Editing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (section)

==Production==
The film was adapted from the novel ''[[Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (novel)|Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon]]'' by [[Wang Dulu]], serialized between 1941 and 1942 in ''[[Qingdao]] Xinmin News''.<ref name="Xu"/> The novel is the fourth in a sequence of five.<ref name="dilley">{{Cite book|last=Dilley|first=Whitney Crothers|author-link=Whitney Crothers Dilley|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/dill16772|title=The Cinema of Ang Lee: The Other Side of the Screen|date=2015|publisher=Columbia University Press|edition=2|doi=10.7312/dill16772|jstor=10.7312/dill16772|isbn=9780231538497|access-date=15 June 2020|archive-date=5 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805013017/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/dill16772|url-status=live}}</ref> In the contract reached between Columbia Pictures and [[Ang Lee]] and [[Hsu Li-kong]], they agreed to invest US$6 million in filming, but the stipulated recovery amount must be more than six times before the two parties will start to pay dividends.<ref>张世伦，2001年，《台湾"新电影"论述形构之历史分析（1965～2000） [[Wayback Machine|互联网档案馆]]的存档，存档日期2007-12-28.》，国立政治大学新闻研究所硕士论文</ref>

===Casting===
[[Shu Qi]] was Ang Lee's first choice for the role of Jen, but she turned it down.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Short |first=Stephen |title=She Makes Magic |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2054600,00.html |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=11 December 2000 |quote=politely declined. I'm lazy, Shu Qi admits. I thought the training would be too difficult and I didn't want to commit to a film for that long. |access-date=17 August 2020 |archive-date=24 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924181422/http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2054600,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Filming===
[[File:Mount cangyan 2007.jpg|thumb|left|[[Mount Cangyan]], including the bridge pictured above, was one of many filming locations.]]
Although its [[Academy Award for Best International Feature Film|Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film]] was presented to Taiwan, ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' was in fact an international [[Co-production (film)|co-production]] between companies in four regions: the Chinese company [[China Film Co-production Corporation]], the American companies [[Columbia Pictures|Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia]], [[Sony Pictures Classics]], and [[Good Machine]], the Hong Kong company [[EDKO|Edko Films]], and the Taiwanese Zoom Hunt Productions, as well as the unspecified United China Vision and Asia Union Film & Entertainment, created solely for this film.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/442944/crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon#film-details|title=CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (2000): Original Print Information|author=Turner Classic Movies|publisher=[[Turner Broadcasting System]]|author-link=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=25 July 2012|archive-date=28 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528223755/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/442944/Crouching-Tiger-Hidden-Dragon/original-print-info.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="2000---tvGuide">{{cite web |url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon/cast/2030134811/ |access-date=2023-01-20
|title=Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Full Cast & Crew |work=[[TV Guide]] |year=2000}}
</ref>

The film was made in Beijing, with location shooting in [[Urumchi]], Western Provinces, [[Taklamakan]] Plateau, 
Shanghai and Anji of China.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon/production-details.html|title=Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) -- Production Details|publisher=[[Yahoo Movies]]|access-date=14 January 2017|archive-date=26 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026173103/http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon/production-details.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The first phase of shooting was in the [[Gobi Desert]] where it consistently rained. Director Ang Lee noted: "I didn't take one break in eight months, not even for half a day. I was miserable—I just didn't have the extra energy to be happy. Near the end, I could hardly breathe. I thought I was about to have a stroke."<ref name="Time">{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,90548-1,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107191452/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,90548-1,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 November 2012|title=Year of the Tiger|magazine=Time | last=Corliss | first= Richard|date=3 December 2000 |access-date=29 June 2011|quote=a top-flight all-Asian cast featuring Chow Yun Fat (Hong Kong), Michelle Yeoh (Malaysia), Zhang Ziyi (Beijing) and Chang Chen (Taiwan). Only one of the stars -- Zhang, then a 19-year-old ingenue -- spoke anything like the classical mainland Mandarin that Lee demanded.}}</ref> The stunt work was mostly performed by the actors themselves and Ang Lee stated in an interview that computers were used "only to remove the safety wires that held the actors" aloft. "Most of the time you can see their faces," he added. "That's really them in the trees."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon-2000 |title=Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |work=[[Chicago Sun Times]] |date=20 December 2000 |access-date=2020-05-04 |archive-date=24 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324170004/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon-2000 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Another compounding issue was the difference between [[Accent (dialect)|accents]] of the four lead actors: [[Chow Yun-fat]] is from Hong Kong and speaks Cantonese natively; [[Michelle Yeoh]] is from Malaysia and grew up speaking English and [[Malay language|Malay]],<ref name="Web_Theatre">{{Cite web|url=http://michelleyeoh.info/Bio/qa.html#language|title=Michelle Yeoh Web Theatre: Q & A|access-date=5 May 2017|archive-date=22 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170522180855/http://michelleyeoh.info/Bio/qa.html#language|url-status=live}}</ref> so she learned the Standard Chinese lines [[phonetic transcription|phonetically]];<ref name="Web_Theatre" /> [[Chang Chen]] is from Taiwan and he speaks Standard Chinese in a Taiwanese accent. Only [[Zhang Ziyi]] spoke with a native Mandarin accent that Ang Lee wanted.<ref name="Time"/> Chow Yun Fat said, on "the first day [of shooting], I had to do 28 takes just because of the language. That's never happened before in my life."<ref name="Time"/>

The film specifically targeted [[Western world|Western]] audiences rather than the domestic audiences who were already used to [[Wuxia]] films. As a result, high-quality English subtitles were needed. Ang Lee, who was educated in the West, personally edited the subtitles to ensure they were satisfactory for Western audiences.<ref>Ng, Maria, Holden, Phillip; [https://books.google.com/books?id=U0X5v9YTlgkC&dq=ang+lee+crouching+tiger+subtitles&pg=PA131 Reading Chinese Transnationalisms: Society, Literature, Film].</ref>

===Soundtrack===
{{Main|Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (soundtrack)}}
The score was composed by [[Tan Dun|Dun Tan]] in 1999. It was played for the movie by the [[Shanghai Symphony Orchestra]], the Shanghai National Orchestra and the Shanghai Percussion Ensemble. It features solo passages for cello played by [[Yo-Yo Ma]]. The "last track" ("[[A Love Before Time]]") features [[Coco Lee]], who later sang it at the Academy Awards. The composer [[Chen Yuanlin]] also collaborated in the project. The music for the entire film was produced in two weeks.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/80718.htm| title= Tan Dun, a Musical Journey Back to Roots| publisher= China International Information Center| year= 2003| access-date= 2011-07-24| archive-date= 12 October 2012| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121012113031/http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/80718.htm| url-status= live}}</ref> Tan the next year (2000) adapted his filmscore as a [[cello concerto]] called simply "Crouching Tiger."