John Woo's Road to Fame

"I'm not a master; I'm just a hard-working filmmaker. I would like everyone to see me as a friend rather
than a master."
--John Woo

We see him as a master, but he only thinks of himself as a hard-working filmmaker. We see him as an
inspiration to all action movies while he thinks of himself as a simple human being. We are all different in
our very own ways and as for John Woo, his sense of action sequences and camera work extinguishes him
from the rest of the world. He might have been poor growing up, but his love for films never died ever
since he had stepped into a theatre.

His passions for movies started back in his childhood, the days when his family was poor and had to be
supported by churches and various charities. Even in those desperate times, John Woo's mother would still
take him to the western theatre daily, where he first saw the magic of the moving picture. He studied each
and every film carefully, inspecting every little aspect, the good parts and the bad parts. As a teenage, he
still didn't have any money to do any in-depth hand on work with films, but eventually, he would get his
hands on some borrowed film equipment - and that was when he first experimented with cameras and films
with his very own hands.

"I was fascinated by the musicals, I think they influenced me the most. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
and Singing in the Rain are my favourites."
--John Woo

"When I was 11, even though we were poor, my mother was a fan of movies from the west. She used to
bring me to the theatre. At that time, a parent could bring a child to the theatre for free. I was fascinated by
the musicals, I think they influenced me the most. Also a lot of Fred Astaire...I loved movies and I wanted
to be a filmmaker some day."
--John Woo

As time went on, he finally caught his first break in 1969 when Cathay Studios in Hong Kong hired him as
a script-supervisor. Two years later, he moved to Shaw Bros., where he officially took as an assistant
director. As the assistant director, he was mentored by Chang Cheh, who was one of the most recognized
director during that era. Working under Chang Cheh, Woo learned two valuable aspects of films that he
would never forget - the art of filming action and the importance of editing, which we still see today in
every one of his films.

After years of study and hard-work under Chang Cheh, Woo finally made his director debut. A movie
named "The Young Dragons" was this special piece of work. The film was a great success in the box office
and was Woo's first official step to being a world-class director. Inside this film though, Woo showed
everyone two things that soon he would be recognized by - dynamic fluid camera work and elaborated
choreographed action sequences.

Upon the success of "The Young Dragon", Woo would go on to sign with Golden Harvest, another huge
and uprising producing company. At Golden Harvest, Woo would soon produce his newest hit. The special
part about this film was that Woo didn't only direct it, he had also written the movie and put his own
thoughts, ideas and beliefs into it. The film was called "Hand of Death" and was a great accomplishment
for him. The industry he worked in had only trusted in experience, not talent and for a director to work on
such a big project at his age was just very unlikely.

"It was a great honor to be able to do the movie...most directors were in their forties and I was still in my
twenties."
--John Woo

After the success of "Hand of Death", Woo would eventually move on to his next big project, his first
comedy film. The title of this movie was "The Pilferer's Progress", which starred Hong Kong comedian
Ricky Hui. To his surprise, this film had great success, knowing that he didn't have any experience filming
comedies. Ever since this film, Woo was recognized as a comedy director and for most of the 1980's,
worked on many comedies as he started to leave the action genre slowly.

Around the 1980's though, ever since the creation of "The Pilferer's Progress", his movie directing career
started to break apart. Woo was producing a few movies a year, which was a fast and tiring rate. Not only
that, but people just didn't find his movies hilarious anymore. His ways of filming combined with jokes are
just not amusing to the viewers as they use to be. After years and years of filming unsuccessful comedies,
even Woo found himself doing something that he didn't enjoy and life was as hard as it can ever get for
him.

John would soon get a new contract with a new studio though, but with this new studio, Cinema City, he
had to work in Taiwan. There were some adaptations he had to make and there were things that just couldn't
be changed for him at that moment for Woo. He was now working in a new city, but still yet, he was doing
comedy. During his years in Taiwan, he made two new films, "The Time you need a Friend" and "Run
Tiger Run". Both of these movies made basically no money and it just seemed like Woo was a has-been
director. He slowly took up drinking and everyday, you could see him in a bar drinking, you can almost say
that he was on the edge to being an alcoholic.

