John Woo finally gets to make a movie in China and he treasures his moments on the set of Red Cliff.

John Woo always tries to make only movies that he is proud of, and by his own account, Red Cliff may be the film that he is most proud of.

This is because with this war epic, he has finally achieved his goal of making a movie in China. “Five years ago, I said it’s about time to make a film in China, a country I really love, and with filmmakers I really admire. I really wanted to work with the people in China,” he said in a recorded interview.

Having worked and lived in the United States for over 16 years now, Woo admits that he has been fortunate that the people there have been really nice and respectful towards him, and that he has had plenty of good opportunities to work in Hollywood.

But along the way, he realised that although Westerners were familiar with Asian martial art films and art films, not many truly understood Chinese culture.

“In general I think they didn’t know much about our culture and spirit, that’s what made me want to make another Chinese movie, to show our true spirit and culture. I’ve been dreaming of making this movie for over 20 years – it has a great story and characters, and it’s got a fusion of many great elements – history, romance and spirit of the heroes that I truly admire.”

Red cliffhanger

As you may already know, the first part of Woo’s Chinese period epic Red Cliff ended with quite the er ... cliffhanger. Red Cliff II picks up from where the first part left off, with Sun Quan, the ruler of the Wu kingdom, still trying to fend off the invasion from Cao Cao and his millions of soldiers.

Sun Quan knows he is outnumbered and fears that he may lose the battle, but advice from strategists Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang might just save the day.

The movie stars Tony Leung Chiu Wai as Zhou Yu, the viceroy of the kingdom of East Wu; Takeshi Kaneshiro as master strategist Zhuge Liang; and Lin Chi Ling as Zhou Yu’s wife. Also reprising their roles are Zhang Fengyi, Vicky Zhao, Chang Chen and You Yong.

Based on a part of the classic Chinese literary work Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Red Cliff is the most expensive Chinese-language film ever made, and although the film is broken into two parts here in Asia, it will be screened as a single 150-minute film in the rest of the world.

Woo reckons the theme of the movie is friendship, bravery and love, and although it happened over 2,000 years ago, many of the elements in the story match today’s world. “As everyone knows, now there is an economy crisis, and a lot is happening around the world. People need courage, and somebody to inspire them. And that is what Red Cliff is about.

“You need to have courage to face all kinds of challenges and solve the problems together. If you want to win the war, you have to be united.”

Young filmmakers

Woo was enamoured by the enthusiasm of young filmmakers in China, and his decision to make Red Cliff was also partly fuelled by the desire to impart knowledge to these young guns.

“Five years ago, I was shooting a short film in China, and met a group of young filmmakers,” he recalled. “I found that the young people are very passionate about movies and have a great knowledge about film making. In the meantime, they all want to learn even more.

“These young ones are very hungry about film, hungry to work in a big film; they all wanted to experience new things.

“I loved them, and wanted to help them. So to make a movie like Red Cliff was a good chance to let them learn some new experiences from Hollywood.”

It wasn’t all plain sailing at first for the production though. “There was a bit of difficulty with the crew in the beginning, especially since we were making such a large scale movie in China and they were not used to the Hollywood style of filming.

“But once we (Woo and his crew) had worked together for a few months and began to understand each other, there were no more problems.

“Nothing is impossible in China. You can do anything. People in China are willing to die for the movie!” he said with a laugh. “They are always willing to try something new and they all love challenges. They can work 14 to 18 hours a day with no complaints. I’ve been working with a group of great young people who love film, are very smart and work very hard.”

While Woo is heading back to Hollywood for now, he hopes to return to China in the future.

“I’m so proud to work in China, that in the future I hope to bring more productions to China as well. There are so many great landscapes, the people are lovely, and there are so many great stories to tell,” he said. “In future, I’ll put my focus to make more Chinese films, but it doesn’t mean I’ll abandon Hollywood.

“I still enjoy working there, and I also want to make a film in Europe and every other country – it’s nice to work in different places and countries and learn from different cultures.”

Kaneshiro said, “It took four years to create the film from its planning stage. I think we are all happy to see so many people embrace the film.” Chiling said in Japanese, “I appreciate Japanese fans’ support. Thank you very much.”

Director Woo said part two of the epic features elements based on late Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai.” He said the success of the first “Red Cliff” proves that Asian films can compete with Hollywood films.”

The film will be released April 10 nationwide.

John Woo delivers a film of colossal proportions, writes Kylie Northover.

