Rain Li has had an impressive career as a director of photography, working with Christopher Doyle on Paris Je t’aime and Gus van Sant on Paranoid Park. She is also much in demand for commercial work, but took time off in the last couple of years to focus on her new feature film, Beijing, New York, which she wrote and directed.
Asked what’s been happening lately, she says, “The film was made and I got old.”
Born in 1983, Li is far from old, although her career is already well established. Originally from Beijing, she moved to the UK at 15, where she went on to study film at Bournemouth University. She began working as a grip and a gaffer before finding her niche as a DP.
She was just 20 when she first met Doyle, the infamously independent cinematographer and long term creative partner of Wong Kar-wai. She worked with him again on Beijing, New York, which has been or is released widely in China this month. The plot revolves around Chinese-born New Yorker Jasmine, a Chinese woman confused by her competing loves for two men in the two cities. We spoke to Rain both in person and over WeChat.
Director/DP Rain Li takes control of the scene of her first feature film. 导演/编剧/摄影的李晓雨几乎事事都得亲力亲为。
>>> New York must be the most exposed city on film, but you made it look new. I was especially amazed by the aerial shots of private jets, following close enough to blur the city behind their hazy exhausts. How did you get that footage?
I think the way we approached New York was simple. We didn’t have much time so we used minimal lighting and minimal crew to keep as mobile as possible. We used quite a bit of steady cam to save time. A lot of times a scene with one shot was done in one take because I was filming the New York part on my own. I didn’t want to be distracted by fancy camera work, cranes and movement. The city was so vibrant so we wanted to use deep colours — reds, yellows and oranges, because most of the scenes there are at night.
We actually ran out of budget to shoot the aerial shots. In my mind they were going to be on the last day but I didn’t see them in the call sheet. When he said we haven’t got the money I was so devastated. I said I’m not leaving New York until I get the shot. I waited for a week, and managed to find the money, but we couldn’t afford more than three hours. We chose day, dusk and night, that magic three hours, and we got so lucky — it was so beautiful.
>>> Chris Doyle shot the scenes in China — Chongqing and Beijing. I heard that you wanted to use him in New York too, but couldn’t. What was the problem? Something to do with unions?
Chris did have some issues with unions and how rigid everything is. When you have a low budget, independent movie, just high enough to be on the unions’ radar, it can be very painful. I’ve been through this journey with Chris before and he didn’t want to do it again. Secondly, we didn’t have all the time in the world to get all the paper work ready. Third, we thought it would be interesting if he shot Beijing and I shot New York because I’m Chinese shooting America and he’s a Westerner shooting China.
All the glamours on stage in the Beijing premiere. 北京首映礼的舞台上星光闪耀。
>>> You cast Taiwanese actress Lin Chiling in the movie, who was originally a fashion model. She went to high school and college in Toronto, and has four or five major film credits — including work with John Woo on the Red Cliff movies. How did you direct her to get the performance you wanted?
Working with Chiling was one of the great experiences of making this movie. She’s a renowned model, a beautiful vase, but not known as a serious actress. I said to her, honestly all I need you to do is to give me one month in New York. I want to have that time with you to help you understand Jasmine, the culture, all of it. From there I just want you to use your heart. I can change the lines to help you feel comfortable, but the bottom line is you have to feel this role. There’s one scene she’s supposed to be drunk and turns up at Joe’s apartment. She couldn’t get to the level I needed at all. I just gave her a bottle of wine; she downed it, downed some whiskey, and then I poured a bottle of cold water on her head to get her in that depressed, fragile, fucked up mode. She really just went for it. She’s really tough.
>>> Two very, very wealthy men compete for the love of Jasmine in the film. We see prime real estate in the two cities, a rolls royce, and beautiful fashion. Are there any paid product placements in the film?
There is no paid product placement at all. That was one thing I put my foot down about.
