The Hindu : Welcome to Bollywood, John Woo!

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 09, 2004

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Welcome to Bollywood, John Woo!

By Anand Parthasarathy

BANGALORE, JAN. 8. Hollywood is on the lookout for new ideas and it is looking to the creative talents in countries such as India, China, Hong Kong and Korea, according to the world's top-most practitioner of the hyper-kinetic action genre, John Woo.

He told this correspondent in a telephonic conversation today from Taipeh, Taiwan, — his first-ever interview to a member of the Indian media — that he has seen a number of Indian films on DVD and thinks the "different look" of popular Indian cinema is something that mainstream American entertainment needs.

The China-born film-maker, who ten years ago became the first Asian to direct a mainstream Hollywood product, `Hard Target,' is in Taiwan for the Asian premiere of his latest American film, `Paycheck.'

The futuristic thriller is based on a Philip K. Dick novel and features Ben Affleck, a computer hotshot, whose memory is wiped clean after an assignment, fighting to stay alive with help from his biologist-girl friend Uma Thurman. While the film features many of the John Woo trademarks — skilfully choreographed action sequences, a `Mexican standoff,' slow motion doves in flight — it is also comparatively "less violent" than some of his earlier English language films, which include the Tom Cruise starrer, `Mission Impossible 2' and John Travolta films `Broken Arrow' and `Face/Off.'

"I am a great admirer of Hitchcock. He could mix fun and action and I have tried to do that."

Mr. Woo's new film contains many nods to Hitchcock classics — including a scene of the hero Affleck, in a tunnel pursued by a train that is strongly reminiscent of Cary Grant chased by a crop dusting plane in `North By North West.'

"Ben reminds me very much of the young Cary Grant — in fact, in some scenes he even has that Grant look."

Asked about `Hostage,' a short Internet feature he made in 2002 for the car company, BMW, Mr. Woo said, "I love the idea of making very short films for the Internet... in fact, it is more challenging to express your ideas in a few minutes than in a few hours."

What next for John Woo? "I am doing a film about Chinese labourers working on the American railroad in the nineteenth century... I am also making an action musical... lots of song and dance as well as thrills. That should go down well with Indian audiences. I know from the Indian films I have seen that they love music and dance."

Welcome to Bollywood, John Woo!

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