JOHN WOO BIOGRAPHY

JOHN WOO
Real name: Wu Yu-sen
Cantonese name: Ng Yu-sum
Date of Birth (location): 1946, Guangzhou (=Canton) Guangdong Province, China (Mainland)

Canton is near Hong Kong, only 111 km (69 miles) to north-west from Hong Kong.  John Woo was born in Southern Mainland China in 1946, as a son of a philosopher. Their family found life under the Communists intolerable, so they moved to Hong Kong in 1951, when John was just 3 yrs old. After big fire of 1953 they became homeless and so they lived on the streets for a year. After that they lived in a slum. Their family was very poor, and when John was very sick child, they had to spend a lot money to his medical care and just to keep him alive. As a philosopher, Woo's father did not get a job in Hong Kong. He became very sick with tuberculosis and stayed in hospital for ten years. After that JW's mother had to take care of the whole family alone, doing hard work on construction sites, manual labour. They even coundn't afford to send John and his brother to school, but they were lucky; an American family sent them some money through the Church. So John entered into Lutherian school at the age of nine.

He was educated at Matteo Ricci College and was an actor/ member of the Chinese Student Weekly's Theatre Company. In lieu of film school, Woo sought entry-level positions in the flourishing Hong Kong film industry, which was deep into its post-Bruce Lee kung fu period. There he was given a oppotunity to direct some of the school's plays. For sure it gave good experience for his later career. As a young man, after the help he had got from the Church, JW wanted to be priest, to try and help out other people and to repay what he was given to.

JW's father died, when John was 16 yrs.
John about his father: "He loved me very much and taught me a lot of philosophy and Chinese culture, how to live with dignity, but he wanted me to be realistic. He was a old-fashioned scholar, very traditional and I was a rebel. I was fascinated by James Dean, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, I liked anything he hadn't see´n before."
By this time, the future director was regularly skipping school to visit libraries, museum and cinemas, andendlessly rewatch films of Truffaut, Antioni, Bergman, Kurosawa and his 'life-long idol' Jean-Pierre Melville.

John Woo: "In the sixties, there was no film schools in Hong Kong. My family was poor, especially after my father died, my mother couldn't afford to send me to school anymore. He needed to find a job and a way to study cinema as well) There was a newspaper called "The Chinese Student Weekly". The boss was a very kind man who made the paper's offices available as a sort of art centre. There was several sections of poetry, art, philosophy, and I met a group of young people who loved film. The newspaper rented art films for us to watch and we discussed them. Also I went to big libraries and book stores and stole film books. That's how I learned film theory."

As JW saw all those Western classics, he became more and more unsatistificed with domestic product. ("At that time Hong Kong movies were so bad. And I thought I could make better ones") Between 1968-1970 he made several experimental 8mm and 16mm shorts (Most of which are now lost), and supplemented his meagre income with casual work on professional shoots. At that time he fell on 'the new American cinema' an specifically the work of Sam Peckinpah, Francis Ford Coppola and Stanley Kubrick.

He began his movie career in 1969 at Cathay Studio as Production assistant and script supervisor. In 1971 he moved to Shaw Brothers, where he worked as an assistant director for veteran director Chang Cheh, when they made few martial arts movies. WOO: Chang Cheh was the pioneer of the modern Hong Kong films, he was the first one to use men for leading parts in the movies! Earlier on, it was just women who played all the major parts. He (Chang Cheh) was the master of swordsplay 'martial chivalry' epics (wuxia pian films), whose stoic, natilly-attired swordman heroes in such films as 1968's Golden Swallow may be seen as forerunners of the noble outlaws played by Chow Yun Fat in A Better Tomorrow and Killer. Woo readily acknowledges the strong influence of his former boss, whom he describes as Hong Kong's own Sam Peckinpah, "...not so much in Chang Cheh's way of portraying violence, but in his unrestrained way of writing emotions and chivalry. Chinese cinema has always been too low key. We should be more expressive, put more of ourselves into our films" (as he explained at the Hong Kong Film Festival premiere of "A Better Tomorrow")

Legendary studio chief Sir Run Run Shaw,once defined the parameters of his artistic aspirations by noting that "the cinema offers air-conditioned darkness", adding that his best films were "the ones that made most money". Chang Cher. Woo quickly realized that to get ahead, he would have to play by the system's rules.

Just two year later he made his directorial debut -at very young age (He was 26 yrs.)- with The Young Dragons.
WOO: "The Young Dragons; around this time, most of the directors making their first films were in their forties. Because, in this system, you would have to start at the bottom, after 10, 15, maybe 20 years as an assistan director, then, you became a director. And the film people, they all really looked down on intellectual. They thought if you were an intellectual, you were not good for making films. So when I became a director - because I was young and an intellectual - the people at the studiogave me a really hard time."

