HONG KONG - A Hong Kong newspaper reports Oscar-winning director Ang Lee says filming the sex scenes in his new spy thriller Lust, Caution nearly caused him a mental breakdown.
The Apple Daily newspaper quotes Lee adding he was comforted he was able to help his actors through the ordeal.
The Taiwanese director, who won an Oscar for best director for Brokeback Mountain in 2006, was speaking from Venice, where Lust, Caution is competing for the top Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival.
The movie was screened in Venice last Thursday but has not been released in theatres.
Hollywood trade publication Variety has reported the movie features lovemaking in provocative sexual positions, implied oral sex and also full female frontal nudity.
The film has received the strictest rating in the United States, which bans viewers younger than 17.
"Lust, Caution," based on a short story by famed Chinese writer Eileen Chang, is about a group of patriotic students who plot to assassinate the intelligence chief in the Japanese-backed Chinese government during the the Second World War era.
Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai plays the intelligence official Mr. Yi, while newcomer Tang Wei plays the Chinese student Wang Jiazhi, who seduces Yi to pave way for the assassination. The movie also features Joan Chen from "The Last Emperor" and Chinese-American pop star Leehom Wang.
In a separate interview with Chinese news website Sina.com, Lee said he cleared the set to all but four crew members, including himself, while filming the sex scenes involving Leung and Tang.
"The scenes were completely in a very private space," he said.
Lee told Apple Daily he spent tremendous effort training actress Tang - more so than for Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi when she was a budding star shooting Lee's kung fu hit "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
"She (Tang) was picked from 10,000 people. There was three months' training and five months' shooting. I spent a full eight months on her. I've never spent so much effort on one person," Lee was quoted saying.
from The Canadian Press
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