Título: John Woo
Seção: United States career
Background: Woo was born Wu Yu-seng (Ng Yu-sum in Cantonese) in Guangzhou, China, amidst the chaos of the Chinese Civil War at the end of October 1946. Due to school age restrictions, his mother changed his birth date to 22 September 1948, which is what remains on his passport. The Woo family, Christians faced with persecution during Mao Zedong's early anti-bourgeois purges after the communist revolution in China, fled to Hong Kong when he was five. Impoverished, the Woo family lived in the slums at Shek Kip Mei.

Conteúdo: An emigre in 1993, the director experienced difficulty in cultural adjustment while contracted with Universal Studios to direct Jean-Claude Van Damme in Hard Target. As characteristics of other foreign national film directors confronted the Hollywood environment, Woo was unaccustomed to pervasive management concerns, such as limitations on violence and completion schedules. When initial cuts failed to yield an "R" rated film, the studio assumed control of the project and edited footage to produce a cut "suitable for American audiences". A "rough cut" of the film, supposedly the original unrated version, is still circulated among his admirers.  A three-year hiatus saw Woo next direct John Travolta and Christian Slater in Broken Arrow. A frenetic chase-themed film, the director once again found himself hampered by studio management and editorial concerns. Despite a larger budget than his previous Hard Target, the final feature lacked the trademark Woo style. Public reception saw modest financial success.  Reluctant to pursue projects which would necessarily entail front-office controls, the director cautiously rejected the script for Face/Off several times until it was rewritten to suit him. (The futuristic setting was changed to a contemporary one.) Paramount Pictures also offered the director significantly more freedom to exercise his speciality: emotional characterisation and elaborate action. A complex story of adversaries--each of whom surgically alters their identity--law

user: When did he go to the USA?

assistant: CANNOTANSWER

user: What was his first US film?

assistant: Hard Target.

user: Who starred in this movie?

assistant: CANNOTANSWER

user: Did he make any other US movies?

assistant: Face/Off opened in 1997 to critical acclaim and strong attendance. Grosses in the United States exceeded $100 million.

user: Who was in this movie?

assistant: John Travolta and terrorist Nicolas Cage

user: What is this movie about?

assistant: play a cat-and-mouse game, trapped in each other's outward appearance.

user: Did this movie win any awards?

assistant: Face/Off was also nominated for an Academy Award in the category Sound Effects Editing (Mark Stoeckinger) at the 70th Academy Awards.

user: What other films did he make during this time?

assistant: In 2003, Mr. Woo directed a television pilot entitled The Robinsons: Lost in Space

user: Did he make any more successful films?

assistant: John Woo has made three additional films in Hollywood: Mission: Impossible 2, Windtalkers and Paycheck.

user: Were this films popular?

assistant: Mission: Impossible 2 was the highest-grossing film in America in 2000,

user: What other projects has he worked on?

assistant: Woo directed and produced a videogame called Stranglehold