John Woo: 'After Paycheck, I Couldn't Get Better Scripts'

Are there any ways it's easier to work in China?

Yes, in Hollywood it takes a much longer time to set up a project. You have to take so many notes and so many meetings! But in China, they all want to make a good movie. I just walk into their offices and let them know I want to make a movie called Red Cliff.

Then again, you're John Woo! Do you think some novice filmmaker would get the same reaction?

Yeah, yeah! They're like, "Let's do it!" After that, I just close my door and work on the project on my own, you know? I never need to take new meetings or notes from anyone. I just do whatever I want. So that's a little more simple. That's the big difference from Hollywood.

This was split into two movies for the Chinese audience, then shortened and combined into one film for the rest of the world. Did you conceive it that way from the very beginning?

Yeah, we understand that for the Western audience, it seems that they are not as familiar with our history and our characters, so we decided to focus on the main storyline and the key characters. We tried to make the story more simple and make the Western audience more understanding.

Is it hard for you to lose all that screen time? I know directors who battle over losing a single scene. You had to cut over an hour.

Yeah, it was quite painful. [Laughs] I think the editor did a very good job. It's still the same movie. Of course, for the Asian version, it's much longer because the Asian audience is familiar with this part of history. We have a much longer time to develop the characters. The Asian audience wants to see more!

You're notorious for using doves and birds as a recurring motif, and in Red Cliff, there's the ultimate dove shot as one flies between the two camps in a long, unbroken tracking shot. Are you conscious of that becoming your trademark?

Actually, I didn't intend to do it again in this movie, but when I was designing the shot, it came to me and I had to do it. In this movie, I would like to stress that in war, there are no winners. I want to send a message of peace. I wanted to show the two locations, Red Cliff and the people across the river, and since they are two different locations and not connected together, that's when I came up with the idea of using a dove. The hero lets go of the bird and the camera follows the bird across the river as it flies into the enemy's camp, all in one shot. I wanted a dove to send a message of peace to the enemy, so that's why I used it again. Plus, I wanted to keep the same trademark. [Laughs]

What young filmmakers are you excited about?

The young Chinese director Lu Chuan, he made a movie called Nanking Nanking. It's a wonderful movie, a great movie. Another young director from Taiwan, Wei Te-sheng, he made a movie called Cape No.7. It had a record in Taiwan, the movie was so popular. There are so many great, talented filmmakers coming up now.

Do you think your career may have had a and in inspiring those Asian filmmakers?

I think so, and I hope so. It's a good inspiration. I love young people, and I love to work with young people. I want them to learn through some good experiences. That's very important, because the Chinese movie [industry] growing and getting better and better, and it needs young people to work on it. I also like working with young people not only in China, but also in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan...even here. The young people will keep movies alive.

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