Is "Tian Xia" ("land under the heaven", means "the world"), Leung Chiu-Wai wrote in the desert with his sword, the theme of HERO?

I think, first of all, HERO is a kind of genre movie and is a kind of action movie or wuxia movie, nothing particular about it. My real intension is to explore the market, to test my capability from another angle, and to open more room for Chinese movies from another angle. The room is the domestic market and the international market. Because I found out - I made so many artistic films, were only shown at a few overseas artistic film theaters, and had very little impact among the general audiences. Therefore I wanted to use this mainstream market (the market of non-artistic films) to let more people see my movies and just wanted to make an attempt on this. I don't have any wild ambition of showing some profound meaning in such kind of movies. So, it becomes simpler - I am not attempting to show a profound subject, because it looks like that "tian xia" is about everything and how could a movie bearing such subject? Also, HERO's winning point is not at its subject, but more importantly, whether the film is entertaining, exciting, overwhelming and attracting; and whether it will evoke repercussions among the audiences. Achieving these, I will be pleased and feel satisfied. But, why (I) still talk about some meaning? This is a long-time tradition of mine which makes us, so called artistic directors, to look for a starting point while making a movie.

I hope people not to dig any deeper on this but to ask "did I completely intoxicated by the movie during the 90 minutes?", "without prejudice, do I think this movie is good, and whether it achieved the level of 'carefully made and perfectly beautiful'?" Because HERO is just a mainstream movie, the profoundness of its message, humanity as well as richness of the characters cannot be compared to those of an artistic film. When you recall a movie you saw several years ago, there were probably only a few seconds of it still remains in your brain. Its story and subject might be forgotten, and all you can remember is just the a few seconds of a scene or what a character looks like. Therefore we had set a goal - in HERO, (making) more than three moments of such a few seconds is enough.

Your next project is still a wuxia film?

It's possible. Right now, I am preparing for several projects and I prefer to make (another) wuxia film, (because) I still feel excited about that. I like wuxia films and like this kind of films with room of imagination. "Wuxia" does not equal to "wugong" (martial art). The latter is more about techniques and "xia" is a kind of ideal state. "Xia" is filled with the spread of humanity and the original content of humanity. What is "xia"? Nobody knows. When I was overseas making subtitles for HERO, they didn't know how to translate "xia". I can't do it either, but I think "xia" exits in the ancient Chinese culture. My understand is - "xia" is a special kind of persons. A "xia" is not restricted by anyone but oneself. "Xia" is eager to challenge everything but with one's own way of doing things. It's very exiting to make a movie about "xia". It can fulfill my dream which cannot be fulfilled in the real life.

With US$30 million, HERO does not have the length of two or three hours. Why?

Being honest, we spent more time on the colors, the visual, the styles and attractiveness of the story, the effects, how to make it better, and so on. Why we make the film 90 minute long, (even) shorter than THE RED SORGHUM (Zhang Yimou's directorial début)? With such big budget, nobody would believe I made it so short. I want to make it concentrating, short, running it through at one stretch, without dragging, drawing audiences' attention from the beginning to the end, and not allowing the audiences to think for even one moment until the end.

Also, the style of making a movie in segments is not my invention. Some have been saying whose style it looks like. It doesn't matter. Filmmaking always involves borrowing. However, I used this kind of structure in order to break the structure of the traditional wuxia films. Such kind of structure might be very common among artistic films and might not be something extraordinary, but wuxia films, including those made by King Hu, Chang Cheh, Bruce Lee, and Hark Tsui, all have one single plotline and rarely or never involves segments. I think by using this kind of structure and this way, maybe I can give the audiences some new feeling. That's all. Very simple. Nothing special about it. It's just a little contribution for the genre of wuxia films.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

We once had an alternative ending, made for the Americans. In the beginning, the investor told me the characters should not all die otherwise the Americans would not like it. Therefore we made such (alternative) ending: Moon and the old servant (of Broken Sword) is using wine to commemorate Nameless, Broken Sword and Flying Snow. The old servant said "three of them were all heroes and were all intimates". Moon asked him, "what is intimate?". The old servant answered, "having one intimate during the lifetime is enough, and having three intimate, one can have the tian xia (world)." Moon suddenly realized, "so, three of them are tian xia." Later the American boss (MiramAxe) accepted the (original) one and there is no need to change the ending.

During the fight scene with Flying Snow and Moon, when Moon dies, color of the screen changes from gold to red. What is the purple of doing so?

First, I like red; second, I feel (it is) romantic. The moment of the death of the little girl Moon should be very romantic. Color of all leaves changes from gold to red. It has been written in the screenplay and (we) used computer to achieve it. This is a kind of sur- romantic. It does have its physiologic basis: it is through Moon's shaky eyes and it might happy in real life. Just like telling the story in segments, it not only is a new attempt but also has basis of real life.

Spoilers End here!

How do you foresee HERO's quest for the Oscar?

Honestly, I am not hoping anything. Because CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON winning so many awards is already a miracle. Such miracle has been solidly imprinted in the mind of the Americans. It will influence the voters of the Oscar. Whoever trying to imitate is foolish. The Oscar usually does not give another chance to a film with the same genre. Although I am not expecting anything from the Oscar, but our government has recommended us (HERO is representing China to compete for the Best Foreign Language Film Award), then we will go. We will be happy if we won because an Oscar can bring in huge commercial income. But I cannot expect anything. I have said this: there is not much hope. Also, I am not optimistic about HERO being nominated. The standard of the Americans is different from ours. From this point, Ang Lee is really good. His movie (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON) did not do well in China, but the Americans really like it. I cannot do it.

Many people have asked me when I will feel I have enough awards and way I always compete for awards. Well, Not really. It is the need for distributing films, and the need of the distributors and the producers. We haven't reach the level of refusing an award. For an genre movie, big award will be a big boost to the distribution. You won an award, there are probably eighting distributors coming to you and if you didn't win, probably only one of them will come. Also, an award can increase the fame by 20%, and an Oscar can increase the fame by 80%.

In HERO, you did not cast newcomers like what you have been doing in the past. Why?

It is the need of this kind of movies - you must use stars. High star density can make it look hot in the market. I feel very thankful to these stars. Thanks to their trust and appreciation. I know, each one of them alone can make a movie work and take an absolute leading role. But HERO is a movie made by a team and a story told in segments. Except some group scenes, each actor only got 30 minutes. Quite short for a big star. Many actors don't want to play group scenes. Therefore I think they came for me. I feel deeply appreciated.

How do you judge the actors in HERO?

It is rude to rank actors. I can only say it in general. First, they all worked with me with a real heart and overcame many difficulties of their own. They really came for me. I know that. I am a man don't know how to talk and don't know how to build relationship with words. We worked very well. I wrote a letter to each one of them, inviting them to join (the project). They worked with real heart and did their best. Those are the result of the professionalism and more are from the appreciation and trust. Therefore, the film would not be made without them.

Second, just like what I have said about having intimate in your life. I always believe "having one intimate during the lifetime is enough". With my age and my experience, I no long need to ass-kiss (any star), but I see each one of them as my intimate, intimate of my whole life. Intimates may never meet, or my not be able to see each other for ten or twenty years, but they will always remember each other. This is how I feel. Whether I will work with them depends on the (whether there will be a) right script. I can't make the promise now.