In the Mood for Love
The cast of Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung in "A Story of Food" (soon to become "In the Mood for Love") provided an opportunity to pick up a loose thread of "Days of Being Wild", as the actors had appeared in that film, although never together. Leung's few scenes had been left incomplete, awaiting Wong's planned sequel that was never made. "2046", a sequel in its plot to "In the Mood for Love", would later serve for Wong as a sequel in spirit to "Days of Being Wild", connecting the story of Leung's character in "Days" and "In the Mood". The writing of "2046" essentially began at the same time as that of "In the Mood for Love". Because neither film had its plot, structure, or even all its characters, scripted in advance, Wong began working on the ideas that eventually made it into "2046" during the shoot of "In the Mood for Love". As he and his collaborators made the film in a variety of settings, its story took shape. Eventually, these constantly developing ideas, taken from one of the remnants of "Summer in Beijing", were developed too much to fit into one film. Wong discarded most of the footage and story before arriving at "In the Mood", later reshooting and reimagining the rest as "2046".