Ang Lee has reason to be happy. This past weekend he won the Directors' Guild of America award for Best Director for his film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The film is nominated for the top prizes, including Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Foreign Film. Since 1953 only four directors who won the DGA honor did not also win the Oscar for Best Director. In other words, the DGA award is a good omen for his fate Oscar night.

Ang Lee has come a long way since Cannes, where his film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon premiered out of competition. Since then it has accumulated awards from festivals around the world, as well as enthusiastic reactions from both critics and audiences.

Ang Lee showed up serene and relaxed in Zurich for the European publicity tour. This Swiss city isn't typically an obligatory stop on the publicity circuit, but Lee was anxious to catch up with some old friends here. FilmFestivals.com caught up with him in Switzerland.

Christophe Pinol: Did you have any particular classic Hong Kong films in mind during the production of your film?

Ang Lee: I don't think that the genre influenced me, but rather that certain scenes from films influenced me. I like to extract the spirit of certain classic ideas and apply them to my films. But popular influences also inspired me, and I try to bring something new into the clichés of certain situations I grew up with. Over time, old martial arts film schools closed and choreographers have revived the genre. They have honed their skills over the course of years, and they can create scenes that are more and more incredible. It evolved so that it was only important to film this type of scene. The genre had slowly transformed into something very oriented to the action side, and sequences simply followed each other with little regard to what fell between two action scenes. With Crouching Tiger, I tried to return to a quality of script that was found in classic films, all the while creating exceptional action scenes.

CP: How did you come up with the incredible action scenes? Did you have a precise image in mind before filming?

AL: I had many images in my head but I didn't know how to use them. During the filing it's true that we would spend half a day on a very difficult scene when we should have been moving on to other things. I did suggest the idea of the combat scenes. The one with the chase over rooftops, the one between Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi, the one on treetops … But the choreography itself had to be created and it Yuen Woo Ping (who also choreographed The Matrix, ed.) who deserves all the credit.

We tried to make it so that the battles represent the premise of the development of each of the characters and their histories. And then I was helped enormously by specialists, particularly on the cameras by the cinematographer (Peter Pau, nominated for this year's Oscar for Best Cinematography). Sometimes he would say to me, "No, it would be better with the camera here." He's someone with a lot of experience. Together we would see what would work well for the action and if it wasn't compatible with my ideas as a director, I would ask him to find something else. They are more talented than Americans.

So it was a genuine collaboration during which I learned that real kung-fu has very little to do with what is seen in movies. It must come from dance, taking into account how it is filmed, the skill of the actors… I even had to train myself and hire a coach to teach me the basic elements and to try and understand what I was confronted by.

CP: Do you risk altering your approach to direction because of what you have learned?

AL: Yes, I think so. Sometimes directors-like myself and many others-have so much to say but we don't really know how to express ourselves. I learned enormously there through contact with the group. We achieved magnificent results even while working very quickly, and certainly less expensively than in Hollywood. They are very clever, fast and efficient.

CP: The film has now opened in Asia. How has the public reacted?

AL: I was very nervous about their reaction, but it's all turned out fine. They have definitely liked the action scenes, but it's true that I know that all of the nuances of the plot would be especially appreciated by Western audiences. Films of this genre became so plundered by Asian directors-sometimes one has the impression of a sort of rape-that the action scenes in Crouching Tiger brought back old memories.

CP: Did you cast Zhang Ziyi mainly because she is a dancer with the Chinese Opera?

AL: But you know, Michelle Yeoh danced with them too! It's true that the choreography we used has a lot in common with the Chinese Opera. It is a school with a very musical and emotional background when it comes to movement. That's also why there are a lot of dancers in cinematography. They're very agile, very flexible… And for a lead actress, we had a better chance of finding a beautiful woman who is a dancer, because in the martial arts, the women are more: "Grrrhhh" (Ang Lee makes a face, raises his hands to his face, showing his claws, ed.). But dancers aren't as strong as martial artists. Martial artists are more focused on force whereas dancers focus on flexibility and agility. They have had to adapt. The punches they throw are very different. Sometimes we had difficult moments. But the skills of the actors help as well. That's why more artists come from the Chinese Opera than from martial arts schools.

CP: Every film you make is so different from the previous film. Why do you choose to work like this?

AL: Very simply, it's because when I finish a film, I need something new. If I know full well where I am going, there is no adventure, no shiver. And also I would be afraid or repeating myself. So for as long as I can continue working this way, I will.