Director Ang Lee (left) and writer-producer James Schamus at a press conference promoting THE HULK
© Eric Moro

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Lee likens HULK to TIGER

At Wednesday's San Francisco, Calif.-based press conference promoting the Bay Area shooting of Universal's THE HULK, the typically tight-lipped director Ang Lee hinted at what audiences could expect from his rendition of the gamma irradiated green goliath. And by the sound of it, his is a version that the average man on the street will most likely relate to.

"I believe Hulk is the first Marvel creature in the comic book world that is a mixture of monster and superhero and we want to make that way," says Lee in his soft-sounding broken English. "I think it's possible to do a mixture in a very rational way. I think we all have that Hulk inside of us our alter ego and not only Hulk, but also Bruce Banner. And everybody [in the film] dealing with [Banner] is dealing with their own 'Hulk-ness' inside of them. I hope eventually that that in fact will prevail to the audience. We all have that Hulk inside of us. I'm experiencing that right now."

As for what audiences will see when that "Hulk inside of them" bursts out (in other words, the actual transformation process), only time will tell.

"We're still figuring out," admits Lee. "I don't think I can tell you that. It's supposed to be top secret. I hope its something you've never seen before at least the refinement, the performing art and the care for special effect that mix with the art of performing emotional values. Really, I hope that we have a breakthrough on the ILM front. One of my biggest goals is mixing the art of drama and relationship, and take that along with special effects and action. I tried doing that in CROUCHING TIGER in Chinese version and now I'm here to try the Hollywood version so to speak."