Mission Impossibel 2 confirmed: next John Woo film

John Woo will direct new Mission Impossible sequel and Tom Cruise returns in the role of Ethan hunt. Douglas Scott plays a bad guy. Also British actress Thandie Newton has joined the cast. Shooting will start in January 1999. Film should be ready for audience in November 1999. John Woo's next film after Mission Impossible 2 will be King's Ransom starring Chow Yun-fat. Shooting is planned to start late in autumn 1999.

New John Woo book:

New John Woo book has been released. Russ Treloar just mailed me that new John Woo book is now available from Amazon.com. Ten Thousand Bullets: The Cinematic Journey of John Woo is written by Christopher Heard.
Buy / More info

I'm sorry there was not too many updates lately but I've been just too busy to update. I had no great news and actually I did not have time to look for them. This is the first update within 2 months! I try to work harder from now on.
Vesa Jalkanen

Media Asia released The Killer DVD

Now the last announced John Woo DVD was released by Universe / Media Asia. So far I have not got too much info about this new release, but it is available at least in Hong Kong.

THE KILLER (WS, DD5.1)
Region code free
Language: Cantonese, Mandarin
Subtitles: Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia, Thai, Spanish

Big Hit theatrical release in Finland Big Hit theatrical release in Finland November 20, 1998

Official Sony Big Hit Site

Joan Allen comments on Face/Off

Joan Allen says. "That's what attracted me to Face/Off (1997)." In that John Woo film, Allen was cast as the wife of police detective John Travolta and, in a way, terrorist Nicolas Cage. Even amid the flamboyant fight scenes for which Woo is known, she brought a surprising credibility to a story which, after all, involved the surgical exchange of faces. "Even though I had a dramatic role, and my action responsibilities were minimal, to say the least, it was a completely different type of film," the actress says. "A lot of people saw Face/Off, so it gave me greater visibility. "Let's face it, a lot of people never saw Crucible, never saw Nixon. Face/Off appealed to a whole other segment of the movie-going audience, and I was happy for that. Allen hasn't worked since completing Pleasantville a year ago, and she's in no rush to. She'd rather spend time with her husband, actor Peter Friedman, and their daughter, Sadie: "I waited a long time to have a child, and I love her. I'm probably only going to have one child, and I don't want to miss out on her."

Mission Impossibe 2 news

Principal photography on Mission: Impossible 2 will reportedly begin in January 1999 after all; Ron Moore and Brannon Braga have reportedly completed work on the script.

In a recent interview for Trekweb, screenwriters Ron Moore & Brannon Braga revealed that yes they have completed work on the MI2 script and everything is on course for the January 'start of shooting' date. They also revealed that Cruise worked very closely with them to help with parts of the script (he's a producer after all).