Many of the cast members had appeared in Ang Lee's previous films. Sihung Lung and Ah Lei Gua played central elderly figures dealing with the transition from tradition to modernity in "The Wedding Banquet", in which Winston Chao also starred. Sihung Lung played an immigrant father in "Pushing Hands". These three films show the tensions between the generations of a Confucian family, between East and West, and between tradition and modernity. They form what has been called Lee's "Father Knows Best" trilogy. The script was written by Ang Lee, James Schamus and Hui-Ling Wang.