Green around the gills

Maybe they were expecting Lou Ferrigno’s tattered shirts and men being thrown into conveniently-located piles of cardboard boxes, but after an opening weekend box-office take of $63 million (okay, give or take a couple of hundred thousand), director Ang Lee’s Hulk has united critics and punters. They all agree to being utterly divided over the summer’s biggest, greenest film.

Some have rather unkindly dismissed the Taiwan-born Crouching Tiger director’s $100 million dollar art movie as sub-Freudian twaddle. Others have praised its dark adult tone, and the effortless manner that Hulk switches between psycho-dramatic soul-speak and the ludicrously heightened reality of the project’s comic-book antecedents (Battling mutant French poodles, anyone? No, really.)

Critic Roger Ebert has even taken time out from his still-simmering, now tiresome feud with professional dickhead Vincent Gallo to lavish Hulk wth hyperbolic praise and declare that finally, we have “a comic-book movie for people who wouldn’t be caught dead at a comic-book movie.”

Certainly Hulk’s remarkably strong characterisation sets it apart from the rest of this predominantly unlovely genre. With Eric Bana as Bruce Banner, Jennifer Connelly as love-interest Betty and Nick Nolte as Bruce’s dad, the quality control was always going to be rather higher than average. Throw in Ang Lee’s trademark obssession with dysfuctional families (see also Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet, The Ice Storm and, oh, pretty much all of the director’s output to date) and you have Stan Lee’s comic creation rendered as Greek tragedy.

MovieHouse caught up with Ang Lee recently, only to discover that it really is easy being green after all.

TB: Ang Lee, director of Sense And Sensibility, doing a comic book movie – how on earth did this come about?

AL: Well, I was doing publicity for Crouching Tiger and I guess they felt I could bring something special to it. I suppose they thought that if I can make a Chinese language martial arts film which did that kind of business, maybe I could do something with the genre. I think the Hong Kong style of film-making was particularly hip. And this particular project was found by James Schamus (screenwriter and producer), my long time collaborator.

TB: What was your intial reaction when James suggested it?

AL: Do you know that first of all I didn’t know what it was? Then I remembered the TV series with Lou Ferrigno painted in green and getting angry in slow motion. And then I checked out the Marvel comics, so it didn’t take long before it clicked. So it’s like my new Hidden Dragon – it’s like a larger way of doing Crouching Tiger in America.

TB: With this being the summer’s biggest release, did you feel more pressure to deliver the goods than you would with your smaller, independent films?

AL: Well, it is a really big thing. I don’t really like ‘summer’ movies myself and because it’s a big movie it is the only time they can launch it, summer or Christmas. There’s a whole marketing side to it. But as far as I’m concerned it’s my chance to do a big movie, it’s a franchise. I took advantage of the elements that are there. It can still be a film maker’s vehicle and I grabbed the chance. It’s like my new Hidden Dragon. You can mix the pulpy art which is a really guilty pleasure – it’s hidden and you don’t want to admit it, but it has a lot of juice in it - and mix it with drama, with the human condition and psychology. To me it’s not a comic book superhero movie, it’s a horror film.

TB: And to that end, you’ve worked in some Frankenstein themes into the movie...

AL: Yeah, I’m glad people are picking up on that! There’s always been a fear of science, ever since the industrial revolution. I think Frankenstein is an early example of that. We are afraid that we will build something that will turn on us, something that is out of control. Dramatically it interests me because the artificial brings out the innocence and the aggression, the real you – it has a physical manifestation and that’s interesting. Now we are into genetic engineering to improve ourselves, to stretch ourselves, I think we face a lot of big metaphysical and fundamental questions about who we are.

TB: Was there any studio pressure to cast a more prominent actor than Eric Bana?

AL: No, it wasn’t an issue at all because with The Hulk the CG actor (the actor who is used for the computer-generated images – Ed) is the biggest star. He is more expensive than any star, so after that you have no money. And they, like me, prefer brand new faces, it’s more exciting. So it was no problem, and I really wanted Eric (Bana).

TB: I take it Chopper influenced that decision?

AL: Yes. I saw him in Chopper, and that was Hulk for me. I figured, in the comic books, nobody wanted to see Bruce Banner, they just wanted to see The Hulk come out. The guy is a loser, a wimp. But by simplified drawing you are able to project your own melancholy onto him. But a movie is different. I was hoping to get that melancholic demeanour – and of course I always go for a good actor, which Eric is, and someone who could be sympathetic.

TB: You must have been a CGI virgin before this movie?

AL: Yeah, going in I didn’t know enough to be frightened of the CGI. And once I was frightened I was already half-way through it!

TB: But you must have got into it, because you actually ended up playing the Hulk?

AL: Yeah, I am the Hulk! Well, I didn’t do the three mile jumps, but I did the facial expressions and close-ups and small body movements.

TB: How did you end up getting roped into that, because I’ve heard you ended up having to live with the animators for nine months for the purpose?

AL: Yeah, that’s true. But it was out of necessity and desperation. I wanted to show them what I wanted – and maybe there was a bit of my childhood, things I never fulfilled, coming out, too. I was just about the most spaced-out child you could ever meet, people always tell me I am the most spaced-out person they have ever met in their lives!

TB: Your output as a filmmaker has always been eclectic, but how are you going to trump Hulk as a career twist – or are you already tied in to Hulk 2?

AL: I don’t know. I would like to do something different. I live in New York with my wife and two boys and right now I just want to go home and spend some time with my family. I’m also in the process of de-Hulking now! It’s kind of painful, the adrenaline slows down, but I’m not thinking about the future yet. At the moment, I’m still really sick of the colour green!