Wong Kar-wai
王家卫
Hong Kong director, born 1958. He generally works without a finished screenplay, writing as he shoots, so that the length and structure of a film often differ from what was planned. He has worked over many years with the cinematographer Christopher Doyle and with William Chang as production designer and editor. Happy Together brought him the director's prize at Cannes in 1997.
Career
Wong was born in Shanghai and moved to Hong Kong with his family at the age of five. He trained at the television station TVB, wrote screenplays through the 1980s and directed his first film, As Tears Go By, in 1988. Days of Being Wild lost money in 1990 but won best film and best director at the Hong Kong awards; he set up the Jet Tone company with partners the following year.
Most of his films since have gone into production without a finished script. Christopher Doyle shot many of them, and William Chang has handled design, costume and editing throughout. Happy Together won him the directing prize at Cannes in 1997, the first Hong Kong director to take it, and In the Mood for Love brought Tony Leung the festival's acting award in 2000.
