Film director Ronny Yu has made a name for himself in Hollywood, where he’s done the full spectrum of genres from action-comedy with Samuel L. Jackson in “Formula 51” to horror with “Bride of Chucky” and “Freddy vs. Jason.” Locally, he’s best known for directing Brandon Lee in “Legacy of Rage” and Leslie Cheung in “The Phantom Lover.” After almost a decade away from Chinese film, he teamed up with Jet Li on “Fearless.”
I had polio when I was nine months old. Polio restricts your physical movement, it restricts you from the world.
I didn’t have many friends because of my handicap. My best friend was my father, and he introduced me to cinemas on the weekends.
I got to watch three or four movies a day. I watched everything, from westerns to Shaw Brothers movies. The cinema became a haven for me. As soon as the lights went out, I didn’t have to look at myself as handicapped. There were heroes on the screen and I was in another world.
When I was young, I told my father I should become a film director. That way, I could help people escape their problems in a fantasy world. But my father, being protective like all parents, told me being a director requires a lot of physical abilities. So I studied business and got an MBA.
The day my father retired, the whole family moved to Australia. But I stayed in Hong Kong and met people: Josephine Siao Fong-fong, Michael Hui Koon – I just liked hanging out with them. And slowly I got less involved with my dad’s business. Finally one day my father said to me, “Stay out of my business. I don’t want you to ruin it.”
I have so much fear when I’m making a film – even after making so many. I feel I’m inadequate, because I don’t have a solid film-school background. I feel my movies don’t bring out any messages. Everything goes against my confidence.