Tim Burton

Tim Burton is one of the last people you'd imagine would become one of the most acclaimed directors in the world. He is an introverted, unassuming person. His career got underway at the most famous animation studio in Hollywood, he landed his first directing gig because of a bootleg tape of a short film that was never released, and (for a while, at least) he had a movie in the top-ten grossers of all time.

Timothy William Burton was born August 25, 1958 in Burbank, California. Burbank may not ring as many bells as Hollywood, but it is the home to many film and television studios -- NBC, Warner Brothers, Disney, and others. Burbank was quintessential 1950s American suburbia, a world in which the shy, artistic Tim was not quite in step with the shiny happy people surrounding him. He was not particularly good in school, and was not a bookworm. Instead, he found his pleasure in painting, drawing, and movies. He loved monster movies: Godzilla, the Hammer horror films from Great Britain, the work of Ray Harryhausen. One of his heroes was actor Vincent Price.

After high school in 1976, Burton attended the California Institute of the Arts. Cal Arts had been founded by Disney as a "breeding ground" for new animators, though they did offer other courses of study. Burton entered the Disney animation program in his second year, thinking it would be a good way to make a living. In 1979, he was drafted to join the Disney animation ranks.

Burton did not enjoy being an animator, not one little bit. Imagine, if you will, what it's like to be an animator. Films are projected at 24 frames per second. For a 90-minute film, that's over 129,000 individual frames. Characters are drawn separately and then put together, and placed over painted backgrounds. The work requires talented artists, but they cannot deviate from the structured manner of drawing the characters. Burton had been brought in to work on The Fox And The Hound. It bored him silly.

The studio recognized that Burton's talent was not being utilized. They made him a conceptual artist, the people who design the characters that appear in the films. He did early work on The Black Cauldron, the adaptation of the second volume of Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain (a seven-volume fantasy series). If you're familiar with Burton's artwork, you can imagine that his concept drawings were nothing like your standard Disney fare. It didn't go over too well, and it was not used. However, he was set loose on his own projects. These included a poem and artwork that years later would become The Nightmare Before Christmas, the animated short Vincent, and the live-action short Frankenweenie.

The latter two received little or no outside exposure, but Burton did get to work with his idol, Vincent Price, for the first time and they remained friends until Price's death in 1993. Frankenweenie was awarded a PG rating, which precluded its release with their G-rated animated features. It only saw theatrical release overseas, and a short release on VHS. However, it would be the film that landed him his first feature directing job.

Horror writer Stephen King (you have heard of him, right?) had seen Frankenweenie, and strongly recommended it to Bonni Lee, an executive at Warner Brothers. Lee then showed the film to Paul Reubens. Reubens was the man behind Pee-wee Herman, and was in the process of bringing his alter ego to the big screen. He knew right away that Tim Burton was the perfect choice for the job, and indeed they were a perfect match. As they say, the rest is history.

Following the surprise success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Burton didn't make another film for almost three years. It wasn't until he was offered the anarchic screenplay for Beetlejuice that he finally found another project suited to his unique vision. The film was an even bigger hit, and led to Warner Bros. offering Burton the job directing an eagerly awaited comic book adaptation that had been years in the planning.

Batman was less a movie, more of an event. It sparked controversy with the casting of Michael Keaton as the Dark Knight, and generated a merchandising blitz that is now standard for blockbusters. However, despite all the hype and studio interference, Burton still managed to put his own stamp on the film and it remains one of the most influential Hollywood movies of the last few decades. It's box office gross of over $250 million is also one of the highest in the studio's history.



Rather than jump into making another blockbuster, Burton used his new clout to get an extremely personal project greenlit by 20th Century Fox. Edward Scissorhands was the first time Burton had full creative control over a feature film, having written the story and also produced the movie. The film was a hit with moviegoers and critics, and marked the beginning of Burton being taken seriously as an artist.

He followed it up in 1992 with the sequel Batman Returns. It was not as big a hit as the first film, and suffered a backlash from parents who considered it too dark and twisted for younger Bat fans. Although the film was an artistic triumph, the perceived disappointment led to Joel Schumacher taking over the franchise (although Burton did have a producer credit on Batman Forever). The same year Burton also found time to play a small cameo role in Cameron Crowe's grunge film, Singles, and an even smaller cameo as a corpse in his buddy Danny DeVito's film, Hoffa.