JOHN Woo launched his career as a director of hit action flicks in Hong Kong before cementing his reputation in Hollywood with blockbusters such as Face/Off and Mission: Impossible II.

In his latest film, the record-setting Red Cliff, Woo has tried to marry the two cinematic styles.

"I think this movie will prove that in China, we can make big movies like Hollywood," Woo says ahead of the film's release next week.

"A few years ago I found most of the young Asian audiences were only crazy about Hollywood movies because they have the best budgets and better visual effects. Not many young Asian people were watching movies from their own countries and I feel this is not right.

"That's why I wanted to make a movie on a Hollywood scale but with their own spirit, the Eastern spirit; a movie that Asian audiences and Western audiences could both feel interested in.

"All my life I've wanted to make a movie like Lawrence of Arabia. It's one of my dreams."

This epic tale based on a famous Chinese historical novel, Red Cliff, starring Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Fengyi Zhang, was filmed in China, the biggest and most expensive production — costing more than $US100 million ($126 million) — ever filmed there.

Set in 208 AD, the film follows the story of the battle between warlord Cao Cao and his million-man army and two other armies that join forces and use intricate battle strategies to beat their enemy.

"Most people in Asian countries are familiar with this tale," Woo says. "I grew up with the story and the book; the hero was always my idol. In the ancient story, the characters are almost like gods but I tried to make it a more human story."

Featuring a massive cast and crew — there were often up to 2000 people on set — from across Asia, the result is a breathtaking film with some of the most epic battle scenes ever created.

While there are some CGI elements, many of the battle scenes featured up to 1000 extras and were choreographed carefully for up to eight months before filming.

As well as the outlandish logistics of the film, the cast and crew had to endure shoots in remote locations and in extreme weather conditions.

Woo says making the film was akin to the military life depicted in the film.

"Yes, everybody felt like we were in an actual war — and I was the commander," he jokes.

John Woo delivers a film of colossal proportions, writes Kylie Northover.

JOHN Woo launched his career as a director of hit action flicks in Hong Kong before cementing his reputation in Hollywood with blockbusters such as Face/Off and Mission: Impossible II.

In his latest film, the record-setting Red Cliff, Woo has tried to marry the two cinematic styles.

"I think this movie will prove that in China, we can make big movies like Hollywood," Woo says ahead of the film's release next week.

"A few years ago I found most of the young Asian audiences were only crazy about Hollywood movies because they have the best budgets and better visual effects. Not many young Asian people were watching movies from their own countries and I feel this is not right.

"That's why I wanted to make a movie on a Hollywood scale but with their own spirit, the Eastern spirit; a movie that Asian audiences and Western audiences could both feel interested in.

"All my life I've wanted to make a movie like Lawrence of Arabia. It's one of my dreams."

This epic tale based on a famous Chinese historical novel, Red Cliff, starring Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Fengyi Zhang, was filmed in China, the biggest and most expensive production — costing more than $US100 million ($126 million) — ever filmed there.

Set in 208 AD, the film follows the story of the battle between warlord Cao Cao and his million-man army and two other armies that join forces and use intricate battle strategies to beat their enemy.

"Most people in Asian countries are familiar with this tale," Woo says. "I grew up with the story and the book; the hero was always my idol. In the ancient story, the characters are almost like gods but I tried to make it a more human story."

Featuring a massive cast and crew — there were often up to 2000 people on set — from across Asia, the result is a breathtaking film with some of the most epic battle scenes ever created.

While there are some CGI elements, many of the battle scenes featured up to 1000 extras and were choreographed carefully for up to eight months before filming.

As well as the outlandish logistics of the film, the cast and crew had to endure shoots in remote locations and in extreme weather conditions.

Woo says making the film was akin to the military life depicted in the film.

"Yes, everybody felt like we were in an actual war — and I was the commander," he jokes.

"We were fighting with the weather. We survived windstorms, hail storms, then we had extremely hot temperatures and a lot of people got heat fever.

"We also then had to shoot in very, very cold situations for the scenes by the lake, so it was quite challenging."

Another blow to the production was the death of one of the crew's 200 stuntmen, who was engulfed in flames during the filming of the final scene. "It was so sad," Woo says. "Even though we had everything very well prepared, the wind changed direction all of a sudden and the flames changed direction."

The film has proved a hit with both Western and Asian audiences and Woo says he is keen to make more films in China. But he's not closing the door on Hollywood yet.