>>> Ye Liu, the Chinese male lead, has acting credits going back to the 1990s. His character cheats on his wife. Apparently new Chinese regulations say that people who cheat can’t enjoy happy endings in cinema anymore. Is that true, and if so, how did it influence your plot?
When I made the movie nobody had that rule, so it didn’t really affect me at all. Maybe he did cheat on his wife, but I didn’t have any sex scenes in the movie for a reason. If he had sex with Jasmine then I think on screen it would be more explicit, first of all, and second of all it would be difficult for people to consider what’s wrong or not wrong — it’s officially crossing that line.
>>> What is the process for receiving government clearance to release the film in China?
Getting Chinese government approval is mostly really easy, except that I had to cut a swear word. There’s so many movies out there with swear words and it’s okay, but what I had in mind was the word “niubi” [literally cow’s cunt]. They said no way, so I had to lower the volume. I was worried about a smoking scene but that was no problem.
>>> It seems impossible to have a feature film make it from concept to completion without adapting a lot to the conditions you have to work in. And what are three things that you’re really glad that you managed to pull off?
I think financing was probably the most difficult part, and the second part was getting Joe the character. We had our Joe, Ryan Philippe, but he dropped out two days before the movie. Having to put off [filming] to find the perfect Joe — Richard de Klerk — who was even better than the previous option, was a miracle. The third thing is locking down the final cut. So many people were saying change different things but in the end nobody changed the cut; it’s the director’s cut of the movie.
在影视圈里，李晓雨早已经是响当当的摄影师。在出道不久她就已经与国际大牌的摄影师以及导演合作：她曾与鬼才摄影师杜可风合作过《Paris Je t’aime》，还为著名的美国独立电影导演Gus van Sant掌镜过《Paranoid Park》。现时她在影视广告圈里炙手可热。不过过去的几年里，她却沉寂了一大段的日子，那时她正埋头投入到了她的首部电影《纽约，北京》的筹备和制作当中。
在最近一次SHP＋与这位资深摄影师、新晋电影导演的聊天，她蹦出的第一句就是：“电影终于拍完了！我也变老了！”
