I'm not a master; I'm just a hard-working filmmaker. I would like everyone to see me as a friend rather than a master.
John Woo
I like doves. They look so beautiful, like a woman. For me they represent peace and love and purity. And sometimes they're seen as the messengers of God, so they're important to me because I'm a Christian.
I also wanted people to know that football actually started in China almost 3000 years ago.
There is absolutely no Wuxia or martial arts in 'Red Cliff.' I want all the action to look realistic.
The movies I like to make are very rich and full of passion. Some people see me as an action director, but action is not the only thing in my movies. I always like to show human nature - something deep inside the heart.
My films are always concerned with family, friendship, honor, and patriotism.
I can use movie as a language. Not only could it send a good message, I could let people know about my thinking and how I see the world, how I see the colour, how I see the music, how I see everything.
When I was a kid I got so much help from the Church. When I was a kid, our family was so poor they couldn't afford me to go to school, so there was an American family that send the money to the church to support my school fees.
I have found my heaven in musicals. When I watch a musical, it makes me believe life is still beautiful.
'Hard Boiled' is my last film in Hong Kong, before I moved to the U.S. It is the one film which is most accepted by the audience in the West.
I think I have been stereotyped as an action director in Hollywood, so all I got were the action scripts.
For my own films, I would like to see 'Bullet in the Head' remastered. The original cut was actually almost three hours.
When I made 'Hard Boiled,' I had no idea that it would be released to an international audience. I just wanted to make a film to team up my two favorite actors, Tony Leung and Chow Yun-Fat.
To be honest, I don't have much time to watch any movies.
It's pretty easy to make a film in China. A few years ago I just walked into the office and let them know I wanted to make a movie called 'Red Cliff' and they were so excited. They said, 'Let's do it!' It's that simple.
When I was young, I loved movies so much I wanted to make one.
When I was a kid I feel lonely, I have not many friends. If you make a movie, then you can work with different kinds of people and make different kinds of friend. That's very important to me.
