Director John Woo (b. 1946) reinvented the modern action movie and helped open the door for Asian filmmakers to the Western world. His hyperviolent, highly choreographed style made him a box office powerhouse, a respected auteur, and a revered figure among fellow directors.

First discovered by Western audiences through his Hong Kong films The Killer and Hard Boiled, Woo introduced the world to a new brand of psychologically frenzied action film. After coming to the United States in the early 1990s, Woo produced a trilogy of hard-charging action films—Broken Arrow, Face/Off, and Mission: Impossible II—that were both popular and critically acclaimed. But Woo’s signature bullet ballets, his kinetic, blood-spattered action sequences, represent a dichotomy in the director’s philosophy. John Woo: Interviews reveals a peace-loving, devoutly religious man at odds with his reputation as the master of cinematic violence.

Unprecedented access to the director helped editor Robert K. Elder create in John Woo: Interviews the first authoritative English-language chronicle of Woo’s career.