Trivia

Woo's many American admirers include the likes of Martin Scorsese, Sam Raimi (who compared his mastery of action to Alfred Hitchcock's mastery of suspense) and Quentin Tarantino (who, replying to a studio executive saying "I suppose Woo can direct action scenes" said "Sure, and Michelangelo can paint ceilings!").

When trying to convince Universal to get him to direct Hard Target: Operación cacería (1993), Jean-Claude Van Damme championed Woo as "the Martin Scorsese of Asia".

He is the first Asian director ever to make a mainstream Hollywood film (Hard Target: Operación cacería (1993)).

He has never owned a car.

He uses doves as a symbolic device. They represent the character's soul as being saved.

He was asked to direct 007: GoldenEye (1995). He turned it down, but was honored to be asked.

Trademark: Birds: Many Woo films include slow-motion sequences of birds (usually doves)

Despite the intense gunfighting in his films, he claims that in real-life he has a pacifist temperament and does not even own a gun.

He cites Akira Kurosawa as an influence.

His favorite type of handgun to use in films is the Beretta 92.

French director Jean-Pierre Melville has had the most influence on Woo; he based his film The Killer (1989) on El samurai (1967).

His film The Killer (1989) (alongside Lung foo fung wan (1987) by Ringo Lam) was one of the inspirations for Quentin Tarantino's Perros de reserva (1992). Although the plot came from "City on Fire", a lot of the style of "Reservoir Dogs" (e.g., the suits, the Mexican standoffs, the double guns) came from "The Killer" as well as Woo's work in general.

He is good friends with Sam Raimi who was hired as a supervisor of Woo's US debut Hard Target (1993) and worked to protect his film from executive interference.

Brandon Lee wanted him to direct Furia de venganza (1992) but the producers were strongly against it, as they wanted a martial arts film and not the stylized films that Woo made.

Two of his films are listed in the Hong Kong Film Awards' List of The Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures on March 2005. They are The Killer (1989) and Ying hung boon sik (1986) (ranking 42 and 2, respectively).

At age three he was diagnosed with a serious medical condition. Following surgery on his spine, he was unable to walk correctly until eight years old, and as a result his right leg is shorter than his left leg.

His three favorite films are Lawrence Of Arabia (1962), Seven Samurai (1954) and Le Samurai (1967).

His favourite films of his own are The Killer (1989) and Dip huet gai tau (1990).

First job was working for Shaw Brothers studios as an assistant director to Cheh Chang. Martin Scorsese and Sam Peckinpah are his favorite directors.

Lives in Pacific Palisades, California.

In the late 90's John Woo was planning Phantom of the Opera with John Travolta.

Is production partners with Terence Chang.

He has cited the final scene of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (1969) as being a major influence on his works and something he has alluded to many times.

He didn't attend film school.

His family's roots are in Guangxi in southern China.

Father of Angeles Woo.

He wanted to be a minister as a child.

He is the fifth Chinese director after Hark Tsui to join the board of judges for Cannes Film Festival (the 58th, in 2005).

His family was rendered homeless by the big Shek Kip Mei fire of 1953.