What inspired this story?
A number of things inspired “I Celebrate Myself.” I was in the gym locker room one day and saw this guy who would stand in front of the mirror and watched himself as he applied lotion. It was this total homoerotic experience for him. He wasn’t even a particularly fit guy; he was rather chubby actually. But he was just enamored with himself. That guy gave me the idea for the character of Guy.
On the other hand, I have always been a student of Walt Whitman. One of his poems, “Song of Myself,” was an inspiration for this film. The title of the film is the first line of the poem. The lyricism of Whitman gave the energy to this film. There is an exuberance in Whitman’s poem that I want to capture in a guy who just wants to celebrate his being.

So it’s not autobiographical?
No, it’s not. I like myself but not that much.

How did you cast the leads for the film?
Dan is an actor friend of mine. I thought he would be really good for the role of Guy. I did an open casting call for the part of Rose. I was impressed by Katherine’s audition. She nailed the part so I offered her the role.

What is your next project?
I’m shooting two short films this year [2003]. One is called “The Proposition” and the other is entitled “The Writer.” I’ve been writing a lot too. I finished writing a comedy feature called “The Best Funeral He’s Ever Had” and an epic drama, “Taipei’s Rhythms, Taipei’s Blues.” My goal is to finish writing two more feature film scripts this year.