After finally seeing his dream project realised with the feature length stop-motion film The Nightmare Before Christmas, Burton returned to smaller filmmaking with his next project, Ed Wood. An affectionate tribute to the supposed worst filmmaker of all time, it was not a hit at the box office, but won Burton the best reviews of his career, as well as two Oscars. It was followed by an indirect homage to Wood's films, Mars Attacks! The film was a disappointment at the box office, and scorned by many critics, but has gained a cult status over the years. Burton made something of a comeback three years later with his first real horror film, Sleepy Hollow.



As for Burton's personal life, he married German artist Lena Gieseke in 1989 (while in the middle of production on Batman). They separated shortly after filming of Batman Returns. He began dating Lisa Marie shortly after. She appeared in four of his films: Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, Sleepy Hollow and Planet of the Apes.

Between Mars Attacks! and Sleepy Hollow, Tim Burton spent over a year working on a new Superman film. A preliminary script draft was written by independent filmmaker and comic geek extraordinaire Kevin Smith. Nicolas Cage was attached to the project to play the Man Of Steel. However, Burton was not particularly happy with the script, and a spiraling budget caused Warner Brothers to pull the plug on the project.

His next project was a reworking of the classic sci-fi film Planet Of The Apes. The film was rushed into production after a long gestation period, and may have suffered as a result. The film was visually stunning, and featured several strong performances by the actors in Rick Baker's astonishing ape makeup, but it was regarded as a disappointment by many.

At the same time Burton's personal life was in a state of upheaval. Both of his parents died within a short space of time, and his relationship with Lisa Marie ended. Shortly after the release of Planet of the Apes, Burton began dating one of the stars of the film, Helena Bonham Carter. Their son, Billy, was born in October, 2003.

Burton's next project couldn't have been more different, even though it shared the same producer (Richard D. Zanuck). Big Fish was an adaptation of the novel by Daniel Wallace. Perhaps the theme of a man trying to reconnect with his dying father resulted in this being Burton's most personal and emotional film in years, and it earned respectable reviews and box office.

In 2005, Burton directed back to back movies for the first time. His first project was another movie based on a novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Johnny Depp played the lead role of Willy Wonka, and the film was one of the most successful blockbusters of 2005. It was followed two months later by the release of the stop motion animated film, Corpse Bride. Both films generally received good reviews, and Corpse Bride was even nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature (it lost to Wallace and Gromit).

As for his next project, Burton was set to direct Believe It or Not (starring Jim Carrey) about the life of Robert Ripley.However, that project was delayed and will now be directed, apparently, by Spike Jonze (though Burton will still produce). Burton's next directorial project turned out to be the long-rumored musical Sweeney Todd. It was released in the U.S. in December, 2007 to rave reviews. Burton has three directing jobs on the horizon - Alice in Wonderland, Frankenweenie and The Spook's Apprentice, which means his fans have no shortage of films to look forward to.

Mike Jackson and Arran McDermott 2006



Tim's Biography can also be read on the following languages, click on the link to get to the translation:
German
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Tim Burton's Filmography

Contact Information:
One of the questions we receive most frequently is an address where Tim Burton can be contacted. The following are the only addresses we have. We're not sure if they're up to date, so you may or may not receive a reply.

HIS AGENT:
Tim Burton
c/o Mike Simpson, William Morris Agency
One William Morris Plaza
Beverly Hills, CA 90212

HIS PRODUCTION COMPANY:
Tim Burton Productions
7175 Willoughby Avenue
West Hollywood, CA 90046

Peter Jackson

Date of Birth
31 October 1961, Pukerua Bay, North Island, New Zealand

Nickname
PJ

Height
5' 6½" (1.69 m)

