By J. D. Nguyen

I was fortunate enough to have a phone interview with John Woo for my coverage of The American Cinematheque John Woo Tribute. It was a surreal and inspired experience simply because of the God-like impression I had of him. He is, after all, a man who influenced a generation of filmmakers and movie-goers. Not only with the way he directed his films, but because of the manner he created and treated his characters. His themes of friendship and loyalty were escorted beautifully with dignity and honor, weaving strong and vigorous protagonists who not only kept us captivated and interested for hours, but made us want to be like them, be heroes like them.

He turned Chow Yun-Fat into an iconic champion with HARD BOILED and THE KILLER and gave Tom Cruise the agility and prowess of a Hong Kong action star in MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2. With his stunning and prolific filmography and everything he has accomplished in Hong Kong and Hollywood all together, it was surprising to me that John Woo was still a regular dreamer like the rest of us. And in the end, he was just exactly what you would imagine a great director would be: honest, friendly and down to Earth…

That John Woo's a funny guy, you know?

Enjoy the interview.

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[J. D. Nguyen]: Hey, John, how are you doing?

[John Woo]: I'm doing very good, thanks.

[J. D. Nguyen]: Well, I wanted to start off and tell you "thanks" and how much of a fan I am of your work, I mean, I think it was you who truly got me into loving film in general. I have a lot of fond memories of watching your movies with my friends.

[John Woo]: (Laughs) Thanks, thanks.

[J. D.]: (I just realized I went geek on him, so I cut in with my first question.)

[John Woo]: (Laughing still…)

[J. D.]: With the current situation of the September 11th event, what are the impacts do you think it'll have on yourself and Hollywood in general?

[John]: It had such an impact me, on everyone. And certainly gave us all something to think about, about changing the content of our movies, especially, toning down the violence and to be more encouraging. Movies should reflect courage, love, friendship, and have a message. There are many people out there that lack the understanding and have too much hatred on what happened. I was shocked and terrified by the attack, too. And it made me sad and angry as well. But there is so much patriotism now and so many people coming together because of it, hope is everywhere.

[J. D.]: Does it affect you as a filmmaker and make you more aware and cautious of how you use violence in your films?

[John]: Even though my films have been always been violent, they were exaggerated, unreal. Mostly expressing anti-violence, and concentrating on friendship and the human spirit.

[J. D.]: The characters were real, but the action wasn't.

John: Right and I will change my future projects to specifically express friendship, honor, dignity and understanding on a greater level than before. My next film, MEN OF DESTINY is all about this, about early Chinese and Irish immigrants building the Central Pacific railroad together in the 19th Century. It's a true event about real people working together and combining cultures of the east and west.

[J. D.]: Your current film, WINDTALKERS also deals with your usual themes of camaraderie and honor. What attracted you to working on this film?

[John]: It came from the writers, John Rice and Joe Batteer. They taught the story to us. Before this, I knew nothing of the code talker's story. It was a really moving story, I was crying. I was so amazed about all those people who gave a great contribution to their country. They were so clever and they were so brave. I always wanted to make a different kind of war movie.

[J. D.]: And this was it?

[John]: Yeah, mostly besides being about the code talkers and World War II, this film was really about friendship. The film has a lot of action and war elements, but the heart and spirit of the film is basically the characters themselves, it's a character driven story. I loved making this film and as an American, I think I have a duty to tell the story. So the young people learn, and they know about this part of our history.

[J. D.]: It looks like you explore some of the same concepts and ideas of morality, ethics and the struggles of survival in war as you did in BULLET IN THE HEAD. Since BULLET IN THE HEAD was such a personal endeavor for you, did you reconnect with WINDTALKERS?

[John]: So much. The movie is strongly about friendship, just like BULLET IN THE HEAD and also has a pretty strong message of anti-war, that war damages everything. I think the most important thing in this movie is all about different kinds of people, what brings them together and keeps them together. I feel very close to this.

[J. D.]: You must have learned a lot while filming the movie, must have inspired you in so many ways.

[John]: I've always learn a lot while making a movie. I learned about the true Marine experience and also from the Navajo culture. They are very spiritual people, you know? Before we started shooting, I had a chance to meet some of the real code talkers.

[J. D.]: That must have been such an enriching experience.

[John]: They were so excited and they were so proud of themselves and what they had done in World War II, proud of their country. Usually, Indians in films are stereotyped and under developed. They are real people and they all have a great sense of humor. They are very funny people. Very, very funny! (Laughs)

[J. D.]: (John Woo's exuberance is contagious as he talks about this. I laugh alongside him, smiling along.)

