GeneChing
08-28-2018, 08:15 AM
We have a thread for Hard Target 2 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?69565-Hard-Target-2) but not the original? Well, in our defense, it predates the forum.
AUGUST 24, 2018 11:17am PT by Pete Keeley
'Hard Target' at 25: John Woo on Fighting for Respect in Hollywood (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/hard-target-john-woo-clashing-jean-claude-van-damme-1137208)
https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale_crop_768_433/2018/08/hard_target_john_woo_inset_-_h_2018.jpg
Photofest; Dominique Charriau/WireImage
'Hard Target' (Inset: John Woo)
The first Asian director to helm a Hollywood studio movie had to battle execs (and star Jean-Claude Van Damme) to deliver the film he wanted.
On Aug. 20, 1993, Hard Target premiered in U.S. theaters. The film — based loosely on Richard Connell's 1924 short story The Most Dangerous Game and set in New Orleans — stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux, a merchant seaman hired by a woman searching for her father, a homeless veteran who, it turns out, has been literally hunted down and killed. The villain, Emil Fouchon — played by a perpetually glistening, characteristically intense Lance Henriksen — makes his living arranging recreational manhunts for wealthy sportsmen in world cities of note. It's fun.
The anniversary could have probably passed unremarked, but for the fact that the film was legendary action director John Woo's first in the U.S., and the first Hollywood studio film to ever be helmed by an Asian filmmaker.
Woo, then 47, was already an icon in Hong Kong, where his gangster epics A Better Tomorrow, Bullet in the Head and The Killer were massively influential. He caught the attention of Hollywood studio execs when 1989's The Killer made a festival run through Toronto, Park City and Cannes, rolling up critical accolades for its hyperkinetic action sequences and luxuriously excessive gunplay.
By the early '90s — with Hollywood still in the midst of a star-driven action film golden age — Woo was being sent scripts from several studios interested in bringing him over to the States. He decided on Hard Target after Van Damme — then at the height of his fame — screenwriter Chuck Pfarrer, and producer James Jacks flew to Hong Kong to plead their case in person.
Woo has said in many interviews that he preferred making films in the U.S. as opposed to Hong Kong, but his first experience wasn't without its unpleasantries. First: the endless meetings and levels of bureaucracy before shooting could begin. Second: the star system, whereby Van Damme could, for instance, insist that one camera be dedicated to capturing closeups of his oiled biceps. Third: Universal was worried enough about Woo's capacity to handle an American crew that it hired Sam Raimi to shadow him on set, instructing him to step in and take over if the director faltered. (Instead Raimi would become Woo's fiercest defender, even getting into a shouting match with execs to defend his autonomy.)
The film performed well at the box office, debuting to $10.1 million, good for No. 2 behind The Fugitive, though reviews were mixed (The Hollywood Reporter's critic, Duane Byrge, was into it, however, calling the film "mesmeric" and even praising Van Damme's acting — twice). But 25 years later, the film's main legacy is its massive action set pieces — including a finale that plays out in a burning warehouse full of retired Mardi Gras floats — which introduced American audiences to the Hong Kong style of munition superabundance and showcased what the father of "gun-fu" could accomplish when given a big budget and all the cameras, jibs and cranes he desired. That, and the scene where JCVD punches a snake in the face (Mr. Woo was kind enough to send over a series of storyboards for an early, punch-less version of this scene. See below).
Some of the supporting performances stand out as well, including South African actor Arnold Vosloo — who looks like a gaunt Pvt. Pyle from Full Metal Jacket — as Fouchon's severe No. 2, Willie C. Carpenter as another homeless vet tracked across the French Quarter by a Fouchon client, and a delightfully over-the-top Wilford Brimley as Boudreaux's bayou-dwelling, moonshine-swilling Uncle Douvee. (Some might argue that Van Damme's shoulder-length, boat-show-worthy mullet — which cuts a graceful, shining arc through the air with each roundhouse kick and flounces after him as he sprints in glorious slow-mo — is a character in itself. Some might argue.)
Earlier this week, Woo took a break from preproduction on a gender-swapped remake of The Killer starring Lupita Nyong'o to speak with THR about his transition from Hong Kong to the U.S., his first experience working with a Hollywood star, and the one movie he's still dying to make.
