by Allan Tong

In 15 minutes, Chris Doyle answers five questions with 20 answers. He loves to talk and he loves films. In fact, Doyle will be talking about one in particular at The TIFF Lightbox on Saturday, April 23 in honour of the 1994 landmark, Chungking Express, that he photographed for the renown director Wong Kar-wai.

The WKW-Doyle partnership is one of the most celebrated in film history. The films they made—Days of Being Wild, Ashes of Time, Happy Together, In The Mood For Love and 2046—helped launch the Hong Kong Renaissance of the 90s that made waves from Hollywood to Cannes. Doyle has also lensed the films of Phillip Noyce (Rabbit-Proof Fence), Neil Jordan (Ondine), Fruit Chan (Three…Extremes), Stanley Kwan (Red Rose White Rose) and Jim Jarmusch (The Limits of Control).

Doyle is a character. He’s an Irish-Australian who lives and works from Hong Kong. Speaking fluent Mandarin and Cantonese [Du Ke Fung is his Chinese name], he’s described himself as “a Chinese with a skin condition” as well as a “drunkard” based on a volatile reputation. However, when he recently spoke to FilmButton via a “phoner” from Los Angeles, Doyle was ebullient, funny and sharp. Listen up:

1) The TIFF Lightbox is screening Chungking Express the night before your talk here. Want to share any anecdotes about the filming?

The bloody film was shot in my bloody apartment! (laughs) I should’ve stayed in a hotel. I’d be working all day and sleeping on the floor at night. We couldn’t mess up the set. The film’s very special in that way given the connection to my personal life….

The interesting thing is after the film—I guess it was the Hong Kong tourist board put out a map of film locations—for three of four years there’d be people following this map to my door. Especially Japanese tourists for some reason. They’d go on the escalator and look for the apartment. So, I’d be going off to work or to a bar and there’d be people waiting downstairs. Once I found kids literally on my doorstep wanting to go in.

2) How is shooting for WKW different from other directors you’ve worked with?

In any relationship, especially in a film, it is an engagement of character. Everyone is different. The most obvious difference is that the process is organic in our case. And it’s very Asian. In the West, one approaches things in terms of conflict and a more structural attitude.

Secondly, the way in which a crew works is more organized. In our case, we make it up as we go. It has its pluses and minuses. It tends to take longer. There’s more of a give-and-take between the financial, emotional and physical process of the filmmaking.

The great pleasure of being a cinematographer is you do get to encounter different personalities every three of four months of your life. Wong Kar-wai is the most familiar because we’ve done so much work together. We “grew up together.” It’s been a life, a long life.

3) You’re co-directing a Japanese film called Rabbit Horror 3D. Tell me about the film and why you’re co-directing it.

That’s supposedly a horror film, hopefully a step in the right direction for 3D. I hate 3D films! I hope we found some balance between storytelling and the visuals in the nuances of the medium. So I was pleasantly surprised by that.

If you hate 3D, why did you co-direct one?

It’s like, why do an M. Night Shyamalan film [Lady In The Water], which is so organized and meticulous, almost anal. The precision of his storyboarding. To me, you have to do it once. You have to try it. Especially with the way filmmaking is evolving.

4) What’s the state of Chinese and Hong Kong cinema these days compared to the 90s?

Apart from regional differences, there’s only one cinema now, it’s Chinese. Less and less of it is made in Hong Kong. The gestalt or energy has been magnified by changes in Chinese society and the incredible evolution of the economy….There is fresh money, not necessarily clear where it comes from and there’s an energy about that. People want box office. Ten years ago that wasn’t necessarily a criterion, because it was state-controlled. There is a huge explosion of energy going in different directions. The good thing for someone like me is you get to engage with a large variety of people who let me have a great deal of filmmaking, more than in some cultures in the West. That’s the exciting thing for me. I get to work with people who are adventurous. That’s exciting. I can’t wait to get back.

5) What’s your relationship with WKW these days? Will you collaborate again?

He’s doing a martial arts film and I was doing other things at the time. We almost did it together. He’s slaving away on this new epic. We’ll be doing this [a film] together. Don’t worry.

In addition to Doyle’s talk at the TIFF Lightbox on Saturday, April 23, Toronto’s IndexG Gallery will host an exhibition of his photographs and a short video installation that afternoon. Doyle is scheduled to appear at both events.