The Red Website

John Woo, of much Hong Kong movie fame, and director of such Hollywood block-busters as Mission Impossible 2, returned to China to make his latest film, Red Cliff. He spoke to New York Magazine about this choice and his Hollywood years.

Woo grew up with this historic tale and always had a dream to make a movie based on it. Red Cliff is a historical war epic about the battle between three warlords in China during the Han Dynasty. In Asia the film has been released as two two-and-a-half hour movies, and Woo has edited this monster down to a single 150 minute film to make it more palatable to the American audience.

He enjoyed the freedom of working in China where the director is still king, and mentions that he did get a little tired with the model of Hollywood filmmaking where numerous people have their say in the creative process. His re-captured freedom in the Asian industry was liberating. At the same time he took back what he learnt in Hollywood about big budget productions and applied it to the creation of this epic film, using special effects experts from the West and Korea for the massive war scenes.

Woo does say he enjoyed making the Hollywood movies he has become famous for, but also looks forwards to working on many more Hollywood and Chinese movies in the future with a matured sensibility as he gets older. He says his new film is more ourwardly directed and is made for other people in contrast to some of his younger work, and he looks ahead to more movies in the future.

You can read the original interview at New York Magazine