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Unfinished Dreams

John Woo has made many great movies but there has been few projects which never came true. At least not so far.. This article is about films which wee supposed to be done in Hollywood with John Woo involved more or less, usually in director's chair. Of course it is still possible that some of these projects might come true, and maybe even with John Woo involved in them. But it doesn't seem to happen in near future.

The American Killer

Film makers and critics started to get interested on Woo soon after The Killer (1989). John Woo was asked to direct American version but he was not interested to repeat the same movie not to move to Hollywood yet. Walter Hill wrote the script for US remake of The Killer. The Killer; Based on the Hong Kong Action Film by John Woo. It was dated April 6, 1992. This 'original' script can be downloaded from God Among Directors fan site. Later producers Charles Roven and Robert Cavallo hired writers Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. to draft the script for Tri-Star Pictures. According to original press release film was meant to star Richard Gere and Denzel Washington. Story was very much the same as in original Hong Kong version, but with happy ending. In the progress of rewriting however it got some changes, like making Danny Lee's character, police, a woman. Then at some point producers started to think the relationship of two men in film. Americans could see it as homoerotic (actually it is more like brotherhood, bloodbrothers should I say). Anyway idea was to find a woman toreplace one of the men. And Michele Yeoh was the chosen one to star with Richard Gere. But I've heard nothing about it anymore and Michelle Yeoh is lokely busy after her succesful role in Tomorrow Never Dies - Bond adventure. I'm sure she can find other much more interesting and bigger projects from now on. Woo has also said he would like to make US version of Hard Boiled with American cast. But as far as I know nothing else has been done, no script, no plans or anything else. So looks like these both are no more or less buried projects. I am sure Woo can find something more interesting to do.

No more martial arts for Woo

Brandon Lee wanted John Woo to direct Rapid Fire, his first film for 20th Century Fox. Terence Chang had arranged for Brandon Lee to make Legacy of Rage in Hong Kong in 1986). The deal for Woo to direct Rapid Fire came close to being signed, but eventually the studio wanted a martial arts movie rather than the kind of movie that Woo was interested in making. So Dwight Little directed Rapid Fire in 1992, film which was called 'the best Hong kong movie ever made in America'. But Rapd Fire was not the only martial arts movie Woo was asked to make. One of the others was The Perfect Weapon starring young and promising martial artist Jeff Speakman. And also this time it was the actor who wanted to get Jon Woo to direct his movie and give himsome big fame to speed up his movie career. But once again Woo wasn't interested in martial arts filming. Finally Woo chose to make Hard Target with Jean-Claude van Damne, but that is another story...

Mosquitos and crocodiles

Hard Target was made and some studio executive commented that it looked like ' a Chinese movie made in English'. Like saying Woo can't make american Hollywood movie. Then Woo decided his next movie would look very much Hollywood project. So Woo and Terence Chang started develop movie called Shadow War (sort of spy film I believe) for Sam Raimi's company at universal Pictures. After pouring several months of work into the project it became plain that Universal had no real plans of making the movie. So Woo and Chang stepped into another interesting project. Adventure films Tears of the Sun was a remake of John Huston's Treasure of Sierra Madre (starring Humphrey Bogart). But nothing really happened in this project neither. Bratt Pitt was supposed to be star (Bogarts role?) but he had too many other commitments so he could not do it. Other names mentioned were Woody Harelson and Tommy Lee Jones.

Terence Chang (interview, Hong Kong Babylon, book): We spent eight months on the picture, and couldn't get the script right. And the picture was physically very demanding. The actors had to be in the water a lot of the time, wrestling with the crocodiles, fightinng off piranhas, falling down waterfalls. Some actors said, shoot it in the States, and then maybe I'll do it. American actors are spoiled.
(interview, Hong Kong Babylon, book)

Licence to kill

Another film offered to Woo before his next one (Broken Arrow) was Golden Eye, 17th feature film based on Ian Fleming's super agent starring Irish actor Pierce Bronan. When Golden Eye was directed by Martin Campbell and released in 1995 it became one of the most succesfull films of the series. Woo thought the offer as an honour but he did not think Woo films would be right for him.

John Woo: I was interested, I would love to see James Bond with two guns, but my james Bond certainly would not have been the James Bond they were expecting.
(Ten Thousand Bullets by Christopher Heard, book)

Girl Power

When Woo was looking for actors for Face/Off he met few heavy-weight Hollywood actresses. Sigourney Weaverwas so taken with Woo's style that she met with him and offered him a movie she was developing, which was based on a Japanese comic book (manga).

John Woo: I met Sharon Stone to talk about some projects. I'm sure she can play a very tough character with heart. We are now looking for just the right kind of material to work on together.
(Ten Thousand Bullets by Christopher Heard, book)

War in China

The historical film with based on a famous book also named Devil's Soldier (1992) written by Caleb Carr. It's a true life story about an American mercenary Frederick Townsend Ward who went to shanghai, brought Western war tactics to China and somehow became a general who helped the Manchu's suppress the Taiping Rebellion (1851-64), in history's bloodiest civil war.

John Woo explains, "Tom [Cruise] and I have been talking about filming a huge epic in China called The Devil's Soldier. It's based on a true story of a 19th century adventurer who had a love affair with China and a Chinese girl. The Chinese have even built a temple in this man's honor. It would be my most ambitious film ever and one of the biggest films ever shot in China. It would be like a Chinese 'Lawrence of Arabia' but it all depends on Tom's commitments. That could mean waiting several years before we could hope to shoot."
From Variety Feb 26/98.

So according to what John Woo said then Devil's Soldier could be possible in future but I haven't heard anything new about this project lately. Only time will tell.

Watch the music, hear the movie

From The Calgary Sun (Feb 3/98) Woo also told the Calgary Sun that his planned film version of 'Phantom of the Opera' with John Travolta has been put on hold indefinitely.

Woo: "It's ( a very attractive project, but John and I have too many commitments to announce a start date. The script also needs to be far more visual than it is in its current state. (While making Broken Arrow and Face/Off Travolta) was always singing. I think it's so wrong that he hasn't sung on film in such a long time.

Rumors around the remake of Phantom in the Opera, new forthcoming version for Warner Bros. A Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Travolta is very strong candidate for this one and he has met Webber already. Travolta would have the leading role as faceless composer. Many directors has been named, John Woo is one of them alongside Joel Schumacher, Franco Zeffirelli and Bruce Beresford. If John Woo gets this film, it could be a dream come true since he has been dreaming to direct a classical musical some day.

Original version was filmed 1925 starring Lon Chaney. Chaney is the vengeful, faceless composer who lives under catacombs under the Paris Opera House, and kidnaps young Mary Philbin as his singing protegee. Famous unmasking scene still packs a jolt, and the Bal Masque is especially impressive in two-color Technicolor. Dir. Rubert Julian

Claude Rains starred with Susanna Foster in the 1943 first talkie film version of the popular tale The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Arthur Lubin. This version is more focused on Opera, less Phantom. After that several different film versions were made, and it was also turned into Broadway musical.

EVITA 2 was another musical project Woo was supposed to direct but nothing really happened. And probably never will.

A.P. Wire Service: Director John Woo announced plans to make a sequel to the popular musical "Evita!" to star Madonna, Jet Li and Paul Reubens. Madonna will play Evita's twin sister who returns from a convent to save her country. Jet Li, a popular Hong Kong actor, is working with a voice coach and dance instructor for his role as a singing waiter who befriends Madonna. Filming starts this fall for a projected summer 1999 release.