The man, the ledge Chris Doyle at the Hop House in Dublin, 27/10

Went to the Hop House on Parnell St despite not having gotten one of the free tickets as they were "at capacity" weeks before the talk was to take place. It was due to start at 5, and I managed to make my way into the pub part of the place and not be asked for a ticket until about ten minutes to the hour when an evil fat woman came up to me and said to please "leave and check back in a while" as they were oh so booked out . I did check in a while later, it still hadn't started and, surprise surprise, this being a free event that was probably advertised chiefly at the local universities, lots of people hadn't turned up, and I got in! Humba!

So the talk was an exchange between the host (Declan O' something or other) and the man himself, broken up by short clips which were inspired by films he had worked on, such as Dumplings, Three (starring Eric Tsang, on the second "Three Extremes" compilation), Paris Je T'aime and Rabbitproof Fence. The clips consisted of footage from the films and/or shots of the area where the film was made, set to music and sometimes with captions. Two of these clips stood out from the rest, the first being a compilation of the black-and-white scenes from Happy Together set to a "bush music" (Australian country music, as the audience was informed) version of U2's Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. The second clip, which was played again at the end of the talk because of the sheer amount of applause it got, was scenes from In the Mood for Love, including a short bit not seen in the movie where Maggie in a dress and Tony (looking FIT AS! in wifebeaters) do a Pulp Fiction-style dance, to a slightly uptempo French chanson. Class, that. I was blown away to say the very least.

I am not attempting to quote the exact wording of what was said on the night but rather an approximation of it because a) Chris Doyle isn't the loudest of speakers, and the sound system wasn't the most effective and b) I was squeezed in tightly by the bar with no chance of having any of the gorgeous food the waiters kept walking past me with, leaving those Koppaberg's to hit an empty stomach and thus leaving me ever so slightly 'hoffed... oh, and c) the man himself was getting the old lagers in as well, getting progressively 'hoffed and less and less comprehensible towards the end of it What's interesting about him is that he's a very lively and erratic figure (especially with a few beers on him). His voice is much softer than I had expected, though, and while he definitely still has a slight Australian "twang" in his pronunciation, his intonation and tone of voice are quite Chinese and at times reminded me of when I hear people like Tony Leung or other Chinese speakers speak English.

Here's some quotes from the night in the order in which I remember them:

Host: So some director have made it over to Hollywood and just had the s h i t milked out of them and had their movies cut and all... what do you have to say about that?
The Man The Ledge: You're talking about John Woo, aren't you? He's a great guy, but he's just too nice for Hollywood.

(on Lady in the Water) There's a book out on that film, which deals mostly with how the crew managed to survive me...

(on his residence in the centre of Hong Kong) For years I was living in a location that allowed me to go home for a b-, uh, lunch.

The first time I worked as a cinematographer in Taiwan, I'd never shot a feature film before. I swear I lost about ten kilos in sweat over the course of the shoot, because I was scared s h i t less and had no idea what I was doing. I then won Best Cinematography for it and I thought to myself, "Whoa."

So my now ex-wife and assistant director when I direct at the time went to Paris to film school, and it just wasn't for me. I'm not trying to disencourage anyone from going now, I know it's highly valued as a way of getting laid. (When some people started laughing) Yes, you obviously know what I'm talking about. (Note: He had been working as a cinematographer for several years at that pint.)

(On working in Argentina when filming Happy Together) All of these women that I spoke to, they'd always say "you know, I'm not really Argentinian, but I'm really European, I'm really of Spanish origin", it's the same thing you get with people from the Philipines "You know, I'm really Spanish." Bull s h i t! It's like if I was to say "Oh you know, I'm really from Dub-, uh, Donegal, you know." I hate this fake s h i t. (Note: He was later asked and said his ancestors were from Donegal.)

(On working in Argentina when filming Happy Together)
The Man The Ledge: I dated this local woman. We met up a few times, and soon she was starting to cook me dinner. I thought to myself, this is the life! Then someone from the crew somes up to me and says, "You know all of Chinatown is talking about you." I go, "Why?" - "You know Eduardo?" "No, who is he?" "He's your girlfriends father and the biggest mafioso in all of Buenos Aires!" I thought to myself, "Oh s h i t. It's either get married or be buried."
Host (after The Man The Ledge explained how he eventually got out of the situation): You know, her father is with us tonight...

I've started doing my own interviews, 'cause I get asked the same bloody questions all the time. Whenever anybody asks me for an interview I say "You know what, I can do a better one, I'll send you one."

You know what question I hate? Whenever any of these interviewers asks me "What are your references?" I want to punch them in the fooking face. My reference is what I see and do.

You know, it's all about the approximation of errors. I won't even tell you how many months before I was born my parents got married.

(When asked how he works with big stars like Tony Leung) I'm the person closest to them, I capture everything they do, and I trust them to do it. The Chinese understanding of acting is all about the Chi. You know, when I stretch out my arm like this, I'm transferring my Chi, my energy, into my arm. When these people act, they extend their Chi, their energy, towards the camera. That's how great actors act. Except for Jack Nicholson, he probably does it a bit too much.

The Man The Ledge: And you know, that guy Martin Scorsese, he made a very close
approximation of a movie that I'd worked on.
Host: You mean The Departed?
The Man The Ledge: Yeah. He stole our movie. He fooking stole it! (Looks at the camera that is recording all he's saying) You know, on that note, you better go online and read what I say. I hear it's very interesting.


That's all I remember for the moment; if I can think of more I'll come back and add it.

All in all a great almost three hours. Chris Doyle is highly engaging, entertaining and very, very inspiring. As I mentioned before the whole thing was filmed so you may want to check on the Electronic Arts Festival's page at www.deafireland.com in a few days or so to see if there's any links or broadcast dates.

The venue was very nicely picked as well: The Hop House is a Korean pub and restaurant which is very cozy, informal and friendly (with a few hot blokes behind the bar). Went back there with Himself last night for a meal and got 'hoffed on their beer and plum wine. Happy days!

(Note: 'hoffed is a term used on Film General for drunk.)

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