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What Should John Woo Direct Next: Marco Polo or Le Samourai?

by Alex Billington
October 7, 2009
Source: Movieline

I'm admittedly not the biggest fan of Chinese filmmaker John Woo. I've written about my disdain for him many times before, but I'm starting to warm up to him again with every poster and trailer I see for Red Cliff. Earlier this week, Quentin Tarantino revealed that he's got a few projects on his slate to choose from. Much like Tarantino, John Woo has a few projects to choose from as well. Movieline recently interviewed the director (for Red Cliff's US release) and discovered that he's got another ancient epic about Marco Polo in the works as well as a remake of Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samourai. So which one should he direct next?

"I still have two projects that I like very much," Woo said. "One is trying to remake a French classic called Le Samouraï." That news may surprise Woo fans, since the director already mounted a near-remake of Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 crime drama with his Chow Yun-Fat starrer The Killer. However, twenty years have passed since the release of The Killer, and as Woo explained, "I want to make it into a modern film."

As for the second project, it has something in common with Red Cliff, said Woo. "The other is also a historical period film: Marco Polo." He laughed as he revealed that while the ancient Chinese story of the Battle of Red Cliff has long dominated his thoughts, he’s been just as interested in the tales of explorer Marco Polo and his relationship with Kublai Khan. "It's one of my favorite stories," he said.

So which of those two projects would you want to see Woo direct next? Let's not forget that a few years back he decided to up and leave Hollywood and move back to China, to continue making movies there for a few years (out of the studio system). Earlier this year he mentioned he had a "Romeo and Juliet love story" in the works; then he got attached to Flying Tiger Heroes back in July. And he's got that Hard Boiled prequel that's been talked about, although he already said he's not directing that one. So, really, Woo has a lot to choose from, even though he only mentioned two projects to Movieline. Which would you want to see?

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