究還是擠不進只有15%錄取率的大學窄門。第一年以總分六分之差落榜。第二年數學只考0.67分，而且以一分之差再度落榜。得不到幸運之神眷顧，李安兩度落榜，晴天霹靂，宛如世界末日。
[[李安初高中同學 張正良]]
“當然(打擊)大啊，他爸爸是南一中校長。那他成績有比別人差嗎？也沒有比人家差多少。以他在台南一中平常的表現，他怎麼會考不上大學呢？可是他就考不上。”
[[李安弟弟 李崗]]
“到第二次考完，當然就更世界末日。他(李安)就不見了。我就騎腳踏車要騎一個多鐘頭，就騎到鯤鯓的海邊去找他。他真的就在那邊，就是正好夕陽，他就走了回來，背著光走過來這樣。也沒什麼好講的，兩個人就一路回家。”
李安最後無心插柳地，考進台灣藝專三專部影劇科導演組。結果雖然不盡理想，卻不違逆自己興趣。反倒是有士大夫觀念的雙親，感到挫折。
[[李安弟弟 李崗]]
“一方面我們家還是士大夫的家庭嘛。萬般皆下品，唯有讀書高。不過爸爸這個是很開明，就是他臨門一腳，他還是，他再千百個不願意，你決定了什麼，我們家還是都是這個樣子。你決定了，他還是支持你。”
走進影像藝術世界，李安有如浴火重生。藝專第一年，在一齣學姐編導的舞台劇，首次擔綱男主角。當站上舞台的那一剎那，李安找到自我。
[[導演 李安]]
“那個時候十八歲，是演一個舞台劇。我第一次站在舞台上，一站上去，排戲的時候我不曉得。就正式演出，一站，我馬上就曉得。就是我的人生變了。原來我的人生是在那個地方，是屬於舞台的。”
從此，這位個性溫和、談吐斯文的大男孩，擔綱戲劇小生，一齣接一齣地演。三年藝專期間，演出不下十五齣舞台劇。甚至在1974年，拿下大專話劇比賽最佳男主角。李安也從這個時期起，開始嘗試編導。
[[李安藝專同學 郭建宏]]
“李安他以前學校的時候，就長得跟現在其實差不了多少。學校是一個小老頭，我們都叫他小老頭。很斯斯文文的。所有的正派角色都是李安在演。”
[[李安藝專導師 顧乃春]]
“同時他也自編自導。所以在這一塊，他當時讓我們感覺他也有表現。”
話劇之外，李安也開始接觸電影。學會如何專業地欣賞電影、評析電影。更重要的是開始學習拍攝電影。包括燈光、腳本、美術、運鏡。
[[李安藝專同學 郭建宏]]
他為了要能夠在攝影方面，增加它的美感。他就跟朋友去學美術。他就寫劇本，自己演、自己導。那甚至我們(打)燈光的時候，他自己還會看燈光，自己去把燈調好這樣。
[[導演 李安]]
“我很多技術上的東西，學科上的東西，是到美國才學得真的比較深入。可是我覺得在藝專的時候，我有一個就是說啟發我興趣的一個空間，那個在那個年代，是很不得了的。”
1975年李安自藝專畢業，父親仍然指望他走學術路。於是頻頻催促他，在退伍之後出國深造。朝戲劇系教授的目標邁進。
25歲的李安，申請到美國伊利諾大學，戲劇系導演組就讀。1981年，再順利地進入NYU紐約市立大學電影研究所。在NYU完成五部學生電影，不僅讓李安贏得作品獎學金，更以第一名成績取得碩士學位。31歲的李安，這時才華洋溢、前途似錦。
[[李安紐約大學學妹 周旭薇]]
“其實他在拍學生作品的時候，就已經非常被看好了。他學生作品在我們紐約大學公開放映的時候，他那時候就被一個經紀人簽下來了。”
然而這位等著在影業界，一展長才的NYU青年才俊，簽了約就等伯樂、良機到來。卻沒想到，這一等就是漫長的六個年頭。
下星期，將帶您繼續了解李安如何在電影界崛起。
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