Mini Biography
Peter Jackson was born as an only child in a small coast-side town in New Zealand in 1961. When a friend of his parents bought him a super 8mm movie camera (because she saw how much he enjoyed taking photos), the then eight-year-old Peter instantly grabbed the thing to start recording his own movies, which he made with his friends. They were usually short, but they already had the spectacular trademark that would make Jackson famous: impressive special effects, made at a very low cost. For example, for his film "World War Two" which he made as a teenager, he used to simulate a firing gun by punching little holes into the celluloid, so that, once projected, the gun gave the impression of displaying a small fire. Jackson's first step towards the more serious filmmaking came with an entry in a local contest to stimulate amateur and children's film. For this film, he used stop-motion animation to create a monster that ruins a city in the style of Ray Harryhausen. Unfortunately, he didn't win. When Jackson was 22, he embarked on an movie making-adventure that would change his life. This film, Bad Taste (1987), was begun as any other Jackson film, in an amateuristic style, at a low budget and using friends and local people to star in his film. Jackson himself did nearly everything in the movie, he directed, produced, filmed and starred in it, in a number of roles, amongst them that of the hero, "Derek". And everything was filmed on a second-hand, $250 camera. It took Jackson and his friends four years to complete the movie. What had started out as an joke in a group of friends, then became a cult-classic. A friend of Jackson who was working in the movie industry convinced him the film had commercial prospects and arranged for it to be shown at the Cannes film festival, where it won a lot of acclaim, as well as a number of prizes. The movie soon became a hit because of its bizarre humor and overdose of special-effects, some realistic, some hilarious because of their amateuristic look. After the success of Bad Taste (1987), Jackson became recognized as a director and the door to fame and fortune was opened. He gave up his job at a local photographer's shop and became a well-known director of horror-movies, after the success of his first professionally made movie, Braindead (1992).

IMDb Mini Biography By: T. van der Sluijs

Spouse
Fran Walsh (1987 - present) 2 children

Trade Mark
His films frequently conclude with a bloodbath, e.g.: the lawnmower with the zombies in Braindead (1992), and the murder of Honora Parker in Heavenly Creatures (1994).

Frequently set his movies in Wellington, New Zealand.

Likes to make cameo appearances in his movies: the morgue assistant in Braindead (1992), the homeless man in_Heavenly Creatures (1994)_, the dude in _Frighteners, The (1996/I)_, the drunk in _Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001)_, the guy throwing a spear in Helm's Deep in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), and the Corsair Leader in _Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003)_.

Always writes his scripts with his real-life partner Fran Walsh.

In his movies, there's frequently a fake documentary: the Christchurch footage in Heavenly Creatures (1994), The Murders & Psychos documentary in _Frighteners, The (1996/I)_, the Colin McKenzie biopic in _Forgotten Silver (1995)_, and _Lord of The Piercing (2002)_ (on_Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001)_ region 1 extended edition DVD).

In his movies, there are always axes: the Whitey Alien's axe in Bad Taste (1987), the explorers' axe in Braindead (1992), the Diello's axe in Heavenly Creatures (1994), the executioner's axe in _Forgotten Silver (1995)_, the Reaper's axe in _Frighteners, The (1996/I)_, Gimli's axe in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).

Has an interest in matricide (Derek is "born-again" in the ending of Bad Taste (1987), Sidney kills his wife and mother of his son in Meet the Feebles (1989), Lionel Cosgrove kills his mother in Braindead (1992), Pauline Rieper kills her mother in Heavenly Creatures (1994), Patricia Ann Bradley kills her mother in _The Frighteners (1996/I)_.

Frequently wears shorts, even in freezing cold weather.

Frequently casts Andy Serkis.

Frequently casts Jed Brophy


Trivia
Owns two houses in Wellington, New Zealand.

Made the latex models for Bad Taste (1987) in his mom's kitchen oven, often forcing the family to have sausages for dinner because they couldn't use the oven.

Owner of production companies WingNut Films, Weta Limited and Three Foot Six.

Father of Billy Jackson and Katie Jackson.

Collects models of airplanes from World War One.

During filming of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), he used the same pair of shoes and only two T-shirts.

He likes 1960s music: his favorites are The Beatles (and he homaged them in Bad Taste (1987)).

After his parents, Bill and Joan, died, Jackson owns the modest Pukerua Bay house where he grew up.

The stuff in the bowl, in his first movie Bad Taste (1987), was yoghurt, muesli and green food colouring.

In 1998, he bought the New Zealand based film company National Film Unit.

Credits his favorite movie King Kong (1933) as his biggest inspiration in filmmaking. He said that he cried when King Kong fell off the Empire State Building.

The movie that gave him the love for splatter is George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978). After seeing it, he felt a bit sick but amazed too.

Together with his partner Fran Walsh, he received the honorary graduation from Massey University [26 November 2001]

With Fran Walsh, he become member of the New Zealand Order of Merit [5 March 2002]

He left school at the age of 17 and started working on a Wellington newspaper.

For his first movie, Bad Taste (1987), he did all the special effects, the make-up effects and built exact replicas of the weapons.

He allegedly offered $150,000 to Aint-it-cool webmaster Harry Jay Knowles for his King Kong (1933) original poster.