[John]: Also they are optimistic. They always have hope and try to do something good, something great. It's so nice to learn from them.

[J. D.]: Tell me a little about the military advisors you had on the set.

[John]: There are people like Captain Matt Morgans that gave us a lot of great information and did a lot of research for us. They let us know what happened in World War 2 and told some great stories that inspired us. And we put it all in the movie. The real spirit of the Marines is all about team work and all about brotherhood. No matter what happened, they all had to stick together and take care of each other.

[J. D.]: In other films like SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, I remember reading about Spielberg and how he sent his actors to boot camp for training. Did you do that as well?

[John]: Yeah, before we started shooting, we sent all the actors for 7 days of training. Everyone had the training of a real marine. They had to wake up at 5 in the morning. They spent 2 nights sleeping up on a hill with no blankets, no tents or anything. Just lying around with army shirts, you know? Same as the other marines, it was pretty tough training

[J. D.]: Did you have Nicolas Cage in mind for the role right away?

[John]: When I first read the WINDTALKERS script, I kept on getting flashes of Nick Cage in the lead, it just kept on happening. I could clearly see him in this war, and it happened so much. Flashes and flashes of Nick, couldn't help it. So initially, since the lead was Irish, I had it changed to Italian for him.

[J. D.]: As oppose to your other movies, how did you decide to handle the action in a war film, in WINDTALKERS?

[John]: I wanted it to do it differently than my other movies like HARDBOILED or THE KILLER. In WINDTALKERS the action is extravagant, just like my other films, but in a different way. I couldn't have Nicolas Cage holding two guns and jumping out in slow motion. I wanted to take a more serious approach and make it as realistic as possible, almost like a documentary. I had to be more real and be sensitive to the material.

[J. D.]: And how was it shooting the big battle scenes?

[John]: I remember the first day we were shooting the huge battle sequence. It was over a thousand extras: ex-marines, actors, stunt men and Japanese. They were charging each other and the marines were advancing up on the hill fighting with the Japanese. So there were about 280 bombs on the field, so many explosions. And I was using 13 cameras on the screen to cover everything for a kind of master shot. I was suggesting to all the actors to use to stunt doubles, but they all refused. I told them that we wouldn't even be able to see their faces even though there were going to be so many cameras. There are many explosions and it was going to be very dangerous. But they wanted to do it by themselves. They said to me, "We are the marines, we work as a team." And they didn't care if we see their faces or not. So that's how they learned from the marines. That was everyone's spirit while working on WINDTALKERS. I sent 2 camera men just like a marine holding a hand held camera to get the shots. All the actors really ran through the explosions. MGM was very supportive and they spent a lot of money investing on this movie because they had so much confidence on its purpose and had fallen in love with the story.

[J. D.]: WINDTALKERS sounds very epic in scope and ambitious. Could this probably the biggest film you've ever worked on?

[John]: I think it's the same as Mission Impossible 2. I worked very hard on them, they're both pretty big.

[J. D.]: Ever since you've come into the international spotlight, you've influenced a generation of filmmakers in terms of direction, choreography and themes. It must be pretty humble for you to see similarities of your style in many of the new films, not only in Hollywood, but in other countries as well. Does it create the need to constantly reinvent your self because of this and if so, does this add any extra weight on your filmmaking abilities?

[John]: I'm very flattered that many filmmakers are influenced by be and it is very humbling to know that, but there is still so much for me to learn. More than anything, I learn things from other filmmakers all the time. I just try to keep my own style and develop it as I can. In this business there is always room to grow and I would love to experience as much as possible.

[J. D.]: Since you worked on smaller budget films in Hong Kong, do you feel compromised, creatively, by the large budgets of Hollywood productions and the pressure of your films to perform well at the box office?

[John]: In a Hollywood production, I feel much freedom in my work. MGM gives me a lot of room to do all the sorts of things I want to do, they support me very much. In Hong Kong of course, we have smaller budgets, but it's the challenge as a filmmaker to use what you can. We have more time to do action films in Hong Kong, but even in Hollywood productions, the budget is tight, you just have more resources to work with, more expensive special effects and explosives.

[J. D.]: Are there any plans for you to go back and make anymore Hong Kong Films?

[John]: I have a lot of stuff that'll keep me busy for a while in America. But I would like to go back and make a Chinese film in the future. I really want to make films everywhere, though, and travel and work with different types of people, make more friends. I would love to make a Vietnamese film or a film in Brazil. I have so many dreams and ideas to work everywhere, make more dramas and do a musical. There is so much I want to do. But yeah, I would love to go back and make another movie there.

- PART 2 - Click Here!