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Director Wong Kar-Wai. Image by Siebbi-

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Wong Kar-wai

Wong Kar-Wai was born on 17 July 1958 in Shanghai. He is a famously known screenwriter and internationally recognized filmmaker and producer in the Hong Kong film industry.  His work includes the production of conventional movies and has a renowned likeness of precise themes characterized by non-linear narratives and visual styles.

Wong ranked third on Sight & Sound’s 2002 poll of the greatest filmmakers of modern times. His films are frequently ranked high both domestically and internationally. Amazon had announced that Wong was to direct a series named Tong Wars in 2017. The series would have been about the Triad wars that tore through San Francisco’s Chinatown in the early 20th Century. It would have been his first English-language TV show.

1. Moved to Hong Kong in His Childhood

Wong was the youngest of three siblings. His father was a sailor and his mother was a housewife.  Wong was five years old when the Cultural Revolution was beginning to take effect in China and his parents decided to relocate to Hong Kong 鈥� a then British-ruled territory.

2. Wong was separated from his siblings for a decade

During the emigration, Wong鈥檚 parents relocated with him in tow. The two older children were meant to join them later, but the borders closed before they had a chance and Wong was separated from his brother and sister for ten years.

The family settled in the Tsim Sha Tsui district, and his father was employed as a nightclub manager. Wong could only speak Mandarin and he struggled to assimilate into Hong Kong鈥檚 different dialects and cultures. He found it difficult to learn Cantonese and English. Eventually, he became fluent in these new languages when he was a teenager.

3. He was introduced to cinema by his mother

People watching a movie in a theatre Photo by Krists Luhaers on

Wong was frequently taken to the cinema by his mother when he was a child which attributed to his exposure to a variety of films. He once described watching movies as his only hobby as a child. He developed an interest in graphic design and earned a diploma in the subject from Hong Kong Polytechnic in 1980. He was accepted onto a training course with the TVB television network, where he learned media production processes after graduation.

4. Wong’s earlier works were screenwriting before he ventured into filming/ directing

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He began a screenwriting career with TV series and soap operas, such as Don’t Look Now (1981), before progressing to film scripts. He worked as part of a team, contributing to different genres however he displayed little enthusiasm for these early projects, but continued to write throughout the 1980s on films including Just for Fun (1983). He is credited with ten screenplays between 1982 and 1987 but claims to have worked on about fifty more without official credit.

Wong found a mentor in director Patrick Tam and contributed to co-writing the screenplay of Tam鈥檚 gangster drama Chuihau single (1987; Final Victory) which he was nominated at the 7th Hong Kong Film Awards. Wong shifted his focus from the then contemporary trend of crime and action movies to more personal filmmaking styles after moving from screenwriting to directing. His first project, Days of Being Wild (1990), was ranked low at the box office, however, it received a commendation at the 1991 Hong Kong Film Awards and won Best Film and Best Director.

His next project, Ashes of Time (1994), was considered to have a vague plot and was not well received since it had a typical take on the wuxia genre. He was later nominated as the best director at the 1997 Cannes film festival for his “Happy Together”, starring Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung.

5. He had a unique style of directing and themes in the film industry

TV film crew shooting on the beach. Photo by Maxfield Barbara on Wikimedia

He is considered the first 鈥渉igh-style Asian ateur.” He works with the infamous Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle and has influenced several other Asian filmmakers. His films have been described as possessing “crazy-paving angles and free structure.”

He told the Times of London that his style “is not preconceived it is created by instincts.” Wong Kar-Wai has been described by Quentin Tarantino as “the most exciting director to come along since I’ve been a professional filmmaker.”  People in Hong Kong have described him as the best director to ever exist to the extent that “he doesn’t need Hollywood,鈥� as he is one director who doesn鈥檛 allow political issues to interfere with his themes.

6. His movie, In the Mood For Love, has been included on lists of the greatest films of all time

Wong Kar wai received a lifetime award in India. Image by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (GODL-India) on

His best works include 鈥淚n the Mood for Love鈥� (2000), a film about the passionate but slow-evolving romance between two married neighbors whose spouses suspect them to be having an affair with each other. It was Wong鈥檚 7th film and many accredit it as his best.

The shoot lasted 15 months, with both Cheung and Leung driving to breaking point. Wong shot more than 30 times the footage he eventually used, and only finished editing it the morning before its Cannes premiere. At the festival, In the Mood For Love received the Technical Grand Prize and Best Actor for Leung.

It was named Best Foreign Film by the National Society of Film Critics and nominated in the same category by BAFTA. Wong said after its release: “In the Mood For Love is the most difficult film in my career so far, and one of the most important. I am very proud of it.” In subsequent years it has been included on lists of the greatest films of all time. 

7. Wong prefers to start production without a script

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Wong鈥檚 success is attributed to his unusual approach to filmmaking. In many instances, he prefers to start production without a script because he finds filming from a pre-written script to be boring.

8. He never gives his cast members a complete script

Wong Kar-wai does not play by the rules. He is notorious for not using scripts. When he makes a martial arts epic, you know it’s not going to be your typical kung fu film. The cast members are provided with a rough plot outline to give them chance to develop some of their characters on their own and employ their initiative.

He even disallows rehearsals because he wants his cast members to seem more natural and spontaneous on the movie screen. When asked why he doesn鈥檛 give actors a complete script, Wong replied 鈥淵ou know, in the 1990s, a film could be completed in one week in Hong Kong. If I had a complete script, someone would have finished four projects before I finished one. I started as a playwright, so I know how the story goes in my mind鈥�.

9. Wong is known for always appearing in sunglasses

Wong Kar wai. Image by Karen Seto on Wikimedia

He is also known for always appearing in sunglasses, which is considered an addition to the alluring sense of mystery that swirls around him and his movies. Wong Kar-Wai mentioned that 鈥淢y lenses are called “true color” and were originally used by pilots who needed to see clearly but avoid strong sunlight.

Through my glasses, the world is no different from what you see. The shading and contrast of colors are the same.鈥� His sunglasses have been likened to Charles Chaplin’s mustache, straddling a line between life and work. When he was asked if sunglasses are part of his image, he mentioned the sunglasses are his “working clothes.”

10. Wong’s films are often set in eateries

Another common element is that his films are often set in eateries like fast food shops, Western restaurants, or a wonton stall on the street. When asked why his films focus so much on food, Wong mentioned 鈥渇ood is something we all understand, like desire between men and women, because they are both the call of nature, our bodies.鈥�

He further stated that he has been interested in the connection between food and desire and gives out an excerpt of a book in which a woman finds her husband is having an affair and runs into a restaurant after aimlessly drifting around on the street. She orders all the food she hates. When she feels the pain of eating something she does not enjoy at all, her heart’s pain finds a specific outlet. He further reiterated that to him, food is a method to express the characters’ feelings and desires and that his hobby outside film is eating. When he feels depressed, he eats anything to exteriorize his feelings.