Started writing a re-make of King Kong (1933) in 1996, which went through several drafts, until in 2003 he made one that was greenlighted by Universal.

Ranked #20 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #41 in 2002.

Voted 'Man of the Year 2002' in the Australian Empire Magazine March 2003.

Both of his parents died during production of The Lord of the Rings.

Met Fran Walsh in 1987, during post-production for the gross-out cult classic Bad Taste (1987).

Son of Bill Jackson and Joan Jackson.

Nominated for a Best Director Academy Award for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) (which he won), but not for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002).

The London Daily Mail reported (December 5, 2003) that Jackson was so fond of King Kong (1933) that he once cut up his mother's old fur coat and used it to make a model of the great ape; also that he consulted with Andy Serkis on the script of his version of the movie.

Has worked with three generations of Astins: John Astin (The Frighteners (1996)); John's son, Sean Astin (The Lord of The Rings Trilogy); and Sean's daughter, Alexandra Astin (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)).

Ranked #6 in Premiere's 2004 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #20 in 2003. He is the second-highest rated director on the list, behind only Steven Spielberg.

The copies of the "Lord of the Rings" books that he referred to during filming are the ones that he bought after seeing _Lord of the Rings, The (1978)_. The books have cover art by Ralph Bakshi.

Has been referred to by Fran Walsh as being a hobbit himself, due to his physical stature, his tendency to go barefoot, and the fact that he is swarthy (in Walsh's words, "furry").

Estimated earnings from the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy come close to $125 million.

Along with his wife Fran Walsh, he was one of two husband/wife teams to be nominated for an Oscar for the 2003 season, the other team was Michael McKean and his wife, Annette O'Toole.

Three of his collaborators have had connections to the material being filmed, outside the context of the film being made. Ian Holm, whom he cast as Bilbo in The Lord of the Rings, was cast because he had played Frodo in the BBC radio adaptation. That adaptation was written by Brian Sibley, who is a cousin of his wife, Fran Walsh. In _Heavenly Creatures (1994)_, Kate Winslet plays Juliet Hulme, who would later be known as real-life mystery novelist Anne Perry. Winslet has a sister, Anna Winslet, who appears as Dora in The Cater Street Hangman (1998) (TV), which was based on one of Perry's novels.

Is among an elite group of 7 directors who have won Best Picture, Best Director & Best Screenplay (Orig/Adapted) for the same film. In 2004 he won all three for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). The other directors are Billy Wilder, Leo McCarey, Francis Ford Coppola, James L. Brooks and Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (the brothers co-produced, co-directed and co-wrote No Country for Old Men (2007) with each other).

Crowned the most powerful man in Hollywood by ranking #1 on Premiere's 2005 Power 50 List. It is his first #1 ranking. Had ranked #6 in 2004.

Ranked #7 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Greatest directors ever!" [2005]

Lost 70 lbs. during the production of King Kong (2005).

No longer needs glasses after undergoing eye surgery during the making of King Kong (2005).

Described the production of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy as "laying the tracks down in front of the train" as it was moving forward.

Was invested as a Companion Of The New Zealand Order Of Merit [CNZM] by the Governor-General of New Zealand in March 2002.

Ranked #11 on Premiere's 2006 "Power 50" list. Had ranked #1 in 2005.

Is a fan of "Doctor Who" (1963), and has used the screen name Xoanon, taken from the Doctor Who story "The Face of Evil.".

One of few directors to be offered the chance of writing and directing sequels to many famous horror franchises. He was offered Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990), Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), Freddy vs. Jason (2003), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992) and Child's Play 3 (1991).

2007 - Ranked #16 on EW's The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood.

To acquaint actors who had not read the books with the story, he used the BBC Radio version of The Lord of the Rings, which starred Ian Holm. He ended up using Holm as Bilbo in the films.


Personal Quotes
New Zealand is not a small country but a large village.

What I don't like are pompous, pretencious movies

On Meet the Feebles (1989): "I have a moronic sense of humour."

On horror: "I don't take stuff seriously. I saw 'Hellraiser 3' the other day at Cannes; it's OK, it's a good film, I didn't hate it or anything. I thought it was quite good, but it was all just so serious. Some guy walking round with pins sticking out of his face. I just can't sit there and think ,'this is really scary.' If I made a 'Hellraiser' film, I'd like Pinhead to be whacked against a wall and have all the pins flattened into his face. I immediately start thinking of funny things and gags - that's just the way I am. I doubt I could ever control myself sufficiently to make a serious horror film."

