John Woo

John Woo to Direct English-language Remake DAY OF THE BEAST

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: May 16th, 2012 at 11:49 am

It’s been a while since John Woo has directed an English-language film—nine years to be exact.  Now the director has committed to directing an English-language remake of Seijun Suzuki’s 1963 film Youth of the Beast.  The film, titled Day of the Beast, centers on the dealings of Yakuza, the Japanese mafia.  Woo will direct and produce the pic from a script by Rob Frisbee.  The story takes place in Tokyo and “follows a western outsider with a grim past as he becomes embroiled in a global turf war between a vicious new breed of Yakuza and old school Cold War Russian mobsters.”

I’m not familiar with the original, but it should be interesting to see a new English-language pic from Woo.  The director was hailed for his action style in the 90s in films like Hard Boiled and Face/Off, but suffered box office failures with Windtalkers and his 2003 effort Paycheck, which marked his last English-language pic.  Hit the jump to read the press release.

See John Woo’s Unaired Pilot for a LOST IN SPACE TV Series Reboot

by Ethan Anderton    Posted: February 16th, 2011 at 12:02 pm

They say you learn something new everyday, so here we go. Apparently about seven or eight years ago John Woo directed the pilot for an all-new series remake of the 1960′s CBS series Lost in Space. Going by the title The Robinsons: Lost in Space, the series never got picked up and the pilot never made it to the airwaves (though apparently some sets from the pilot made it into the new Battlestar Galactica series. Apparently the pilot has been scarcely available for viewing, but it’s finally made its way to YouTube (although it’s un-embeddable).  I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, but it can’t be any worse than the 1998 film adaptation which the child version of myself love, but the adult version of myself ultimately hated.

The pilot is in five parts.  Here are the links (via Ain’t It Cool): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

Promo Poster for THE KILLER 3D

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: February 8th, 2011 at 9:48 pm

It was recently announced that John H. Lee will direct a 3D English-language remake of the 1989 John Woo film The Killer.  The Film Catalogue has uploaded a promo poster for the remake, accompanied by this synopsis:

“Jef, a gangland assassin begins an affair with a woman he blinded during his latest hit. The investigating cop’s perceptions of right and wrong change when he witnesses Jef’s display of heroism.”

Jung Woo-Sung (The Good, The Bad, The Weird) is set to star in the role originally played by Chow Yun-Fat.  John Woo will produce along with Terrence Chang under their Lion Rock Productions banner.  Hit the jump for the original announcement:

John H. Lee to Direct 3D English-Language Remake of John Woo’s THE KILLER

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 31st, 2011 at 2:28 pm

If you wanted to like John Woo’s classic 1989 film The Killer but thought it needed to be in English and in 3D, here’s some news that will make your stupid face smile.  Essential Entertainment and Lion Rock Productions have announced they’re planning a 3D English-language remake of the influential action Hong Kong action flick.  John H. Lee (A Moment to Remember) will direct while Jung Woo-Sung (The Good, The Bad, The Weird) is set to star in the role originally played by Chow Yun-Fat.  Here’s the synopsis from the press release:

Set in present day, an elite Asian assassin risks everything to protect a beautiful singer that he unintentionally blinded, but can only do so with the help of an LAPD detective who is trying to catch him.

John Woo will produce along with Terrence Chang under their Lion Rock Productions banner.  Hit the jump for the full press release.

Tom Cruise Developing FLYING TIGERS Film to Rival John Woo’s; NOT Attached to EL PRESIDENTE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 8th, 2010 at 7:54 am

We’ve previously reported that director John Woo was working on a film called Flying Tigers, which is about Chinese fighter pilots in World War II.  It’s based on the true story of U.S. Army Air Corp Lt. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault, who trained the first generation of Chinese fighter pilots to take on Japan in WWII.  Now it looks like Tom Cruise wants to make that same movie, but as a rival picture.  Deadline reports that while it looks like Woo’s film will go before cameras first, Cruise is still moving ahead with screenwriter Kirk Ellis (John Adams) rewriting a draft by Christopher McQuarrie (Valkyrie) and Mason Alley.  Last October, Cruise was attached to Woo’s Flying Tigers, but it looks like they’ve split ways for one reason or another.