Can you talk a bit about how you were recruited to come over to Hollywood. Who made first contact? In one interview you credited Sam Raimi with "giving [me] the opportunity to come to America and make Hard Target." What was his involvement in bringing you to the U.S.?
Before I came to Hollywood I had never dreamed to come to work [here]. I thought it was an impossible dream. At the end of 1991 I was making my last Hong Kong film, Hard Boiled. All of a sudden I got a call from Tom Jacobson, who was [executive vp production at] 20th Century Fox. He was the first one to call me. I was so surprised I didn't know what to do! (Laughs.) He asked me to come over to Hollywood and had very high interest [in producing] a movie for me. And he gave me several scripts and asked to set up a meeting and all that. And the second call was from Oliver Stone. And we [met in Paris during the Cannes Film Festival] and had a great meeting, and he wanted to produce a movie for me. He gave me a script. It was a modern kung-fu movie set in South Asia and Los Angeles — called Kato, or Ballistic — and the star was a Korean-American actor, Phillip Rhee. I liked the script, and I even had an idea for a butterfly scene. The main character is practicing martial arts and a butterfly [lands on him], so he holds the butterfly in his palm and keeps practicing. Many years later, when I met Rhee’s brother, he said, "Mr. Woo, butterfly!" I laughed. "Yeah! Butterfly!" Mr. Stone gave me great respect and also help me to team up with a very good crew, but the film didn't work out. It was a Warner Bros. production. My agent and partner said the studio treated me like a first-time director and didn't give me respectful pay. (Laughs.) I was quite disappointed because I greatly admire Oliver Stone and I really wanted to learn something from him. After that I continued to do my own work, finished Hard Boiled. By then I was getting lots of scripts from other studios like New Line and Universal. And one of the scripts was Hard Target, and I found the idea and the story quite interesting, but I didn't have much desire to make it because I thought it would be a difficult film to make. But then later the producer from [Universal], Mr. Jim Jacks, the writer, Chuck Pfarrer, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, they flew over to Hong Kong to meet me, and push me to do the job. They all loved my movies, liked my style, and they wanted an American action film with a new look. And I found the people from the studio were very sincere, very warm, and made me feel very relaxed about doing the film. So I took the job.
continued next post
AUGUST 24, 2018 11:17am PT by Pete Keeley
'Hard Target' at 25: John Woo on Fighting for Respect in Hollywood (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/hard-target-john-woo-clashing-jean-claude-van-damme-1137208)
https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale_crop_768_433/2018/08/hard_target_john_woo_inset_-_h_2018.jpg
Photofest; Dominique Charriau/WireImage
'Hard Target' (Inset: John Woo)
The first Asian director to helm a Hollywood studio movie had to battle execs (and star Jean-Claude Van Damme) to deliver the film he wanted.
On Aug. 20, 1993, Hard Target premiered in U.S. theaters. The film — based loosely on Richard Connell's 1924 short story The Most Dangerous Game and set in New Orleans — stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux, a merchant seaman hired by a woman searching for her father, a homeless veteran who, it turns out, has been literally hunted down and killed. The villain, Emil Fouchon — played by a perpetually glistening, characteristically intense Lance Henriksen — makes his living arranging recreational manhunts for wealthy sportsmen in world cities of note. It's fun.
The anniversary could have probably passed unremarked, but for the fact that the film was legendary action director John Woo's first in the U.S., and the first Hollywood studio film to ever be helmed by an Asian filmmaker.
Woo, then 47, was already an icon in Hong Kong, where his gangster epics A Better Tomorrow, Bullet in the Head and The Killer were massively influential. He caught the attention of Hollywood studio execs when 1989's The Killer made a festival run through Toronto, Park City and Cannes, rolling up critical accolades for its hyperkinetic action sequences and luxuriously excessive gunplay.
By the early '90s — with Hollywood still in the midst of a star-driven action film golden age — Woo was being sent scripts from several studios interested in bringing him over to the States. He decided on Hard Target after Van Damme — then at the height of his fame — screenwriter Chuck Pfarrer, and producer James Jacks flew to Hong Kong to plead their case in person.
