Celebrity Biographies
John Woo
His slow-motion shots, which underline the drama of the action sequences, have created a school. T arantino and Raimi consider him one of his teachers. John Woo relaunched Hong Kong cinema in the 1990s, and opened the doors of Hollywood to many compatriots.
Born in Guangzhou, in southern China, on May 1, 1946, Yusen Wu -the real name of the filmmaker- grew up curiously in the bosom of a Catholic family, a minority religion in that country. In fact, the filmmaker often resorts to Catholic iconography in films like The Killer or Mission Impossible: 2 (where he, by the way, also demonstrated his ignorance of Spain). When he was in his early twenties and starting to look for a job, Bruce Leewas triumphing on international screens, which came with a time of unprecedented prosperity for Hong Kong cinema. Attracted by the action films of the time, Woo landed a job as an assistant director at the Saw Brothers studios. He soon demonstrated his qualities and rose through the ranks until he made his feature film directorial debut in 1973 with Fist of the Douglas K , one of A Better Tomorrow pigeonholed him in shooting movies.Jackie Chan . From that moment on, and like the rest of the Hong Kong filmmakers, he began a prolific career, playing various genres until the success of
In 1989 he consecrated himself definitively with The Killer , for which Woo had created his own style: a minimal and puerile plot, choreographies as impossible as they were spectacular in the shootings and the use of slow motion at the key moment of the shooting, when for example the protagonists launch themselves against a hundred thugs that surround them. Certain obsessions and trademarks were already present, such as his ubiquitous pigeons, and the heroes who defend themselves with two pistols, or throw revolvers at their friends. They follow the same wave A bullet in the head and Hard Boiled , which have declared admirers such as Scorsese, Tarantino or Robert Rodriguez (who shamelessly imitates him in Desperado ). The first to offer him a job in Hollywood is Sam Raimi, director of Spider-Man , which produces Human Target , with Van Damme and very similar to his Hong Kong films. Although it is consecrated in Hollywood with Broken Arrow , Face to Face and Mission: Impossible 2 -a blockbuster despite the fact that it is not a great movie-, the truth is that the unfair failure of Windtalkers , and the low quality of Paycheck have greatly undermined his credibility. After directing a short from the collective film All the Invisible Children – with Emir Kusturica and Ridley Scott- , he preparesSpy Hunter , with The Rock, a new action movie idol.