"I would like to work in both places," he says.

"The good thing about making movies in China is they have a great culture and great history — there are a lot more stories to tell. In Hollywood, I've got to wait for a good script and I always get tired of making big CGI movies."

And instead of taking a break after the monumental production of Red Cliff, Woo is instead making a love story.

"That will be like taking a break for me," he jokes. "It's like a Romeo and Juliet-type story — no battle scenes!"

Red Cliff opens July 23.

Sadly, Australian audiences are not being given the opportunity to see the complete version of the film, at least not in cinemas; and if ever a film demanded to be seen on the big cinema screen with a full, theatrical sound system, this is it.

The running time of Red Cliff was originally four hours and 46 minutes, but the international version that screened at the Sydney Film Festival in June and which is now opening in Australian cinemas has been shortened by 2 1/4 hours and runs only 2 1/2 hours. Imagine the outcry if only half of Lawrence of Arabia was screened because it was considered too long.

Red Cliff, which cost $US80 million ($100m) to produce, is an unofficial co-production between China, Japan and South Korea, with production input from Taiwanese and US partners. During the past six months it has screened across Asia in two parts: part one (145minutes) opened in the middle of last year and part two (141 minutes) at the beginning of this year. The idea of releasing a very long film in two parts isn't new. Bernardo Bertolucci did it in 1976 with 1900, Steven Soderbergh is doing it with Che, and arguably the greatest anti-war film of all time, Masaki Kobayashi's almost 10-hour-long The Human Condition, was released as three three-hour-plus films between 1959 and 1961. Then there's Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings, another hugely successful three-part movie.

Why, then, have audiences outside Asia not been given the opportunity to see Woo's epic in its integral version? Why have we been palmed off with a chopped-up, Reader's Digest-abridged edition? Asian film buffs can doubtless find DVDs of the complete version if they search hard enough, but they are not being given the opportunity to experience the complete film incinemas.

The story, which Woo has written in collaboration with three other screenwriters, is inspired by historical events (set down in Chen Shou's 3rd-century chronicle) and by the 14th-century Romance of Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. Several earlier films have been based on this material but none as lavish and powerful as this.

In the year AD208, during the decline of the Han dynasty, prime minister Cao Cao (played by Chinese actor Zhang Fengyi) bullies the weak emperor Xian (Wang Ning) into allowing him to lead a vast army to attack two rebel rulers in the south of the country. He has his sights set on Liu Bei (You Yong) and Sun Quan (Chang Chen), and his aim is to forcibly unite China under hisrule.

The northern armies come into conflict with southern forces at the Battle of Changban, which is the first of many staggeringly well-staged action sequences in Woo's film.

Cao Cao is triumphant but the southerners unite under the control of two brilliant strategists, Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro), who serves Liu, and Zhou Yu (Tony Leung), who serves Sun. The complete version of the film follows these events in intricate detail, with time given to the growing friendship between Zhuge and Zhou -- enhanced by two tremendously charismatic performances from the actors involved -- and the wily plotting of the hypnotic Cao Cao. Time is also devoted to the relationship between Zhou and his wife (Lin Chi-ling). In the original version of the film there is much more to all of this. The battle scenes, including the titanic conflict below the cliffs on the Yangtze River which give the film its title, are presented in far more detail. Whole subplots and characters have been removed, including much of the character of the tomboy Shangxiang (Vicki Zhao) and her adventures disguised as a boy behind enemy lines. In the cut version there are references that no longer make sense because the original scenes have been deleted.

Despite this vandalism, the version of Red Cliff screening here is worth a look. Woo, who has shown his mettle in Hollywood films such as Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2, is a master of action, and with thousands of extras and material at his disposal he delivers the goods with energy and style. The style, at times, smacks more of Akira Kurosawa and the Japanese samurai tradition than Chinese cinema, but it's none the worse for that.

I would have given the original film at least a four-star rating; the cut version is diminished but not entirely ruined. The nuances may have been left on the cutting-room floor but the spectacle just about survives.

Oscar prospects: Foreign-language films aren’t the easiest sell, but the early word is this particular one is spectacular.

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Enter and you could a great prize pack which includes a poster autographed by legendary director John Woo as well as the Magnet/Magnolia DVDs "Dynamite Warrior," "Chocolate" and "Exiled."

"Red Cliff" is now available on VOD, Amazon and XBOX Live and will open in theaters starting November 18, 2009.
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