[on The Lord of the Rings:] "This is a giant undertaking, but I consider this a personal film. It's my film of a lifetime. I read the book when I was 18 years old and thought then, 'I can't wait till the movie comes out.' Twenty years later, no one had done it - so I got impatient."

'Return of the King' is the most enjoyable because in the structure of the movies, it is nothing other than pay-off, there is no more setting up to do, no more exposition, no more introducing characters. The pay-off is very character-based. It is action-orientated as well, but all of our characters have been pushed to a point where their life and death depends on what happens in the third movie. It is very emotional, and from an actors point of view it is very enjoyable to work on, because they were able to play some pretty intense drama. From my point of view it was always great, because we were heading toward an ending, a climax which we never had in the other two.

On making "The Lord of the Rings": "Looking back, I think we were a bit naive. At the beginning I don't think anybody had any idea how difficult or complicated it would be. We somehow went into it thinking we could do it. And then we've stumbled along just taking each day at a time."

I think that George Lucas' 'Star Wars' films are fantastic. What he's done, which I admire, is he has taken all the money and profit from those films and poured it into developing digital sound and surround sound, which we are using today. He got ILM started and they developed all the computer technology we use. George Lucas is incredible. He has made a huge difference to the way films are made now. And he has used his money on things that benefit every filmmaker who gets films produced. I respect that a lot.

To get an Oscar would be an incredible moment in my career, there is no doubt about that. But the 'Lord of the Rings' films are not made for Oscars, they are made for the audience.

"I always trusted him. If there was a way that I had seen something and he had seen it differently, I would ... trust his vision. We were in brilliant hands." -- Elijah Wood on filming "Lord of the Rings," December 14, 2003

We made a promise to ourselves at the beginning of the process that we weren't going to put any of our own politics, our own messages or our own themes into these movies. What we were trying to do was to analyze what was important to Tolkien and to try to honor that. In a way, we were trying to make these films for him, not for ourselves.

The most honest form of filmmaking is to make a film for yourself. The worst type is dictated by demographics or what is hip or what kids are into. Kong isn't driven by that. No way would a studio think this is the year that people want to see a big gorilla movie. I've come to realize that, as much as anything, I am making this for the 9-year-old Peter.

Don't worry. Gollum isn't going to be another Jar Jar Binks.

(on the 1976 remake of King Kong): "I was 15 when that film came out. I took the day off school, went into Wellington and was first in line to see it. It was a disappointment because I wanted it to have stop-motion animation, dinosaurs and the Empire State Building. I didn't like the updating of it, and it has dated very badly. I watched it again a year or so ago. I thought Jeff Bridges was excellent, John Barry's score was very good, and Rick Baker did a sterling job in that very heavy monkey suit he was wearing. But it was kind of kitsch and it wasn't the Kong that I saw when I was nine."

I don't quite know what an auteur is. I've never quite understood that term, because filmmaking is such a huge team effort, you - I mean, I regard myself as being sort of the final filter, so everything that ends up in the movie is there, because it's something that I'd think was cool if I saw the film that somebody else had made. I'm very much trying to make the film that I've enjoyed, but I'm open to ideas, I need a huge team of people to help me, everybody contributes and I try to encourage people to contribute as much as possible. I think that's the job of a director really, is to sort of funnel all the creative into one centralized point of view. And the marketing is sort of something that really happens with other people, it's not something that I'm at all an expert in, and I regard my job at the end of the day as to make the best possible film I can, and that's really where my job stops and marketing people take over after that.

No film has captivated my imagination more than King Kong. I'm making movies today because I saw this film when I was 9 years old. It has been my sustained dream to reinterpret this classic story for a new age.

Regarding his spat with New Line: "We have a great many friends at New Line and utmost respect for the risk they took with us and it hurts to be hit with the level of venom directed at us from individuals in that company. It's been a lot more nasty behind the scenes than what's been made public. It's just an accounting dispute at the end of the day, but it makes you wonder what they have to hide."

[On the aborted Halo movie] Well, Microsoft has a whole strategy with the Halo property, and when the rights expired with the two studios, that sort of ended my involvement with the project. That fell apart because of internal politics at Fox and Universal. It had nothing to do with the budget or anything else. In fact, we hadn't even been greenlit at all at that point.

