John Woo

essential information

Early experience

In 1951, John Woo moved to Hong Kong with his family from Guangzhou. Because his father was suffering from tuberculosis and could not work, his family lived in a slum. In 1953, John Woo's home was burned down in the Shek Kip Mei fire. Thanks to a donation from a charity, he and his family were able to move to another house. After graduating from high school, John Woo went to Taiwan to study art and tried to make experimental films.

Acting experience

In 1968, John Woo was the screenwriter of the feature film "death", which was his first work. In 1971, he signed a contract with Shaw film company and followed director Zhang Che to learn how to make films. In 1973, he directed his first film "passer by", which was banned due to excessive violence after shooting.

In 1975, John Woo revised "passer-by" and renamed the film "iron man tenderness", his directorial debut was officially released; in the same year, he directed the action film "women's Taekwondo heroes club". In 1976, he was the director and screenwriter of the feature film "imperial flower", whose annual box office in Hong Kong exceeded 3 million Hong Kong dollars; in the same year, he went to South Korea to shoot the kung fu film "Shaolin gate"; he also made a documentary about more than 800 foot Boxers' moves.

On July 29, 1977, the comedy "Fa Qian Han" was released in Hong Kong, China. It won the second place in the box office of Hong Kong film with a box office score of 5 million Hong Kong dollars. In 1978, he wrote and directed the love film "Hello, I'll be back at night"; in the same year, he was the director of the comedy "big evil star and little sister".

In 1979, he directed the ancient martial arts film "hero", which is a film that John Woo pays homage to his mentor Zhang Che. In 1980, John Woo studied Chaplin's characterization and artistic style, and directed the first work "funny age" after the founding of new art city in the name of Wu Shangfei, which made a box office success of HK $5 million after it was released in Hong Kong.

In 1982, because Jiahe film company asked John Woo to continue directing comedy films, other films should not be involved, so he continued to shoot comedy films; in the same year, he directed the comedy modern Heavenly Master starring Xu Guanying. In 1983, after ending his cooperation with Jiahe film company, he joined xinyicheng film company at the invitation of Tsui Hark.

In 1984, John Woo became the director of Taiwan comedy, and he became the representative of action in Taiwan comedy.

In 1986, he joined Tsui Hark's film studio. In the same year, with Tsui Hark's help, he directed the gunfight film "Heroes", which was not only a turning point in his directing career, but also established his film style of violence aesthetics. After the film was released, it broke the box office record of Hong Kong film with a box office of HK $34.65 million and won the best film including the 6th Hong Kong Film Awards John Woo also won the best director award at the 23rd Golden Horse Awards for his film.

In 1987, he directed the action film Heroes 2, which consolidated John Woo's personal style and ranked sixth in the annual box office of Hong Kong film with a box office of HK $22.72 million. In 1989, he directed the film Yidan Qunying to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Zhang Che's film career. After that, he directed the action film "two men in blood", which not only became one of John Woo's representative works of violence aesthetics, but also laid the foundation for his development in Hollywood. After the film was shot, John Woo left the Tsui Hark film studio because of disagreement with Tsui Hark.

In 1990, he directed the Vietnam themed film "bloodthirsty Street". After 17 days in Hong Kong, the film made a box office performance of 8.55 million Hong Kong dollars. In addition, he directed the gunfight film "across the world", in which he changed the tragic tone of "Heroes" and used the comic way of narration. After the film was released, it ranked fourth in the annual box office ranking of Hong Kong with a performance of 33.39 million Hong Kong dollars In April, he won the best director award of the 9th Hong Kong Film Awards for his action film "two men in the throats"; in the same year, he took part in the action film "brave to the world" and was nominated for the supporting actor award of the 27th Taiwan Film Golden Horse Awards for his film. In 1992, he made the action film "hot hand detective", which was John Woo's last work before he went to the United States and maintained his consistent style of gunfight.

In 1993, he officially went to Hollywood for development. In April, he won the best editing award of the 12th Hong Kong Film Awards for his action film "hot hand detective". In the same year, he directed the first film "ultimate target" in Hollywood. The annual box office of the film exceeded $30 million in the United States. This achievement not only enabled John Woo to enter the mainstream Hollywood commercial film market, but also won him a lot of awards I got the contract for the next movie.

