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More on the John Woo project KING'S RANSOM
Well Diabolik (cool name pardner) came slinking in from the set of MI2 in Australia to drop me a line telling me what is on the up and up concerning John Woo and KING'S RANSOM. Also, I've found out that John Woo and Terrence Chang are producing with the folks from IGNITE... well they're producing Lance Mungia and Jeffery Falcon's next film OUT WEST. So keep your ear to the ground for that project as well as KING'S RANSOM... I'm curious about anything that Woo is involved in!
With all due respect to Bob the Tomato, at least one fact in his bulletin was
wrong: Mike Werb and Michael Colleary are not currently working on "King's
Ransom." Those guys finished their last rewrite about 14 months ago. I can definitely tell you, however, that the reports of its demise are greatly exaggerated.
"King's Ransom" is an action comedy. Since John Woo is famous in the United
States chiefly for his hero films, many of his fans don't know that he is
actually a very funny man who made lots of comedies in HK before "A Better
Tomorrow." (John also loves classic American musicals.) After "Broken
Arrow" and "Face/Off," he wanted to do something light and breezy and just
plain fun.
John had been developing a hard-action script called "King's Ransom" with an
excellent writer named John McCormick ("Tokyo Pop"), about a heist of the
English Crown Jewels. John Woo's vision of the story was evolving, however,
into a caper movie in the spirit of "Topkapi," (HARRY NOTE: SEEK OUT TOPKAPI AND WATCH IT, BRILLIANT MOVIE) and "Big Deal on Madonna
Street" (HARRY NOTE: UNFORTUNATELY I HAVE YET TO SEE THIS MOVIE)... playful ensemble pieces with romance, music ... and very little
gunplay.
The script Mike Werb and Michael Colleary re-worked was a love triangle in which a woman jewel thief is torn between her reckless partner-in-crime and her new boyfriend, a Dudley Do-Right FBI agent, who in turn has no idea his new
girlfriend is the mysterious jewel thief whom he is trying to catch. There
are lots of casino heists, motorcycle escapes, armored car thefts,
acrobatic museum robberies, noble heroes and double-crossing bad guys. In
short ... it was very much a John Woo movie, but without a big body count.
John was very happy with that draft and even started to meet with actors about
the lead roles. But not surprisingly, Fox was hoping for a trademark-John
Woo, hard action star-vehicle with lots of shoot-em-up. Consequently, they
asked for more work on the script in order to snag an AAA-list movie star,
and ... well, John got impatient and moved on to MI2, which was going ahead
quickly.
Meanwhile, another writer was assigned to "King's Ransom." Drafts are still
being written, and there is still a
great deal of enthusiasm at Lion Rock (John and Terence Chang's company) and
at Fox.
As for John's supposed negativity about "King's Ransom:" he might truly be
soured on it, but I doubt it. In the grueling dog days of the "Face/Off"
production, you might remember the stories that John swore off making ANY movies again, especially big action
movies ... like MI2! So I think it's safe to take his disavowel with a grain
of salt ... at least for now.
John has invested a lot of love and hard work in "King's Ransom." Since it's
one of his pet projects, I wouldn't sign its death certificate just yet.
Diabolik
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This sounds way cool! I love John Woo flix, his comedies are awesome. Check out VCDs of his older flicks (and Chow Young Fat's) that are getting re-released. Cool stuff
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Sounds like a pepped up "Entrapment" to me. But with John Woo involved, it sounds like it could definitely be something worth watching. Not that "Entrapment" was bad, it's just that when Woo is involved, you know you're gonna get something special. If you've seen his HK movies, you'll know what I'm talking about, even Face/Off to an extent. It's a shame though that 'suits' are once again getting in the way of the making of a movie. We know you don't need a huge body count to make a good action flick (Speed), so why go mess around with a script that John Woo of all people is happy about. You'd think that if it's good enough for "Mr.-50,000-Bullets-a-Movie", it should be a pretty good action movie...
It's not like Fox can't go out and make an action flick with lots of flying lead some other time, what's the rush...? -
It's cool to see two cool director's name mentioned in the same article. I am a big fan of SIX-STRING SAMURAI and cannot wait to see what OUT WEST will be about. I just wish they'd put S3 on video up here in Canada!
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speaking of six string samurai, does anyone know if and when its gonna get a UK release or has it already appeared over here and i just havent noticed?
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"King's Ransom", as it might sound interesting to some, is yet another re-working of the "Once A Thief" plotline that John has already made TWICE. I know he likes the humorous, light-hearted end of film-making, but lets move on before this once entertaining idea slowly degrades to "Hudson Hawk."
SpeakEasy -
Woo's American films are getting better with each one and, i don't care what any one says, Face/Off matched his HK films easily. I am sure Kings Ransom will kick ass!!
NOTE TO HARRY: Have you seen the British film "TwentFourSeven"? It is truly amazing and i seriously recommend you finding a copy - if you haven't already -
I saw the Woo "Once a Thief" flick for FOX tv, and thought it was better than your average TV movie, and I heard it was a remake/reworking of a HK flick...is the HK one titled the same thing? Any good? And to naysayers of "Entrapment," it wasn't the idea that was bad but the execution. I mean, that trailer was pretty cool...unfortunately, well, we all know what happened.
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"Twice a thief" is quite apt - actually, Once a Thief was first an HK film by John Woo. The Fox TV version is essentially the same film, with some very minor plot and character changes.
Woo, unfortunately, copies himself a LOT.
Woo trademarks:
1. Two combatants, arms intertwined, weapons pointed at heads. (Killer, Hardboiled, Broken Arrow)
2. Two guys facing each other, something pops up between them (Grenade Pin in Hard Target, beer in the Killer)
3. Helmeted men on motorcycles, with HK MP5 submachine guns (Hard Target, Hard Boiled)
4. Firing frantically on opposite sides of a wall (Hard Boiled, Hard Target)
That's all I can think of for now -
As much as I love the guy, I urge Mr. Woo to stick with what he knows - and am quite frankly sick of all his contradictory statements about how he hates violence yet sememingly turns it into a ballet of blood that only works on face value to earn him and his family food money.
I am not saying that Mr. Woo cannot have an opinion, nor endorse violence simply because he makes action films, but judging by the messages instiled in his films (or rather lackof), he is plain and simply an action film director - his films not holding any more real moral substance than that. Furthermore, Chow Yun Fat desperately needs a decent Hollywood film and I think only John Woo or Robert Rodriguez are the men who could deliver it.
Wong Kar Wei wannabes and Bruckheimer's foot soldiers need not apply (and Antoine Fuquo should be shot). -
I know you can purchase Six String on video and DVD from both Tower Records and Virgin, as well as Borders and Suncoast Motion Picture Stores.
You should also be able to purchase it online from Amazon.com and DVD Express.
I've seen it for rent in some Blockbusters, 20/20 video and smaller stores, but it's harder to find there, probably thanks to it's "wonderful" distributor. Even at Tower and places like that, you may have to special order it cause they don't always restock it. -
LAME! I can't believe anybody actually liked this film...wait, let me amend that last statement. I can't believe anybody actually like this no plot piece of crap. SSS doesn't deserve to called a film. Sure the movie is shot well, but the plot sucks.
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