In a related story, Deadline also reports that Cruise is sadly not attached to the action-comedy El Presidente.  That film would have seen him re-team with Jack Nicholson and playing an overly-zealous secret service agent tasked with protecting a pain-in-the-ass ex-president.

John Woo Wishes to Remake LE SAMOURAI, THE KILLER; Also Wants to Direct a Musical

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 1st, 2010 at 8:38 am

Director John Woo has some ambitious plans.  Variety reports that he’s trying to line-up A-list talent for English-language remakes of Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai and of his own 1989 breakout film The Killer.  For those who aren’t familiar with those films, Le Samourai centers on a hitman trying to cover his tracks while The Killer is about an assassin who is forced to join forces with a policeman after being betrayed by his employers.  My apologies for those brief descriptions as they sell both films short and don’t explain as to why both are revered as classics.  Maybe one day I’ll get a chance to do a retrospective on both movies and can go in to more depth about why you need to see them.

Hit the jump for more on what Woo has planned for the future.

John Woo’s FLYING TIGERS to Go IMAX; Wants Liam Neeson to Star

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: August 19th, 2010 at 9:07 am

John Woo is teaming with IMAX to bring his upcoming film Flying Tigers to the really big screen. The story centers on “U.S. Army Air Corp Lt. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault — the contentious American officer whose volunteer Flying Tigers squadron trained the first generation of Chinese fighter pilots taking on Japan in WWII.”  IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond told THR that “Woo’s passion and the story lend themselves in scope to an IMAX film.  John is so visual and his great talent will help us from the start to make sure that the IMAX version of [Flying Tigers] realizes the technology’s potential.”

Regarding who will play Chennault, Woo says “It’s got to be a star but it’s hard to find the right one, because at that time Chennault was almost 50 years old. Ideally, I’ve been thinking of Liam Neeson as the title actor.”  Woo would also like Chinese actor Liu Ye (City of Life and Death) to play the role of a young pilot in training opposite Chennault.  Pre-production on the $90 million film is set to begin next month in China.  Filming is slated to begin next spring for a late 2011 release date.

RED CLIFF Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: April 21st, 2010 at 7:31 am

It took three films to ruin John Woo’s reputation. The first, Mission: Impossible II was a huge crossover hit. It was also watered down and PG-13 rated Woo-inspired mayhem, and pissed off fans something fierce. It was a sell-out film, but the box office guaranteed him some freedom. Then came Windtalkers, a big-budget MGM war picture that only fans really got into. Finally Paycheck came out at the end of 2003 and between Woo and Affleck, no one cared (except the devoted fans, and I find the film to be lightly charming). But even among the faithful, Woo seemed to have peaked in his Hong Kong period, when he was making films like Bullet in the Head, The Killer and Hard Boiled. Red Cliff was his return to Hong Kong, and with it, he directed an epic. A five hour period war movie about a squad of loyal but outmatched dissenters fighting against an emperor set on controlling all of china through war. Originally set to star Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung (reuniting the Hard Boiled leads) both quit, but only Leung returned. It was a long, troubled production, but the film was a huge hit in its homeland, but arrived stateside in a truncated two and a half hour cut. But, bottom line: Woo still has it. My review of Red Cliff after the jump.

Warner Bros. Takes Their Shot at Adapting the Video Game SPY HUNTER

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: March 22nd, 2010 at 10:53 pm

Warner Bros. will take a crack at developing the classic arcade game Spy Hunter into a movie.  Launched by Midway in 1983, the game is about a spy in a car who shoots guns at spies in other cars.  Warner Bros. acquired Midway last year and Heat Vision Blog reports that Chad St. John to write the script.  St. John is also working on an adaptation of the comic series Sgt. Rock, which is also set up at Warner Bros with Joel Silver producing.