In 1996, he was the director of the gunfight action film "broken arrow"; in addition to designing an action play for the film, John Woo also made the film according to the routine of Hollywood films for the first time; the annual box office of the film in the global market exceeded 70 million US dollars, and won the best action scene award of the 5th MTV film award.

In 1997, John Woo began to make the Hollywood action film "face changing". While maintaining his personal style, he also integrated the elements of mainstream Hollywood movies. After the film was released in the United States, it won the box office title in July, and was selected as one of the "top ten films of the year" by time magazine, while John Woo won the national Chinese American art foundation for this film The golden ring award.

In 1998, he won the best director award of the 24th Saturn film and Television Award for his action film face changing. In May 2000, director's action adventure movie "mission impossible 2" was released in the United States, which continued its violent aesthetic film style and won the best action scene award of the 10th MTV film award. After the film was released, it won the annual box office champion of the global film with a box office score of 545 million US dollars.

In May 2002, he left his handprint in the Chinese Theater in Hollywood and became the first Chinese director to win the honor. In the same year, he made the action war movie "the Whisperer", which was also his first war themed film, and the box office of the film exceeded 33 million US dollars in three weeks.

In 2004, he was awarded the bronze Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong government. In 2005, he directed the children's film mulberry and kitten. In 2006, he ended his career in Hollywood, returned to the Chinese film world, and supervised the action film paradise. In 2007, he participated in the production of science fiction cartoon "Apple Nuclear War II" and served as the producer of the film.

On July 10, 2008, the war film "on Red Cliff" was released in the mainland of China, and the final box office of the film was 312 million yuan. On January 7, 2009, the war film "under red cliff" was released. The annual box office of the film in mainland China was 251 million yuan, and it won the highest box office Asian Film Award of the 4th Asian Film Awards. In April, it acted as the dubbing of the animation "sky route" with the theme of Three Kingdoms in Japan. In June, it won the golden Baron Award for outstanding contribution of Chinese films in Shanghai International Film Festival. In August, it won the golden Baron Award for outstanding contribution of Chinese films in the film "Red Cliff" 》He won the award of excellent overseas Chinese director of China Film Huabiao award.

In October 2009, he was the producer of the martial arts film sword rain. In September 2010, he won the lifelong achievement award of the 67th Venice Film Festival, becoming the first Chinese director to win the award; in November, he won the Silver Bauhinia Star awarded by the Hong Kong government; in the same year, he was the producer of the youth fashion film "surging youth".

In 2012, he was the producer of the war film "Cedric bale".

In July 2013, he shot the war film "Taiping wheel".

On December 2, 2014, the war film "Taiping wheel: Floating Life in troubled times" was released in the mainland of China. The film was released for 17 days and achieved a box office performance of 195 million yuan.

On October 26, 2015, he won the samurai award at the 28th Tokyo International Film Festival.

In 2016, he made the action film chase.

Personal life

In 1974, John Woo and Niu Chunlong met and fell in love. On March 5, 1976, John Woo married Niu Chunlong in Los Angeles. In 1977, John Woo's eldest daughter, Wu Shangfang, was born. In 1980, John Woo's second daughter, Wu Feixia, was born. In 1982, John Woo's youngest son, Wu Yifang, was born. On October 22, 2020, John Woo's unmarried eldest daughter, Wu Shangfang (IVF), gave birth to a mixed blood girl by caesarean section.

Main works

Director's work

Supervised production

Screenwriter's works

Take part in the film

Award winning record

Character evaluation

John Woo is an outstanding representative of the Chinese film industry. He not only has a high reputation in the industry, but also has made a positive contribution to the exchange of Chinese and Western films. Whether in Asia or Hollywood, John Woo has brought revolutionary ideas to the performance and editing of action movies. As the first Chinese American action film director who successfully entered the mainstream Hollywood market, he not only promoted the status of Hong Kong films in the international film world to a certain extent, but also made Hollywood realize the creative strength of Chinese Filmmakers (people's daily, organizing committee of Venice Film Festival, information times, China News online review).

Chinese PinYin : Wu Yu Sen