"John was in Taiwan for two years and made two comedies that were not successful. He wanted to go back
to Hong Kong but he had a contract with Cinema City and at the time those people there thought he was
washed up as a director. And then his friend, Tsui Hark, helped him. Tsui had become a very successful
producer and he had left Golden Harvest and had a deal at Cinema City. It was his insistence that got 'A
Better Tomorrow' made."--Terence Chang (Producer Partner)
Tsui Hark and John Woo both went back to Hong Kong together, where they produced a film which would
turn all of John Woo's hardships upside down. "A Better Tomorrow", a film starring Chow Yun Fat, Ti Lung
and Leslie Chung. This was the first action movie that John had done in a while and he did put loads of
hard work into this making it as good as possible. The finished product sold enormously! Not only did this
movie proved that Woo is not a has-been director and turned his whole career back on track, but it would
also changed the views of gun play in action movies forever.
"Comedies and Kung Fu films dominated Hong Kong cinema in the mid-eighties. Other genres rarely got
the support of the studio and the audience. And also, right before 'A Better Tomorrow,' I shot two films in
Taiwan...[that] were commercially unsuccessful; so it seemed quite impossible for me to make the films I
really wanted to make. Both Tsui Hark and myself felt that Hong Kong at that time was seriously lacking in
moral values. Young people were lost and trust toward the government was shaken. So I wanted to make an
uplifting film to highlight the lost traditional values, including the values of family, friendship, tolerance
etc. So I decided to remake a sixties film (''True Colors of a Hero,' directed by Lung Kong), and that
became 'A Better Tomorrow.'"--John Woo
Audiences back in the 1980's didn't appreciate guns in movies much, many thought that they were dull and
boring compared to high risk kung-fu moves and gracious swordplay. But with "A Better Tomorrow", all
was changed. Woo used his unique way of filming to collaborate gun play, martial arts and camera
movement to create a perfect and exciting action sequence which blew everyone's mind away. With this
film, John Woo had once again earned his place in the movie business as an action director. Also, upon the
release of "A Better Tomorrow", Woo had created a new genre in the industry known as the Heroic
Bloodshed, which is a combination of relationships and themes such as loyalty and friendship along with
ultra-violence.
After the creation of Heroic Bloodshed and Woo's career back on track to stardom, the film "Heroes Shed
No Tears" was released. This film was not made in the year it was released though. It was actually made
during Woo's hardship era. Apparently though, the board thought that the film was too violent and had
decided to shelf it. But every since they saw how people reacted to the violence in "A Better Tomorrow",
they believed that the film would produce great incomes and so, they released it.
The year is now 1987 and Woo once again starts a new project. This time, the movie is called "Just Heroes"
and this was sort of a charity for his mentor Chang Cheh and friend Wu Ma, who were having financial
troubles at the time and were in need of serious help. Although this film did well in the box office, it was
recognized as one of Woo's less interesting film. Even though is had many great John Woo action
sequences.
After "Just Heroes", Woo was in search of a new project. He had wanted to stay away from "A Better
Tomorrow", but it was just too popular. The film influenced many people and teenagers started to dress
alike the characters in the movie and started acting like certain characters too. Because of this, Woo decided
to do a sequel to the first film. "A Better Tomorrow 2", it had all the action packed sequences alike the first
one, but this time, with an amazing thriving finale that had one of the highest body counts per minute on
film. The film was another huge success in the box office for Woo.
The next big movie for John Woo was called "The Killer" (1989), a film with controversies between loyalty
and duty, friendship and honour. The plot of this story is about an assassin named Jeff, played by Chow
Yun-Fat who accidentally blinds a nightclub singer during one of his hits. Because of this, Jeff's thoughts
about his job changed and wanted to quit. Unfortunately though, he was convinced to do one last hit so he
can accumulate money for the singer's eyes surgery and during this, he was spotted by a hot-headed cop
named Danny. Danny starts tracing after the trail of Jeff until he realizes that Jeff wasn't as bad as he
seemed, in fact, he was only doing this so he can save others. So at the end, Danny and Jeff teamed up
together to take out Jeff's bosses, which would eventually become a 15 minute showdown inside a church
at the end of the movie containing all of Woo's unique style of action sequences. "The Killer" was the
movie that brought John Woo onto the international scene despite its underachieving run in the box office.
Every since the release of this movie, Woo had been invited to film festivals all around the world and soon,
even to Hollywood.
Even though "The Killer" brought Woo international recognition, other directors had started to slowly form
controversy with Woo. Many big directors in the Hong Kong film industry say that Woo had ruined the
action genre. Instead of people enjoying real and old-fashion martial arts, they would rather see Chow Yun-
