John Wu is a director, producer, screenwriter, editor, actor who began his career in Chinese cinema and continued his career in the United States. For his work, he was awarded the Hong Kong Film Award Hong Kong Film Award and MTV Movie & TV Awards. John Wu became famous for his paintings “The Battle of the Red Rock”, “Difficult Target”, “Broken Arrow”, “Without a Face”, “Mission Impossible 2”.
At first, John could not achieve success and popularity, but his determination helped the young filmmaker to stand on a par with the famous directors of Hollywood. His first successful works were films shot in the genre of Hong Kong fighters: "Cool Cooked", "Hired Assassin", "Bright Future", "Bullet in the Head."
early years
John Wu was born in China in the spring of 1946. At an early age, he suffered from a serious illness of the spine and underwent a complicated operation, after which he could not walk on his own for a long time. Only a few years later the boy was able to restore health and begin to live a full life.
After the end of the civil war in China, the family moved to Hong Kong. The family had no savings and the parents had to start all over again: to seek work and try to feed themselves and the child. The boy’s father suffered from tuberculosis and, although he had an education in pedagogy and philosophy, it was extremely difficult for him to find work, because he spent most of his time in hospitals. In this regard, John's mother had to support not only a child, but also her husband and, finding work at a construction site, worked there almost seven days a week.
Two years later, a disaster happened in the family: their apartment was completely burned down and they were left without a livelihood. Thanks to donations from the charity fund, the family was able to get housing again and not starve to death. John’s childhood was difficult, he saw war, blood and violence. Perhaps it was these childhood memories that caused almost all of John Wu’s films to be brutal.
The family where John grew up was very religious, and in his youth he thought about becoming a priest, but gradually, carried away by cinema and especially American westerns, John decided that he also wanted to work in films and make his own films.
Movie career
The creative biography of John Wu began in the late 60s, when he was hired by one of the local studios. He worked as an editor and read scripts for future films. Two years later, John successfully took the position of assistant director, and three years later he shot his first film "Young Dragons." It is impossible to find his last name in the credits because John shot his debut work under the fictitious names of Wu Yusheng, and a little later - John I.Ts. Wu.
The following years were a failure for John, and several of his films at once received only negative reviews from film critics and viewers. Having met with producer C. Hark, who helped him decide on his future professional activities and gave money for a new film, John begins shooting the project "Bright Future". The picture was brilliant and broke all possible records at the box office. This film was followed by several more: "The Assassin, " "A Bullet in the Head, " and "Cool Boiled, " after which John leaves for the United States.
Work in the USA
John signs a contract with Universal Studios and, starting work on a new project, immediately faces all sorts of restrictions: from financing to the number of cruel scenes. The already shot material was completely remounted and the film “The Difficult Target” appeared on the screen with Van Damme in the title role. The picture did not become successful for the director, but he continued his work with the studio.
Three years later, the film Broken Arrow appears on the screen, where the famous John Travolta starred, followed by the thriller No Face, where J. Travolta was again invited to the main role, and Nicolas Cage appeared. The studio’s attempt to remove the violent scenes from the film again, in their opinion, led to Wu signing a contract with Paramount Pictures, where he was given more freedom. As a result, the film was released and collected more than 200 million dollars, and was also nominated for an Oscar.
The next famous film of John was the action movie "Mission Impossible 2", where the main role was played by Tom Cruise. Film critics took the picture coldly, but at the box office the tape collected more than $ 500 million.
Currently, John has many plans for the future, and fans of his work are looking forward to his new projects.
