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Compiled by: Jack Foley
Q. I would guess, that as you were growing up, you
weren’t exactly a fan of American comic books, what attracted
you to the prospect of bringing one of the most legendary comic
characters to the screen, particularly given your previous movies;
none of which suggested held any interest for you at all?
A. It was kind of an extension of what I had already done
with the Chinese pulpy-art. I found, after five or six movies,
that I had become interested in digging into, what I would call,
the hidden dragon. Something like the wild energy which exists
under pulpy art, comic books and Chinese martial arts.
I did actually read American comic books, but I was prohibited,
as well as the Chinese comic books and martial arts fiction. They
were prohibited by school and by my parents, but I’ve always
associated them as being a hidden pleasure.
It takes a B-movie genre, or pulpy art form, to allow that sort
of energy to be harnessed and to have that crazy Hulk side exposed,
whether it’s a sexual repression, or repressed aggression
that’s hidden in our primal existence, it’s this thing
that helps us to survive - that monstrous aggression that deals
with fear, sexual desires, attacking or stress. It’s the
subconscious element that I was very much into.
When I was proposed to this project, I thought I had a chance
to do a psychodrama, based on how the original story was made,
and I thought that, as it was a franchise movie, I didn’t
have to tailor it to particular movie stars. And the comic art
allowed me to experiment a lot. It feels like it’s time for
me to approach a big movie, and to make it in Hollywood, but still
be personal. So I got excited.
Q. Who’s idea was it to have the cute in-joke with Stan
Lee and Lou Ferrigno coming out of the building?
A. It was part of the tradition. The producer brought our
attention to the fact that it was time to think about putting
them in the schedule. Actually, I shot them in different scenes.
They were in the middle and towards the end. Of course, they took
them out of the movie and had to re-shoot to put them in the very
beginning, because it was less distracting. I think it’s
a wonderful thing, though, because they owe so much to the original
sources.
Q. So many of the recent comic book translations have been
layered through with humour, you didn't do that with The Hulk,
it's a pretty straight telling of the story. I wonder whether
you were put under any pressure, at any point, to inject jokes?
A. No, I wasn't under pressure. My editor told me that it
was pretty humourless, at least from surface value. I think The
Hulk has a lot of black humour in it, which isn't obvious comic
book humour.
If you look into it, The Hulk is very tragic storytelling; totally
psychodrama, the original books. There wasn't intentional humour,
except that Hulk gets his big ideas and does things to the puny
humans. For the part of Bruce Banner, it was not different from
a horror fan. If I was to borrow any movie genre, it would be
a horror one, such as Frankenstein.
So that was the nature of The Hulk and, to me, the comic book
genre wasn't a movie genre for me, they are a collective of many
successful movies, particularly in the Summer. I thought Hulk
is somehow different. It's a monster movie. Hulk doesn't have
a good cause, or come out and save the world, he's not a superhero;
he's a monster who comes out and makes a mess.
So, that's the approach I took.
Q. You worked with two huge personalities. One was The Hulk,
and the other was Nick Nolte. What was it like working with him?
A. Sometimes it would feel like he was the bigger Hulk. He
reminds me of my father looking down on me as a puny human [laughs].
He's one of the most persons I've ever worked with. The degree
of emotion to whatever, whether it was an over the top theatrical
line, or a ridiculous comic figure, he embraces them immediately
and make something brilliant out of it.
I've never seen anyone work with that kind of concentration. Brilliant,
brilliant actor and a scientific freak. He took me to his personal
lab, before he even knew I was approaching him to play a mad scientist,
to study his blood.
A lot of self-depracating to get into the core of the character,
he is a fascinating, grand, over the top character in life and
on-screen. I love him as an actor.
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Q. Eric Bana seems like an inspired choice (I guess the name
was a clue). Can you tell us how and why you came to cast him?
A. I was looking for somebody who could be sympathised with,
and Eric had the demeanour and sensitivity that was necessary
for the camera to like him. Later on, I saw him in Black
Hawk Down before I made a final decision, and people complained
that they didn't remember who was who, but they did remember him,
which was a good sign.
So that's the Bruce Banner side. In the comic book, nobody cared
about him, he was a wimp. I needed somebody who was to appeal
and be sympathetic, and also carry The Hulk part - and Chopper
really helped.
Q. Do you believe that there is a Hulk in everyone waiting
to get out? And if so, how do you tame that beast? What's your
form of anger management?
A. Personally, I do believe that everybody has a Hulk inside
them. My definition is that it is a survival instinct, or alter-ego
as the comic book calls it. It's so scary that we have to cover
it up. It doesn't have a logic. That's the kind of Hulk I would
like to touch, but unfortunately I had to use CGI method to visualise
a specific being, but to me, the whole movie, is does he have
a taste of the Hulk, a taste of the subconscious. I do believe
that.
I also believe that under unusual stress - usually anger - there
is this sort of paranoia about something, it could expose itself.
I only get to experience that through making movies. I'm a naturally
shy, nice person. I don't push anybody. But as a director I will
turn nasty if I want to get some results.
When I was nervous about the outcome, I would go as far as kicking
the set. I lost it a couple of times. Usually I don't even do
that, but I thought that maybe size does matter... it's a bigger
movie. I think stress, anger towards indignance, or simply fear
of something, that you can be so beside yourself that you see
your Hulk side.
And also ambition, I think I'm an ambitious filmmaker, I like
to explore different film languages and genre, to have a taste
of them, work with different people in different locations, that's
not like me in personal life, but when it comes to cinema, I felt
bigger than life, I felt that Hulk-sized ambition. And then I
have to pay for it. After I've done it, after I've de-Hulked,
I have to go back down to the puny human level.
Q. Do you think it needs a sequel and would you want to be
involved in making that?
A. I don't have answers to those. I'm sure if it's successful,
they will want to make a sequel. That's the food chain. At this
point I feel like a woman whose just given birth to a monster.
There's no way I want to do it again. Three months from now, I
don't know. I'll be dutifully bound to help develop the project,
to give my tips about what I've learned from this movie. If it
really interests me, I might jump in again, but right now, I want
to retire.
Q. How closely did you actually study the comic book when
you got the job?
A. I looked more closely to the earlier ones. Whether it's
the illustration art, visually; how they structured frames, I
used them probably more than the later ones; and the genesis of
setting up. I did use some of the middle section, about the father
killing the mother, and seeing the father morph into the monster,
so he has to kill him. Much later ones, they did actually bring
the father back as a janitor.
The material is all over the place; and it was very hard to make
a two-hour movie based on a certain thing. You can only read them
as psychodrama elements, and not necessarily as all-story elements
and how it should flow. If anything, I borrowed from horror films,
such as Frankenstein, which is originally what Stan Lee created.
I basically picked and chose what I like, I didn't carefully study
every issue, as I think I'd get lost if I did that. I think the
earlier ones were more aiming towards children and, as the readers
grew up, and the new readers don't care as much about The Hulk
anymore, I think they went darker and darker. It was dark to begin
with, it carries the Cold War anxieties, but later on, it becomes
more adult, so I used some of the later psychology and the look
and the genesis of the beginning, as well as filling a lot of
holes, taking liberty.
I emphasise certain things, which I suspect were in the books,
but not really carried out. Like, I suspect General Ross had a
lot of jealousy towards Bruce Banner/The Hulk. I don't think that
was there in the comics. The person who was taking his daughter
away was seen both as a wimp and as a threat, as Bruce Banner
and The Hulk; that was one of the things I think was quite implicit,
that I tried to bring out in the movie. How to play off his guilt.
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