Fat with 300 bullets. At the moment also, rumours about "A Better Tomorrow 3" started to spread.
Unfortunately though, dispute between Woo and Hark separated the two of them and Hark went off to
direct "A Better Tomorrow 3" by himself. Not only did he take the movie by himself, he also so others that
Woo was unreliable to work with. Woo's reputation in the business was ruined because of this and was
rejected by many major studios.
With nowhere to go, Woo decided to make his own producing company but first, he would need a new
business partner. Soon, he would find Terence Chang and together, they created their own production
studios. Using this new production company, Woo used his own version of "A Better Tomorrow 3" and
transformed it into a film called "Bullet in the Head". The film relates to the lives of 3 men when they
become fugitives in Vietnam because of a murder case in Hong Kong. But in Vietnam, their friendship
starts to break apart due to money as one of them would eventually kill the other for the money. So as the
two remaining men return back to Hong Kong, one seeks for revenge towards the murder. The audience
reaction to the movie wasn't very pleasant. They disliked the film because it related to the Tiannemen
Square Massacre which has recently happened. Woo was forced to re-shoot the ending to this film but still,
the studio thought it was inappropriate as they took the film on to their own hands and edited it.
The year now is 1991, a year after the release of "Bullet in the Head" as Woo started on his next project,
"Once a Thief". "Once a Thief" talks about three orphans who grew up together and were trained as thieves.
Apparently though, as they grew up, their step father who raised them started to use them for his own good,
he made money off them, betrayed them and even tried to kill them. When the thieves figured out that they
were being played as little toys, they set out for revenge on the man who was once their dad.
"Hard-boiled" was release in 1992 and would be Woo's farewell gift to Hong Kong as he would move on to
the Hollywood scene after this movie. This electrifying film has to do with a hot inspector, Tequila, an
illegal arms dealer, Johnny, and an undercover cop, Tony. The story has to do with both cops after the trail
of Johnny as they interfere with each others work. Soon enough though, they would combine their forced
together to take down Johnny which leads to an explosive, action-packed finale in a hospital. Once again
though, this film didn't have much success with the audience. Many thought that it was too rough with its
ultra-violent gunplay.
After leaving Hong Kong, Woo started his work in Hollywood with a movie named "Hard Target" (1993),
starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. This movie wasn't very successful for Woo though. The fact of working
in a new environment with new restriction really did bother his style of working. Also, the script of the
movie was unlike the typical John Woo action film, too many things were straight-up, where were no
mysteries or change in characters. Jean-Claude Van Damme also played a problem for Woo. Woo's
specialty was in the collaboration of martial arts and gunplay, but Van Damme just couldn't work with a
gun. He would go with the gun for a couple minutes and then revert to pure kicking afterwards. So, John
Woo's first Hollywood debut was a disappointment.
Due to his unsuccessful first film, it was a full 3 years before Woo had gotten to direct another film. This
time, he worked with John Travolta in a filmed named "Broken Arrow". But just like last time, this film
was another disappointment for Woo. Although it did contain certain Woo style action sequences at times, it
still didn't give Woo the chance to show his skills and style to the American audience. Nevertheless,
"Broken Arrow" still did okay in the box-office and gained him enough respect to start his own movie soon
afterwards.
Before getting to start his own film, Woo agreed with FOX and Canada's Alliance Production to create a
television series called "Once a Thief", which is still on air today. The story talks about 3 trained thieves
growing up dealing with their relationship problems with one and other. Throughout the series, there were
parts when Woo's camera work clearly came into play, such as the slow-motion, dolly-ins and freeze
frames. But since it was a television series, there wasn't much gunplay into it.
The next movie Woo makes who become one of hit most successful movie ever. The year was 1997 and the
movie was called "Face/off". This film was a huge success in the box office with over $100 million made.
Also, unlike "Broken Arrow" and "Hard Target", this was a typical John Woo film that made him famous
back in Hong Kong. The story revolves around two characters, Sean Archer (played by John Travolta) and
Caster Troy (played by Nicholas Cage) as they switch identities with a surgical procedure. This film
contains many of Woo's famous style, the mid-air combats, double guns, and slick action sequences. With
this film, Woo would also eventually move on to win a couple awards.
The next project for Woo was another television series named "Blackjack", which in many people's
opinions, was another so-so production lacking many of John Woo's real potential. This television series
talks about a guardian of a little girl when her father is killed by Russian mafia members. Apparently
though, this guardian also has the fear of white colour.
