JOHN WOO
Name: John Woo.
Born: 1 May 1946 Guangzhou, China
John Woo Yu-Sen (born May 1, 1946) is an
internationally and critically acclaimed Chinese film director and producer. Woo
is widely known for his stylised movies which are renowned for their balletic
action sequences, Mexican stand-offs, and use of slow-motion. He directed the
notable Hong Kong action films, A Better Tomorrow, Hard Boiled, and The Killer.
His English-language movies include Hard Target, Broken Arrow, Face/Off, and
Mission: Impossible 2. As a young boy, Woo wanted to be a Christian minister;
he later found a passion for movies influenced by European film, the French New
Wave and Jean-Pierre Melville. Woo has said he was shy and had difficulty
speaking, but found making movies a way to explore his feelings and thinking and
would "use movie as a language". Woo cites his three favourite films as
Lawrence of Arabia, Seven Samurai and Melville's Le Samouraï. Woo was
described by Dave Kehr in The Observer in 2002 as "arguably the most influential
director making movies today".
At age five Woo's parents were faced with persecution and his Christian family
fled to Hong Kong. During this time, the Woo family led a hard life in the slums
at Shek Kip Mei, since his father had tuberculosis and could not work. Woo
went to Concordia Lutheran School and received Christian education. In 1953 the
family was rendered homeless, when their house was burned to the ground as part
of the famous HK Shek Kip Mei fire. Thanks to donations from charities, his
family was able to move into another house. Unfortunately, by this time, a wave
of crime and violence was beginning to infest Hong Kong's housing projects.
In order to escape his dismal surroundings, Woo would retreat to the local movie
theater. Woo found his respite through musicals like The Wizard of Oz. During
his youth, he enjoyed watching Western movies, especially the final scene in
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where the two comrades run out gun blazing (where
he got the inspiration of holding two guns). Woo is also a fan of Hollywood
musicals.
Woo married Annie Woo Ngau Chun-lung in 1976 and has had three children. He
plans to continue living in the United States.
Name: John Woo.
Born: 1 May 1946 Guangzhou, China
John Woo Yu-Sen (born May 1, 1946) is an
internationally and critically acclaimed Chinese film director and producer. Woo
is widely known for his stylised movies which are renowned for their balletic
action sequences, Mexican stand-offs, and use of slow-motion. He directed the
notable Hong Kong action films, A Better Tomorrow, Hard Boiled, and The Killer.
His English-language movies include Hard Target, Broken Arrow, Face/Off, and
Mission: Impossible 2. As a young boy, Woo wanted to be a Christian minister;
he later found a passion for movies influenced by European film, the French New
Wave and Jean-Pierre Melville. Woo has said he was shy and had difficulty
speaking, but found making movies a way to explore his feelings and thinking and
would "use movie as a language". Woo cites his three favourite films as
Lawrence of Arabia, Seven Samurai and Melville's Le Samouraï. Woo was
described by Dave Kehr in The Observer in 2002 as "arguably the most influential
director making movies today".
At age five Woo's parents were faced with persecution and his Christian family
fled to Hong Kong. During this time, the Woo family led a hard life in the slums
at Shek Kip Mei, since his father had tuberculosis and could not work. Woo
went to Concordia Lutheran School and received Christian education. In 1953 the
family was rendered homeless, when their house was burned to the ground as part
of the famous HK Shek Kip Mei fire. Thanks to donations from charities, his
family was able to move into another house. Unfortunately, by this time, a wave
of crime and violence was beginning to infest Hong Kong's housing projects.
In order to escape his dismal surroundings, Woo would retreat to the local movie
theater. Woo found his respite through musicals like The Wizard of Oz. During
his youth, he enjoyed watching Western movies, especially the final scene in
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where the two comrades run out gun blazing (where
he got the inspiration of holding two guns). Woo is also a fan of Hollywood
musicals.
Woo married Annie Woo Ngau Chun-lung in 1976 and has had three children. He
plans to continue living in the United States.