John Woo
The Hong Kong action auteur who brought his bullet ballet to Mission: Impossible 2.
via Wikipedia: John Woo · see source
John Woo Yu-sen (born 1 May 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker known as a highly influential figure in the action film genre. He is regarded as a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films and the gun fu genre in Hong Kong action cinema, known for his highly chaotic "bullet ballet" action sequences, stylized imagery, Mexican standoffs, frequent use of slow motion and allusions to wuxia, film noir and Western cinema. Woo directed Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), the second entry in the Tom Cruise-led action film series, which grossed over $549 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2000 as well as of Woo's career.
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Wu Yu-seng
- Born
- 1 May 1946
- Birthplace
- Guangzhou, China
Reader's Guide
John Woo directed Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), the second film in the Mission: Impossible series. The film grossed over $549 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2000 and the highest-grossing film of Woo's career. Its North American gross of $215.4 million placed it third domestically for the year. Woo's earlier Hollywood work includes Hard Target (1993), his American directorial debut starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, which was the first major Hollywood film directed by a Chinese – and more broadly, Asian – filmmaker. He also directed Broken Arrow (1996) and Face/Off (1997), the latter earning an Academy Award nomination for Sound Effects Editing. Woo is known for his collaborations with actor Chow Yun-fat in five Hong Kong action films: A Better Tomorrow (1986), A Better Tomorrow II (1987), The Killer (1989), Once a Thief (1991), and Hard Boiled (1992).
Did You Know?
- Woo was born on 1 May 1946 in Guangzhou, China, but his mother changed his birth date to 22 September 1948 on his passport due to school age restrictions.
- Woo's film A Better Tomorrow (1986) made actor Chow Yun-fat a box-office superstar in Asia.
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