The next movie Woo made was in the year 2000 and once again, was a huge hit and success. For this film,
Woo would work with Hollywood star Tom Cruise in a sequel to a famous film called "Mission
Impossible". "Mission Impossible 2" made over $200 million in box office and like all of other Woo's hits,
was a typical exciting action-packed John Woo film. The plot of this film talks about an undercover agent,
Ethen Hunt (played by Tom Cruise), being sent on a mission to retrieve and destroy a stolen virus called
"Chimera". Throughout the whole movie, there were slow motions, freeze frames, extreme gun plays and
dynamic camera work. With all of these aspects coming into play, the whole movie was a piece of artwork.
The latest work from Woo was just made last year. A film called "Windtalkers" starring Nicholas Cage. The
film takes place during World War 2 when the Americans were fighting battles after battles with the
Japanese over the Pacific. During the war, all the coded messages of the U.S marine has been broken by the
Japanese and so, the U.S recruited many Navajo Americans into the marine to use as a code. They would
speak their own language among one and others to transfer messages. This has been the only successful
code that has not been broken. Inside the movie, Joe Enders (Nicholas Cage) is given the task to protect
Navajo American talker, Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach). This John Woo production has been an inspiration to
many Navajo people and made $14 million on its opening weekend.
Over the years of Woo's career, he has been through up's and down's, from the 1980 comedy drought to the
creation of the Heroic Bloodshed genre. He has also received many awards over the years. In 1987, at the
Hong Kong Film Awards, the Best picture of the Year was "A Better Tomorrow" and in 1990, the Best
Directing was Woo in "The Killer". In 1991, he won another award at the Hong Kong Film Award for Best
Film Editing in "Bullet in the Head". Two years later, in 1993, he won Best Film Editing again for his last
Hong Kong film, "Hard-Boiled". Then in 1996, he won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cine Asian
Awards. Moving on to his International career, he has won the Best Director Award at the 1997 Saturn
Awards for "Face/off". Also in 1997, he won the Jury Grand Prize at the Sweden Film Fest for "Face/off'
once again. In 1998, he would win another award for "Face/Off" and it was at the MTV Movie Award for
Best Action Sequence. Then in 2001, he won 2 more awards, another Best Action Sequence at the MTV
Movie Award for "Mission Impossible 2" and Action Director of the Year at the World Stunt Awards.
Throughout the years of Woo's long and amazing career, he has been recognized for his own unique style of
filming. One of his most recognized style is his camera work. Throughout his movies, you would often see
frame freezing or slow-motion to show an important action or aspect of the movie. Woo is also known for
his ultra-violent choreographed action sequences. During many of his sequences, Woo would combine
gunplay with traditional martial arts to spice up the whole scene. Also, his characters would often use guns
in both of their hand along with a "Mexican standoff", where two characters are pointing guns at each
others heads. Another one of his unique style would be gun throwing. His characters would often throw a
gun to his allied when they are in need of help. His most unique style though, in my opinion, would be the
way his characters detects danger. In most of his movies, his hero would often notice danger heading
his/her way through a reflection. Although most of his action sequences are very rough and violent, Woo
would usually play pleasant music in the background to contrast the action. As for his plots, many of Woo's
movies often have to do with honour, loyalty, friendship and revenge. But at the end of his movies, he
would often have sceneries with birds inside to resemble peace and the end of the fighting.
As an international known director, he has also played a major impact in all of our action films today. Ever
since the Heroic Bloodshed came into existence, the action genre around the world had been made
enormous changes. In china, action movies aren't all about old fashion martial arts anymore. There are
more gun plays with more violent action sequences involved. The audience's taste in action movies has also
changed because of Woo. There is more diversity to their taste nowadays. In the western part of the world,
action heroes have changed dramatically. Their attitude, actions and look have all changed. Before the
Heroic Bloodshed era, the heroes have hardly killed inside the movies. But after the Heroic Bloodshed,
they have all of a sudden become killing machines. Not only that, but many of the new heroes have also
copied Woo's style. Many of them have Mexican standoffs and also guns in both hands.
So as you can see, John Woo has basically devoted his entire life to filming and it has paid off. He is one of
the best known action directors internationally and is also the father to the Heroic Bloodshed genre. He had
impacted the action genre we watch on the big screen today. Although he had been through good and bad
during his career, he has ended up being recognized by the world, especially by his unique style of filming.
So when you watch an action film in the theatres next time, study the film, look at the scenes and ask
yourself, if it wasn't for John Woo, could I be seeing this movie in front of me right now?