70 Fun Facts About Wong Kar-wai

In which city was Wong Kar-wai born in 1958?

His family emigrated when he was five, and the two older siblings left behind did not see him again for ten years.

What job did Wong's father take after the family arrived in Hong Kong?

His father had earlier been a sailor; young Wong said his only childhood hobby was going to the cinema with his mother.

What did Wong study at the Hong Kong Polytechnic in 1980 before dropping out?

He left after being accepted into a training course at the TVB television network.

Which 1988 crime drama was Wong Kar-wai's directorial debut?

It followed a conflicted young gangster watching over a hot-headed friend, and starred singer Andy Lau.

Wong's debut feature was inspired by which Martin Scorsese film?

Its Cantonese title reads roughly as 'Mongkok Carmen', after the district where its enforcer hero collects debts.

Wong is credited with ten 1980s screenplays but claims to have worked uncredited on roughly how many more?

He spent two years on Patrick Tam's Final Victory alone, earning a Hong Kong Film Awards nomination.

Which director was Wong's most direct influence and mentor, likely inspiring his use of colour?

Wong wrote the screenplay for his action film Final Victory.

Who played the disillusioned playboy Yuddy at the centre of Days of Being Wild?

The film flopped at the box office but won five prizes at the 1991 Hong Kong Film Awards.

Days of Being Wild is set in which year?

Wong picked the decade because he remembered it well and had a 'special feeling' for it.

In Days of Being Wild, Yuddy learns his birth mother lives in which country?

His adoptive mother Rebecca, a former prostitute, had refused for years to reveal the secret.

Which cinematographer first worked with Wong on Days of Being Wild and shot his next six films?

Stephen Schneider credits his 'masterful use of light and colour' with rendering every frame a work of art.

Wong's longtime cinematographer, known in Chinese as Dou Ho-fung, was born in which country?

He was born in Sydney in 1952 and has won the Hong Kong Film Award for cinematography six times.

Which production company did Wong form with Jeff Lau in 1992?

He set it up after the box-office failure of Days of Being Wild left him unable to fund a planned sequel.

Ashes of Time was loosely based on The Legend of the Condor Heroes, a novel by which author?

Wong ended up taking little more than three characters from the book.

Under what title did Wong re-edit and re-score his 1994 wuxia film for release in 2008?

He assembled it using negatives gathered from around the world.

At which festival did Ashes of Time compete for the Golden Lion in 1994?

Its cinematographer won the festival's cinematography prize, though audiences at home found the wuxia film baffling.

Chungking Express was conceived and completed in roughly how long?

Wong shot it during a break in post-production on Ashes of Time, filming each night what he had written that day.

Which song does Faye Wong's character play over and over in Chungking Express?

The Mamas & the Papas hit signals her simultaneous fear of and longing for change.

In Chungking Express, Cop 223 buys tins of which fruit that expire on 1 May?

May, his ex, liked the fruit, and 1 May is his birthday; he gives the relationship until he has bought 30 cans.

The first word of the 1994 film's English title refers to what?

'Express' refers to the Midnight Express food stand in Lan Kwai Fong.

Faye Wong's Cantonese cover of which Cranberries song plays over the end credits of Chungking Express?

Titled 'Mung Tsung Yan', it appeared on her 1994 album Random Thoughts.

Which director's label, Rolling Thunder Pictures, brought Chungking Express to American audiences?

His endorsement did a lot to introduce Wong's work to the West in the 1990s.

Fallen Angels was originally written as what?

Wong split them for length, calling the pair 'one film that should be three hours long'.

Who plays the hitman in Fallen Angels?

He, Michelle Reis and Karen Mok were all new to Wong's films.

What kind of lens did the cinematographer use extensively in Fallen Angels to distort the actors' faces?

The camera stayed as close as possible to the actors to make them look detached from the world around them.

Takeshi Kaneshiro's character in Fallen Angels, Ho Chi-mo, is what?

He lives with his father in Chungking Mansions and breaks into shuttered shops at night.

Happy Together follows a Hong Kong couple who travel to which country?

Wong shot abroad partly to escape pressure to make a film about the 1997 handover.

Which prize did Wong win at Cannes in 1997 for Happy Together, a first for Hong Kong?

He shrugged it off as 'just something you can put on an ad'.

In Happy Together, the couple break up after getting lost on the way to which landmark?

Fai finally visits it alone once he has earned enough money to fly home.

Happy Together's English title is borrowed from a 1967 hit by which band?

Danny Chung covers the song on the soundtrack.

Whose bandoneon tangos recur throughout Happy Together's soundtrack?

'Tango Apasionado' plays whether the couple are together or apart.

In the Mood for Love opens in which year?

Two Shanghainese neighbours move into the same building on the same day and slowly realise their spouses are having an affair.

Which award did Tony Leung Chiu-wai win at Cannes for In the Mood for Love?

The film also took the Technical Grand Prize; Wong finished editing it the morning before the premiere.

At which ancient site does Chow whisper his secret into a wall at the end of In the Mood for Love?

He seals the hollow with mud while a monk looks on.

Where did In the Mood for Love rank in the 2022 Sight and Sound critics' poll of the greatest films ever?

That made it the highest-ranked film of the 2000s, joined in the top 10 only by Mulholland Drive.

How long did the shoot for In the Mood for Love last?

Wong shot more than 30 times the footage he used, and both leads were reportedly pushed to breaking point.

Which composer wrote 'Yumeji's Theme', the waltz that recurs in In the Mood for Love?

