Pull a trigger, light a fuse — how complicated can a showdown be, anyway? Ask Hong Kong director John Woo, who made his name with hyper-violent action thrillers. Here are some of his rules for detonating a mega-blowout:
1. Beware of too many special effects or computer images. ''I hate to spend both the time and money on all those [computer-generated] shots. Focus on the emotional stuff.''
2. Give actors signature weapons. For his new film, Face/ Off, Woo offered Nicolas Cage a choice of guns; Cage, who plays a flashy terrorist, chose a dragon-embellished, gold-plated .45.
3. Make sure you have more control than your actors. Take the speedboat sequence Woo planned for 1993's Hard Target. Just before the shot, star Jean-Claude Van Damme decided he'd rather do the scene on horseback — ''in the Louisiana bayou!'' recalls Woo's producing partner, Terence Chang. ''And then he wouldn't get on a horse.'' The chase shots had to be faked. Woo finally did get his speedboats in Face/Off.
4. Use storyboards to keep the producers happy... Though he never sketched out his Hong Kong bullet-fests, Woo bows to Hollywood convention: ''The crew needs to know to prepare...and the studio needs it for the budget breakdown.''
5. ...And then dump the plan if a better one comes along. In Face/ Off, ''an idea came from somebody in the crew, and I loved it,'' Woo says. ''Let the hero blow up the [plane's] engine. That made some producers very paranoid. They said, 'John, this is going to cost a lot, and we only have two days.''' Woo's team nailed it in 24 hours.
Add your comment
The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. An asterisk * indicates a required field.