TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – Ang Lee believes the new technology that made for hyper-realistic action in “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” is worth trying again.
So much so the two-time Oscar-winning director will use the faster frames-per-second format in his next project, the boxing movie “Thrilla in Manila.”
“When you get on the bike, you fall, you don’t make conclusion that two wheels make you fall. You try again. I would do it,” he told The Associated Press recently in Taiwan while promoting his film adaptation of the 2012 Ben Fountain book about an American soldier’s public-relations tour after fighting in the Iraq war.
The director shot the film in 3D, 4K resolution, at 120 frames-per-second, five times the traditional 24 frames per second. The result is sometimes-jarring realism, with actors’ faces seen in unfiltered intimacy and background scenery so detailed it seemed artificial. Lee, however, is pleading with viewers to watch the film with an open mind.
“I think it’s a lot to take in. I don’t think we should make up our mind yet because it’s something that just begin,” he said, noting the newness of the technology. “I think it’s a legitimately good format for artist expression.”