John Woo is one of the essential figures of modern action cinema. During the 1980s and 1990s, he imposed a signature that became immediately recognizable: shootings in crossfire with often a weapon in each hand, almost lyrical slow-motion, memorable sequence shots, flights of doves… Between 1989 and 1992, the triumph of The Killer (The killer) and of Hard Boiled (Foolproof) caught the attention of Hollywood, where John Woo notably directed face-off (Double identity). This year, the Fantasia festival pays tribute to the master, passing through Montreal for the occasion. We were able to talk to him before he came.
Born in southern China in 1946, John Woo moved with his parents to Hong Kong when he was five years old. He grew up in extreme poverty.
“We lived in a slum; we had nothing. Criminal gangs were very present in the area and as a child I was often beaten by these gangsters. To escape them, I sneaked into a cinema: the world on the big screen was so much more beautiful. I remember being very early captivated by musical films: The Wizard of Oz (The Wizard of Oz), Singin’ in the Rain (Let’s sing in the rain)… These colours, the music, the choreography… I don’t know why, but it reassured me. »
As a teenager, John Woo was able to broaden his cinematic horizons thanks to an influx of films from Europe, especially France. It was the shock.
“I fell deeply in love with French cinema, with the films of François Truffaut… Jacques Demy and Umbrellas of Cherbourg ! And all the other New Wave films: the way they were edited greatly influenced me. Jean-Pierre Melville’s thrillers also had a decisive impact: The Samurai remains one of my favorite films. The French cinema of that time changed my life. And French is such a beautiful language: it almost sounds like a bird song. »
From Hong Kong to Hollywood
During this period, John Woo began to make amateur films using an 8 mm camera. After college, he became a production assistant. He subsequently made a whole bunch of martial arts films, developing his style and discovering a passion for action sequences.
“The action scenes remind me of numbers from musical films from my childhood. That is to say, for me, an action scene is a dance; it’s like a ballet in my mind. »
In 1986, recovering from a burnoutJohn Woo was a resounding success with A Better Tomorrow. He chained successes until 1992, from The Killer at Hard BoiledPassing by A Better Tomorrow II.
Then, it was the departure for Hollywood, where he worked with the stars of the moment: Jean-Claude Van Damme in Hard Target (Target), John Travolta in Broken Arrow (Code: Broken Arrow) and especially face-offTom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 2…
“I was already in my forties and never, when I started out, could I have imagined finding myself in Hollywood. But my movie The Killer had created a kind of commotion within the studios, and suddenly they all wanted to produce action films like the ones we were shooting in Hong Kong. For my part, the prospect of working with new people and continuing my learning appealed to me. I have never regretted it. »
Audacity and freedom
As part of the tribute to John Woo, Fantasia will present Hard Boiledwhere a vengeful cop teams up with a co-worker infiltrating the underworld, and face-offwhere an FBI agent (John Travolta) and a psychopath (Nicolas Cage), using new medical technology, swap faces in a police operation gone awry.
This is a wise choice, since these are films of which the main interested party has very happy memories: “The shooting of Hard Boiled was very demanding, and I will always remember that day when the crew and I were all exhausted as we had to shoot the final shootout. When suddenly I had a crazy idea for a sequence shot. The team followed me and we got there. It’s a very complicated sequence shot that includes slow motions, shootouts, impossible stunts… No sequence shot like this had been done before, and it’s had a following, which fills me with pride. »
Same observation when John Woo remembers face-offthen its biggest budget.
“It was initially a real science fiction film, but I was not comfortable with that genre. So I cut out about 99% of the sci-fi and special effects elements to give priority to the human drama. It was such a pleasure to reunite with John Travolta and collaborate with Nicolas Cage. Prior to filming, they had spent three weeks impersonating each other for the purposes of the film. I have rarely had so much fun on set: all the stuntmen knew and liked my Hong Kong films, so it was easy for me to put my style into the action scenes. »
It must be said that upstream, the president of the Paramount studio, Sherry Lansing, had given her instructions to the various executives who usually like to get involved in the production. “I will always remember this meeting. In front of everyone, and in front of me, Sherry Lansing said, “I want a John Woo movie. He has carte blanche. Your notes and comments, keep them to yourself.” I had total freedom on this film. I will be eternally grateful to this great lady. »
justice and crime
Besides their style, John Woo’s films, both those made in Hong Kong and Hollywood, share an interesting commonality: several feature a policeman (or some law enforcement agent) and a criminal who oppose each other in a complex relationship. It is never so obvious as in face-offwhere evil hides under the guise of good and vice versa.
“The idea of justice is important to me. I believe that the recurrence of policeman and criminal figures in my cinema is linked to my love for Melville’s thrillers, as well as for the American gangster films of the 1940s and 1950s that inspired him. »
There is also, no doubt, an autobiographical component, with all these gangsters who made life difficult for him as a child. From film to film, here is John Woo well avenged.
John Woo will meet the Fantasia audience on July 16. His movies Hard Boiled and face-off will be screened on July 15 and 17 respectively.