生于1983年她其实还是一如既往地美艳不可方物。年纪轻轻就已经拥有了傲人的事业。洋气的晓雨是个地道的北京女孩，她在5岁移居英国，之后在Bournemouth大学专攻电影。不过，她在就学时大部分的时间却花在了片场。在正式成为摄影师之前，她在片场里就当过各种学徒工作，包括机械工和灯光师等。
20岁时那年，她遇到了杜可风，这位王家卫的御用独立摄影师和创意搭档，这位男人成了改变她事业的良师兼好友。在相识十年后的今年，两人再度合作，共同拍摄了《北京，纽约》。
电影今年三月份在全国院线公演。故事说的是一个在中国出生的女人茉莉在两个位于北京和纽约的男从中间摇摆的虐心三角恋。作为编剧、制作兼导演的晓雨，与我们分享了一些电影的创作和制作过程：
>>> 纽约可能是这个世界上在电影里出镜率最高的城市，但是在你的电影里，你拍摄的角度非常不一样。我特别喜欢在飞机上拍的空中镜头，与城市的距离靠得刚刚好，城市呈现出一种海市蜃楼般的朦胧美感，你是怎么拍到这样的镜头？
我拍纽约的方法特别简单。因为我们没有太多的时间，所以我们用了最简单的照明设备和人员配置来保证拍摄的灵活性。我们用了许多的稳定摄影机来节省时间。很多场景是一Take就过了。纽约的部分都是我自己亲自拍的，我不想用那些昂贵的大器械和镜头浪费了我的集中力。纽约本身就是一个充满活力的都市，我只需要利用它本身在夜晚散发的各种色彩 – 红、黄和橙等等就足够了，而电影大部分场景也是夜景。
而且我们拍这组镜头时已经没有预算了。我原来计划是最后一天才拍的，但是我在通告里却没有看到这个拍摄。后来我知道是因为资金还没到位，我那时简直要崩溃了。不过我铁了心要拍到这组镜头后我才离开纽约。于是我等了一个星期，终于拿到了资金开拍，不过也只够拍三个小时。我们选择了白天、黄昏到黑夜那三小时的黄金时段。能抓拍到这么漂亮的场景真是太幸运了。
>>> 杜可风是负责北京和重庆部分的拍摄。我听说你原本打算让他拍纽约，但最后却没实现，这到底是什么原因？听说是对美国（影视制作）工会有什么看法？
杜可风的确对工会有点微词，特别是对工会比较死板的一套做法。对于像我们这样一部低成本的独立电影，每样都是仅达到工会开拍的标准，（在美国的）拍摄过程可以是十分痛苦的。我和他还共同有过这样（痛苦的）经历，所以他就不想再来了。另外，我们也没有那么多的闲功夫来准备各种所需文件。还有，我觉得让一个西方人去拍摄中国，而由我这个中国人来拍纽约，（这种反差）还挺有意思的。
>>> 你选了台湾模特出身的林志玲来担任女主角，她是在多伦多念的高中和大学，前后只拍过四、五个主流电影 – 包括吴宇森的《赤壁》。你是如何指导她在戏里的表演的？
林志玲是我合作过最棒的演员之一。没错，她是一个有名模特，也是一个漂亮的花瓶，但是大部分人所不知道的是，她也是一个很认真的女演员。我一开始就对她说，我只需要你与我呆在纽约一个月的时间，我可以帮助您了解女主角茉莉、纽约的文化，以及所有的一切；一个月以后，我只需要你用心去体会就行了。我可以把台词改到你感觉比较舒服，但最基本的是你必须与女角色融为一体。有一个场景是她要她喝醉，然后跑到了男主角Joe的公寓里，但她就是做不到我要的那种程度。于是我递给她一瓶酒让她自己喝下去，再来干掉一些威士忌，然后我往她头上倒了一罐子的冷水，让她看起来就像那个压抑，脆弱和苦逼极了的茉莉。志玲真的就照做了，她真的是强啊。
>>> 片中追逐茉莉的两个男人都是有钱人。我们看到这两个城市里豪宅，还有一部劳斯莱斯和各种靓丽的时尚。影片中的有没有什么付费的产品植入呢？
完全没有。这是在我电影里唯一杜绝做的事情。
>>> 男主角刘烨在上世纪90年代就演戏了。电影里，他的角色背叛了妻子。在中国电影里，婚姻里的出轨者都没有什么好结局。这是真的吗？这种潜规则是否有影响你对脚本的编写？
在我的电影里不存在这样的潜规则，它并没有真正影响到故事的结局。没错，男主角可能精神出轨了，但我却故意没有在电影里描绘他肉体的出轨，因为我没有表明通过性爱的场面表明他与茉莉直接的出轨；所以这就变得更难判这种（精神）出轨的对与错 – 因为它还没正式逾越那条界线。
>>> 在中国上映前历经了广电局“清理”过程吗？
获得广电局的批文其实不难，片子只剪掉了一个脏话。现在带脏话的电影多着呢。我猜是“牛逼”[字面牛屄］这个字眼吧，他们说不可以，我只好降低一下音量。我其实很担心吸烟那场景，但是那倒没什么问题。
>>> 从电影的概念形成到最终成片，有许多东西会因为要“适应条件”而在过程中被删改，你有什么感到特别自豪自己可成功做到了？请例举三件事情。
我觉得融资可能是整个过程中最困难的部分（我做到了）；第二个部分就是找到演Joe的男演员。我们原来有瑞恩·菲利普出演Joe，但是开拍的前两天他辞演了。我们为了找到完美的Joe而不得不推迟[拍摄]。最后我们奇迹地找到了理查德·德克勒克，而事实证明他是一个更好的选择。第三件事是确定电影的最终版，许多人给了不同的建议，但最终还是没有改变，现在的版本就是导演版。
BAM Music Library Brings Edgy, Indie Sounds to Chinese Creatives
