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Canwest News Service
Sixteen years after he came to Hollywood to take American movies by storm – a storm that never quite arrived – director John Woo has returned to China to take Asian movies by storm.
The tempest in this case is Red Cliff, a five-hour historical epic, cut in half for American distribution, with a cast of thousands, gargantuan battle scenes, melodramatic love stories, explosions, invasions and even the signature Woo symbol, a dove, flying overhead and tying it all together.
It's an immense project that became the biggest box office hit in Chinese history, and it culminates a decades-long dream for Woo.
"I wanted to make this movie for almost 20 years," he says on the phone from Shanghai, where he is producing another movie. "I grew up with the story and admired many of the heroes. To make this movie is just like a dream come true."
Woo made his reputation as the most stylish action director in Hong Kong: his films with Chow Yun-Fat, like The Killer, Hard-Boiled and Better Tomorrow, established a style of slow-motion shootouts, Mexican standoffs and, of course, doves flying above the action.
He came to America in 1993 to make Hard Target with Jean-Claude Van Damme, and stayed to make action movies that were giddily demented (Face/Off), and slowly devolved into merely accomplished (Mission Impossible II), then conventional (Windtalkers) and finally disappointing (Paycheck.)
Woo hasn't left Hollywood for good – he has several American projects in development, including an epic based on the life of Marco Polo, a remake of the Jean-Pierre Melville drama Le Samourai and a remake of his own The Killer.
"I still love to work in Hollywood," he says. "Actually, I love to make movies in both countries."
China, though, was easier.
"Everything is so simple," Woo says. "For example, when I talked to the people in China, I said I want to make a movie called Red Cliff, and they said, `OK, let's do it.' It's that simple. I don't need to take notes from anyone and I don't need to take meetings. I close my door and do my own work." The Chinese government also let him use hundreds of soldiers as extras in the movie and also to help build roads he needed for the undertaking.
It was a vast one. Red Cliff is based on a Third Century war between a land- hungry central government and two small rebel groups. Their final battle, on the Yangtze River, involved hundreds of warships that were set on fire by the rebels, who stormed the government encampment with a rain of arrows, swords and spears. Although outnumbered, the rebels won.
"It was one of most famous battles in Chinese history and the story was inspiring," Woo says. "How a smaller army can defeat a larger, more powerful enemy through a combination of teamwork, innovation, intelligence and courage. It's a very encouraging movie. That is why I wanted to make it."
It took five years to make and cost $80 million – Woo built 25 full-scale battleships, among other things – and it brought in $124 million at the box office.
Red Cliff was the first experience in special effects and major battle sequences for many of his Chinese crew.
"They were just starting, so we spent a lot more time training them. In Hollywood, the animals are trained for the movies, but in China we had to spend time training them how to do a fall, and teach the horsemen how to fight on horseback without hurting the horses."
He also had to show his soldiers to do the complicated formations of the Red Cliff battle scenes, then assemble all the pieces using computer-generated effects.
"But the people worked so hard and learned so fast," he says. "We took a much longer time and more money, but it was worth it. They really had the ability to make the Hollywood style, big-budget movie."
There are two versions of the movie: the longer one, for Asian audiences familiar with the story, spends more time following the characters. Woo says he was told Western audiences couldn't spend more than 2 1/2 hours watching a movie with subtitles, so some subplots, including one love story, were cut. However, he says, "you get the same spirit."
Red Cliff includes a scene showing soldiers playing a version of soccer to warm up for the battle to come. It's based on truth, Woo says. "I just wanted the audience to know that the soccer game was started in China 3,000 years ago. The style was different: they used the game to train the soldiers in teamwork, their bodies and their spirit."
As well as his American movies, Woo is planning a new Chinese film based on the Flying Tigers, who were American volunteer pilots who worked with the Chinese air force during the Second World War. He says it's not related to a similar project that may star Tom Cruise.
He enjoys moving from China to Hollywood and back. "It's nice to work in both countries. You always have so much to learn here," Woo says. "I'm not trying to be humble. I really love to learn. I wish I could make more movies in different countries. It's always better to learn from different cultures. I wish to make a movie in Russia or India. (Or) Yugoslavia."
Nor is he tied to action films. At 63, he says he'd like to branch out a bit.
"I'd like to make a musical. I've had a script for 12 years but hard to get financing. But I can wait, and I really don't want to give up. It's an action musical."
Woo lists Singing in the Rain, West Side Story, All That Jazz and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers – some of which could fairly be described as action musicals – as his favourites.
I asked him about the doves – or, in the case of Red Cliff, a simple pigeon that flies above the action, providing a bird's-eye view of the battle to come. Woo says they've been used in his work since the beginning.
"As a Christian, I love pigeons because it represents love, peace, innocence and purity. I always loved birds. When I was in high school I used to draw posters for church. I always used the pigeon as a theme, for joy."
For Jay Stone's weekly movie podcast, go to www.canada.com/moviereviews.
jstone@canwest.com
canada.com/stonereport
