Biography

John Woo

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Born in southern China, John Woo grew up in Hong Kong, where he began his film career as an assistant director in 1969, working for Shaw Brothers Studios. He directed his first feature in 1973 and has been a prolific director ever since, working in a wide variety of genres before A Better Tomorrow (1986) established his reputation as a master stylist specializing in ultra-violent gangster films and thrillers, with hugely elaborate action scenes shot with breathtaking panache. After gaining a cult reputation in the US with The Killer (1989), Woo was offered a Hollywood contract. He now works in the US.
- IMDb mini biography by: Michael Brooke <michael@everyman.demon.co.uk>

Uses pleasant music that heavily contrasts with some of the more violent action on screen.
Frequently works with Chow Yun-Fat
Scenes of hyperkinetic, chereographed action
Since making films in the U.S., Woo has started to use doves as a symbol for peace in his films. They are often pictured flying away as the shooting begins.
Slow motion or freeze-frame sequences

Woo's many American admirers include the likes of Martin Scorsese, Sam Raimi (who compared his mastery of action to Alfred Hitchcock's mastery of suspense) and Quentin Tarantino (who, replying to a studio executive saying "I suppose Woo can direct action scenes" said "Sure, and Michelangelo can paint ceilings!").
He is the first Asian director ever to make a mainstream Hollywood film (Hard Target (1993)).
When trying to convince Universal to get him to direct Hard Target (1993), Jean-Claude Van Damme championed Woo as "the Martin Scorsese of Asia".
He has never owned a car.
He uses doves as a symbolic device. They represent the character's soul as being saved.

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.
I like doves. They look so beautiful, like a woman. For me they represent peace and love and purity. And sometimes they're seen as the messengers of God, so they're important to me because I'm a Christian.
[on Tom Cruise] When he talks, he has so much energy it's almost like he's dancing. So I used that to choreograph his action scenes.
[on working in Hollywood] Even though I enjoyed the opportunity to work in Hollywood, I never got used to their system. I didn't like much of the studio people. Well, there are too much politics and so much going on, and a lot of them have nothing to do with the movie. It's all about power, it's all about egos.
[on his childhood living in a Hong Kong slum] I had to fight to survive. Whenever I got beat up, I got upset, I also ran into the theater to watch a movie. But I have a very strong character, I never surrender, I [am] never afraid, no matter how big they are, how cruel they are, they never beat me down. I didn't have money. I just sneaked in or watched the movie from the peephole. I have found my heaven in musicals. When I watch a musical, it makes me believe life is still beautiful. There are still a lot of beautiful people in the world. So I like the costumes, I love the song, I love all those smiles, I love those dance. In theater I found my heaven.