The Young Dragons was banned in Hong Kong for it´s extreme violence and therefore shelved for 2 years before being recut, rescored and released by Golden Harvest.
At that time, early seventies, sensors were very tough in Hong Kong. They claimed Woo dangerous because he gave the bad guys in the film weapons. That was something what was done never before. Sencors were afraid that young people would learn about it. But after all people (Raymond Chow) at Golden Harvest liked The Young Dragons, so Woo was signed for three years. Also he re-shoot some action scenes of YD that it could pass sensors.

One of Woo's first assignments at Golden Harvest working as 'associate director' with the popular TV comedian Michael Hui, to help him get his sea legs on his first three films as a writer director. Games Gamblers Play, Private Eyes, Contract. Woo has remained friendly with Michael Hui and went on to make several successful comedies with the director's talented sad sack brother, Ricky Hui.

After that he made two more successful martial arts pictures followed, The Dragon Tamers (1974) starring Ji Han Jae (the Hapkido-stylist from Bruce Lee's Game Of Death and The Hand of Death (1975), the latter featuring action superstar Jackie Chan in his first major screen role, with Samo Hung and James Tien. In Hand of Death John Woo appears as an actor as well. Also Yuen Biao can be seen for a very short moment.

After the martial arts films he made something competely different: a Cantonese opera film, Princess Chang Ping (1975), which was quite a good succees as well. It was a faithful remake of Tradegy of the Emperors Daughter, directed by Tso Kein in 1959. This movie is Woo's favourite of his very early works.

In 1977 he made his first of his many comedies, Money Grazy, that came a huge success. This box office hit really established him in Hong Kong. He became known as a comedy director. In the sma year was released his second comedy Follow the Star, which was Woo's tribute to classic masters of silent comedies; Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

After that he had a change to direct martial arts action film Last Hurrah For Chivalry (1978) which is traditional swordsplayactionmovie, a genre called wuxia in China. John tried to refresh wuxia genre, though, make some Woo style on it. There is many elements, which can be seen in his films many times after this one; friends and brothers and their loyalties to each other. It's made

Now Woo made more comedies again, in 1978 he directed first episode out of three to Hello Late Homecomers (other directors were Louis Sit and T.C. Laui), which was based on tv serie. The next one, From Rags to Riches (1979), is Woos favourite of his comedies. It's about the lottery winner who have 6 months to live, so he hires a hitman to kill himself, but them gets second thoughts and decides to live instead. After that he made a horrorcomedy To Hell With The Devil (1981).

In 1981 Woo made Laughing times, his first film for Cinema City, it was Cinema City's first film. Woo directed this under a pseudonym while still under contract with Golden Harvest. This comedy starring Dean Shek was a tribute to Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

Unfortenately for Woo, from now this moment on, studio only wanted him to continue making comedies and nothing but comedies. Woo recal this period as "one of the worst of my life". Plain Jane to the Rescue (1982) is one of these comedies which Woo was ordered to make. It is a sequel to "Lum Ah Chun", a comedy about a woman who gets into a lot of mishaps

Sunset Warriors (1983/1987) was Woo's first 'bloodshed' styled film.It was originally shot in 1983, but Woo didn't like the final result. It left on shelft. Many years later - after A Better Tomorrow succeee - it was 'found' again and after re-editing it was released in 1987 retitled as Heroes Shed No Tears. In this Eastern Condors-style film a group of Chinese commandos goes into the jungle, kidnaps a drug kingpin, and fights its way out. A bloody drug-war in jungle.

The studion owners called him too old fashioned and sent him to Taiwan for a two years where he only managed to direct two films -The Time You Need a Friend (1984) and Run Tiger Run (1985). Woo really don't feel any sympathies for these comedies.

But everything was about to change. When Woo returned to Hong Kong, his filmmaker friend Tsui Hark had just founded a new company, Film Workshop, and offered him a job. The new film they made was nothing else, but A Better Tomorrow! (1986). It became a big turning point in his career, as well as for famous tv-star Chow Yun Fat's career.

True Colours (1986) Creative director, Directed by Kirk Wong.

Woo was already working on the script for "A Better Tomorrow III" when Tsui Hark told the press that he, not Woo, would be writing and directing Part III, a prequel set in wartime Vietnam. The announcement took Woo completely by surprise and effectively ended his relationship with Tsui.

Tsui Hark's "A Better Tomorrow III: Life and Death in Saigon" was released in 1989.