Woo has said in many interviews that he preferred making films in the U.S. as opposed to Hong Kong, but his first experience wasn't without its unpleasantries. First: the endless meetings and levels of bureaucracy before shooting could begin. Second: the star system, whereby Van Damme could, for instance, insist that one camera be dedicated to capturing closeups of his oiled biceps. Third: Universal was worried enough about Woo's capacity to handle an American crew that it hired Sam Raimi to shadow him on set, instructing him to step in and take over if the director faltered. (Instead Raimi would become Woo's fiercest defender, even getting into a shouting match with execs to defend his autonomy.)
The film performed well at the box office, debuting to $10.1 million, good for No. 2 behind The Fugitive, though reviews were mixed (The Hollywood Reporter's critic, Duane Byrge, was into it, however, calling the film "mesmeric" and even praising Van Damme's acting — twice). But 25 years later, the film's main legacy is its massive action set pieces — including a finale that plays out in a burning warehouse full of retired Mardi Gras floats — which introduced American audiences to the Hong Kong style of munition superabundance and showcased what the father of "gun-fu" could accomplish when given a big budget and all the cameras, jibs and cranes he desired. That, and the scene where JCVD punches a snake in the face (Mr. Woo was kind enough to send over a series of storyboards for an early, punch-less version of this scene. See below).
Some of the supporting performances stand out as well, including South African actor Arnold Vosloo — who looks like a gaunt Pvt. Pyle from Full Metal Jacket — as Fouchon's severe No. 2, Willie C. Carpenter as another homeless vet tracked across the French Quarter by a Fouchon client, and a delightfully over-the-top Wilford Brimley as Boudreaux's bayou-dwelling, moonshine-swilling Uncle Douvee. (Some might argue that Van Damme's shoulder-length, boat-show-worthy mullet — which cuts a graceful, shining arc through the air with each roundhouse kick and flounces after him as he sprints in glorious slow-mo — is a character in itself. Some might argue.)
Earlier this week, Woo took a break from preproduction on a gender-swapped remake of The Killer starring Lupita Nyong'o to speak with THR about his transition from Hong Kong to the U.S., his first experience working with a Hollywood star, and the one movie he's still dying to make.
Can you talk a bit about how you were recruited to come over to Hollywood. Who made first contact? In one interview you credited Sam Raimi with "giving [me] the opportunity to come to America and make Hard Target." What was his involvement in bringing you to the U.S.?
Before I came to Hollywood I had never dreamed to come to work [here]. I thought it was an impossible dream. At the end of 1991 I was making my last Hong Kong film, Hard Boiled. All of a sudden I got a call from Tom Jacobson, who was [executive vp production at] 20th Century Fox. He was the first one to call me. I was so surprised I didn't know what to do! (Laughs.) He asked me to come over to Hollywood and had very high interest [in producing] a movie for me. And he gave me several scripts and asked to set up a meeting and all that. And the second call was from Oliver Stone. And we [met in Paris during the Cannes Film Festival] and had a great meeting, and he wanted to produce a movie for me. He gave me a script. It was a modern kung-fu movie set in South Asia and Los Angeles — called Kato, or Ballistic — and the star was a Korean-American actor, Phillip Rhee. I liked the script, and I even had an idea for a butterfly scene. The main character is practicing martial arts and a butterfly [lands on him], so he holds the butterfly in his palm and keeps practicing. Many years later, when I met Rhee’s brother, he said, "Mr. Woo, butterfly!" I laughed. "Yeah! Butterfly!" Mr. Stone gave me great respect and also help me to team up with a very good crew, but the film didn't work out. It was a Warner Bros. production. My agent and partner said the studio treated me like a first-time director and didn't give me respectful pay. (Laughs.) I was quite disappointed because I greatly admire Oliver Stone and I really wanted to learn something from him. After that I continued to do my own work, finished Hard Boiled. By then I was getting lots of scripts from other studios like New Line and Universal. And one of the scripts was Hard Target, and I found the idea and the story quite interesting, but I didn't have much desire to make it because I thought it would be a difficult film to make. But then later the producer from [Universal], Mr. Jim Jacks, the writer, Chuck Pfarrer, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, they flew over to Hong Kong to meet me, and push me to do the job. They all loved my movies, liked my style, and they wanted an American action film with a new look. And I found the people from the studio were very sincere, very warm, and made me feel very relaxed about doing the film. So I took the job.
continued next post