It was originally written for Seijun Suzuki's film Yumeji.

The Chinese title of In the Mood for Love derives from a 1946 song by which singer?

The title, meaning 'the age of blossoms', is a metaphor for the fleeting time of youth and beauty.

Although set in Hong Kong, some outdoor and hotel scenes of In the Mood for Love were shot in which city?

Its less modernised neighbourhoods stood in for the 1960s.

Which Hong Kong writer's story Intersection helped inspire In the Mood for Love?

A brief later section of the film is set in Singapore, and the story's title hints at the neighbours' near-misses.

Wong chose the title 2046 as a reference to what?

The film was actually conceived before In the Mood for Love, with first footage shot in December 1999.

Which Japanese star plays Wang Jing-wen's boyfriend in 2046?

Faye Wong plays Jing-wen, the landlord's older daughter.

How late did Wong deliver the print of 2046 to its Cannes premiere?

He was still not satisfied and kept editing until the October release.

Wong's segment of the 2004 anthology Eros, starring Gong Li as a call girl, is titled what?

The other two segments were by Michelangelo Antonioni and Steven Soderbergh.

Which singer made her acting debut as the lead in My Blueberry Nights?

Wong decided to cast her right after hearing her in a radio interview.

With which crime novelist did Wong co-write My Blueberry Nights?

It was one of the rare times a Wong screenplay was prepared before shooting began.

Which cinematographer shot My Blueberry Nights, Wong's first film without his regular collaborator?

The film shot for seven weeks in Manhattan, Memphis, Las Vegas and Ely, Nevada.

The Grandmaster is a biopic of which martial arts master?

Wong focused on the years 1936 to 1956, well before his subject became famous for training Bruce Lee.

How long did Tony Leung spend training in Wing Chun before The Grandmaster?

The production, twice interrupted by Leung fracturing his arm, stretched over three years.

The Grandmaster's two Academy Award nominations were for Cinematography and which other category?

It swept 12 Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Film.

What was The Grandmaster's approximate worldwide gross, making it Wong's most lucrative film?

Three different cuts exist: the domestic release, a shorter Berlin festival version and a Weinstein Company cut for the US.

Which action choreographer plays Ip Man's teacher Chan Wah-shun in The Grandmaster?

Zhang Ziyi, as Gong Er, collected an unprecedented 12 Best Actress awards for the film.

Which label released Wong's restored filmography as a box set in the United States in March 2021?

The 4K restorations marked the 20th anniversary of In the Mood for Love.

Which laboratory carried out the 4K restoration of Wong's filmography?

The Cineteca di Bologna's lab is also known for restoring Chaplin and Rossellini.

Wong's first television series, which aired from December 2023, was based on a novel by whom?

Its 30 episodes follow the businessman A Bao, played by Hu Ge, through the reform-era 1990s.

Amazon ordered, then dropped, a Wong-directed series about 19th-century San Francisco gangs. What was it called?

He was also briefly attached to a film about the murder of Maurizio Gucci, taking over from Ridley Scott.

Wong met his wife and producing partner Esther Chen in 1981 while she was working as what?

He credits her as his muse and puts her name first in the credits of every film.

Wong says his films' fragmentary structure came from 'scrapbook' novels by writers from which region?

He names Manuel Puig, Gabriel García Márquez and Julio Cortázar, and also cites Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood.

Wong's improvisatory method means his shooting ratio is very high, sometimes reaching how many takes per scene?

He does not allow rehearsals, use storyboards or plan camera placement in advance.

Which television channel did Wong cite in 1998 as an influence for its energy and fragmented structure?

He said it impressed Hong Kong filmmakers when it first arrived there in the late 1980s.

Which lifetime achievement honour did Wong accept in Lyon, France, in October 2017?

In his speech he called his wife his muse and the reason her name appears first in his credits.

Which production designer has worked on every Wong Kar-wai film, handling sets, costumes and editing?

He earned an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design for The Grandmaster.

Which 1990 novel by Haruki Murakami does Wong cite as an inspiration?

Wong is heavily influenced by literature and often names novelists rather than directors as his models.

Which broadcaster's training course led Wong to drop out of college and start writing for TV soaps?

His first script, Once Upon a Rainbow, was bought by director Agnes Ng.

Wong's 1988 debut As Tears Go By cast which singer alongside Maggie Cheung and Jacky Cheung?

Wong chose what he called 'the hottest young idols in Hong Kong' for a gangster film riding the wave of John Woo's A Better Tomorrow.

Ashes of Time, Wong's wuxia film about a desert-exiled assassin, is set during which dynasty?

The film was a commercial failure on release but critics appreciated its refusal to stay loyal to the genre.

How many Hong Kong Film Awards did The Grandmaster win, including Best Film and Best Director?

Three different cuts exist: the domestic version, a shorter one for the 2013 Berlin festival, and a further trim for US distribution by The Weinstein Company.

Which Nevada town was a My Blueberry Nights location, alongside Manhattan, Memphis and Las Vegas?

Filming took seven weeks in 2006; Wong co-wrote the script in advance, a rarity for him, because he wanted to depict America accurately.

Which actor plays the businessman A Bao in Wong's TV series Blossoms Shanghai?

The series, Wong's first for television, premiered on CCTV-8 and Tencent Video on 27 December 2023.

For which 1987 Patrick Tam action film did Wong write the screenplay, earning an awards nod?

He spent two years on the script; its Hong Kong Film Awards nod came at the 7th ceremony, a year before his directing debut.