If an adaptation of Spy Hunter sounds familiar, it’s because the movie has been in development hell for years.   The film was originally set up at Universal with John Woo to direct and Dwayne Johnson to star (although he did star in the video game Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run, which was intended to be a tie-in to the movie, but ended up as a stand-alone title).  That fell apart because of budgetary reasons, which is absurd because it’s about a guy in a car who shoots at people in other cars.  How many fucking white doves did Woo require?  After that, the project passed on to Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil) but it also stalled.  Anderson got his shooty-car movie when he went on and directed the remake of Death Race.

I know the mythos is layered and complex and it’s not a problem that most people have never heard of the series because guy in car shooting at other guy in car is something that only works if you attach the name Spy Hunter to it.  Otherwise, what’s the point?

First WARLORDS Trailer Starring Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Jet Li

by Keith Demko    Posted: December 25th, 2009 at 10:00 pm

The first trailer for the Chinese epic Warlords has just hit the Internet, and judging from the short glimpse we get here, this one should deliver solid action and intrigue on a truly grand scale when it comes out April 22.

The movie stars three titans of Asian action cinema. Jet Li needs no introduction to Western audiences, and he’s joined in The Warlords by Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, who squared off in House of Flying Daggers. Lau also played inspector Lau Kin Ming in the Infernal Affairs trilogy, which inspired Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning The Departed, and Kaneshiro stars in John Woo’s upcoming historical epic Red Cliff.   Hit the jump for the full synopsis and the trailer:

Tom Cruise Attached to John Woo’s Upcoming Film FLYING TIGERS

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 27th, 2009 at 12:24 pm

Buried in a recent article from Variety was the news that Tom Cruise would be re-teaming with his “Mission: Impossible 2″ director John Woo for Woo’s next film, “Flying Tigers”.  Steve spoke with Woo a couple weeks ago for Woo’s new film, “Red Cliff” which is the most successful film in Chinese history and it’s received positive reviews in this hemisphere as well.  Woo mentioned his next film would be “Flying Tigers” and that it would have the same budget as “Red Cliff” ($80 million) and focus on the friendship between Americans and Chinese soldiers in World War II as they fought the Japanese.  I wonder if this could be an unofficial sequel to “The Last Samurai” but this time Cruise ends up saving the Chinese instead.

Hit the jump to see Steve’s full interview with Woo.  They begin speaking about “Flying Tigers” at the 3-minute mark.

John Woo Exclusive Interview: Talks RED CLIFF and His Next Movie FLYING TIGERS

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: October 15th, 2009 at 2:34 pm

A few hours ago I got to interview director John Woo. While his last few projects didn’t wow me, he’s made more than a few films worth watching and two of them I absolutely love (“The Killer”, “Hard Boiled”). Thankfully, his new movie “Red Cliff” is a return to form and it’s finally getting released in America on November 20^th.

Anyway, during the interview, Woo talked about the shortened running time for the American release, how the success of “Red Cliff” has given him creative freedom to make whatever project he wants, and he talks about his next movie, “Flying Tigers”, and reveals what it’s about and how it’s going to be very expensive. More after the jump:

Six Shooter Film Series Aims Great Films at Video-on-Demand

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 24th, 2009 at 1:48 pm

Ever since the days Pay-Per-View, I’ve always thought that art house films should be able to come through a streaming cable-service.  I love art house theatres but they’re so rare and have such a limited number of screens that it can be difficult to get true independent films (not small-budget films from an “indie” division of a major studio) in front of audiences.

But the day of indie films on-demand arrived and we are all the better for it.  Magnolia/Magnet Pictutres has taken great advantage of this recent distribution channel to bring audiences movies that haven’t hit DVD and may not even be in a theatre near you.  The first Six Shooter Film Series brought home audiences films like “Let the Right One In” and “Timecrimes” and this year they’re really bringing the thunder “Ong Bak 2″, Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Bronson”, John Woo’s “Red Cliff”, “District 13: Ultimatum”, and “The Warlords.  The sixth bullet has yet to be chosen but Magnet is planning to work genre fans on making that choice.  Make sure your digital cable is working and hit the jump for the full press release.

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