Profile | Hiding Michelle Yeoh’s broken leg, the martial arts moves of Chow Yun-fat in A Better Tomorrow - Oscar-winning art director Tim Yip on his movie career and his focus on art
- Yip, who won an Academy Award for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, recalls arriving on set to find the script incomplete, and star Michelle Yeoh breaking a leg
- A clash with a project for Chinese director Wu Ershan meant he couldn’t work on Disney’s Mulan, and besides, his focus now is on art, with a big UK show ahead
I was born in Hong Kong in 1967. I was the fourth of five siblings, with one older brother, two older sisters and one younger sister. My mother was a housewife and my dad worked at the Hotel Lisboa, in Macau. He was a fan of Cantonese opera.
We lived in Wan Chai and I attended a primary school under Tung Wah Group of Hospitals and then Kiangsu-Chekiang College. Childhood visits to Cantonese opera backstage piqued my interest in Chinese folk culture.
Festooned with lanterns and colourful decorations, the backstage scenes convey happiness. I felt excited to see them.
When I was young, I would draw to prove my self-worth. Whenever I drew, I got a lot of attention. People flocked to see my drawings displayed at schools or elsewhere. I was very proud of that. Whenever I felt frustrated, I would draw to regain my self-confidence.
Fantasy world
I am not a talkative person so it was difficult for me to maintain a social life back then. I lived in my own world. When I was at school, I was always absorbed with my own thinking and not really paying attention to what the teachers were saying. I enrolled in many arts schools. But I skipped school whenever exams came up as I was afraid of exams.