I think that's one of the most depressing things about the film industry generally today. The writers and directors should be blamed just as much as the studios because really everything seems to be a remake or adapting a 1970s TV show that was never particularly good. Why anyone thinks that it would be a good feature film now, you know, goodness knows why. I guess it's easy to say it's security that you know a studio is only prepared to put $150 million or $200 million into something if it's a known quantity, but at the same time I'm also aware that audiences are getting fed up with the lack of original ideas and original stories. Everything in the film business tends to be cyclic and hopefully this all drains itself out in a couple years and we'll be back into original stories again.


Salary
King Kong (2005) $20,000,000 + 20% of the gross (to be shared with co-writer/producer Fran Walsh & co-writer Philippa Boyens)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) $10,000,000 + gross points (this salary is for all 3 films)

Where Are They Now
(January 2004) In New Zealand filming King Kong (2005).

(November 2007) In Pennsylvania filming The Lovely Bones

John Woo

FAST FACTS

Cantonese name: Ng Yu-Sum
Manadrin name: Wu Yu-Sen
Born: 1946 in Guangzhou, Canton (China)
First film as director: The Young Dragons (filmed in 1973, released in 1975)
First US movie: Hard Target (1993)

AWARDS
-- 1997 MTV: Best On-Screen Duo (Face/Off)
-- 1997 MTV: Best Action Sequence (Face/Off)
-- 1996 Cine Asia: Lifetime Achievement
-- 1993 Hong Kong: Best Editing (Hard-Boiled)
-- 1991 Hong Kong: Best Editing (Bullet in the Head)
-- 1990 Hong Kong: Best Director (The Killer)
-- 1987 Hong Kong: Best Picture (A Better Tommorrow)

TRADEMARKS
-- Fighting with a gun in each hand
-- Characters tossing guns to each other
-- "Mexican standoffs": Two or more characters will have a dead lock on each other
-- Use of religious imagery and/or music
-- Slow motion, freeze frames and "wipes"
-- Characters see key actions through reflections
-- Use of birds
-- Themes of honor, friendship, revenge

FAVORITE MOVIES
Citizen Kane
The Seven Samurai
The Wild Bunch
Lawrence of Arabia
2001: A Space Odyssey
West Side Story
Mean Streets
Raging Bull
The Godfather Part II

MAILING ADDRESS
JOHN WOO
c/o Lion Rock Productions
MGM Studios
2500 Broadway
Building F, Suite 370
Santa Monica, CA 90404, U.S.A.

The bread-and-butter of the film industry is the action movie. Each summer, audiences can expect to see car chases, gunfights and explosions, and studios can expect to see millions and millions of dollars in return. Though most viewers and critics see these movies as "fluff" entertainment (and rightfully so), there is one director that puts as much heart and soul into his "fluff" as any number of talented directors put into their "serious" movies. His name is John Woo. Even though you may not have heard about him, he is widely considered to be "the best contemporary director of action films working anywhere." In this essay, I will show you an overview of John Woo's career thus far, the impact and influence his films have had, and how he will come to be known as an auteur in the years to come.

Born in Guanzhou, Canton in 1946, young Wu Yu-Sen (Woo's given name) lived a meager existence, due to the fact that his father had tuberculosis and could not work. In fact, his family was homeless for a time in 1953 (two years after they had moved to Hong Kong) when their home was burned to the ground during a brush fire which swept through most of the city.

Even when Woo's family had money (they benefited periodically from donations from a Save the Children-like charity), times were tough. Hong Kong's housing projects were already becoming notorious for the crime that surrounded and dwelled in them. One of Woo's most vivid childhood memories was seeing a man killed on his front steps. After his family was aided by a local church (who allowed Woo to attend school there), he envisioned a different kind of path -- one of the cloth. He wanted to become a priest, but the fathers saw something different in him. As Woo said in an interview: "One priest, who I really admired, told me I was too free-spirited and artistic to become a priest. I was devastated but deep down I knew he was right."

The doors of religion closed to him, Woo turned to the movies, which were a refuge for him from his earliest memories. Since children could attend for free, his mother brought him to see movies often, and it was these first movies that instilled a love for cinema in Woo, as he stated in an interview:

"When I was 11, even though we were poor, my mother was a fan of movies from the west. She used to bring me to the theatre. At that time, a parent could bring a child to the theatre for free. I was fascinated by the musicals, I think they influenced me the most. Also a lot of Fred Astaire...I loved movies and I wanted to be a filmmaker some day."

As a teenager, with borrowed film equipment, Woo and several of his friends began experimenting with the items and by the time he was 22 (with no formal film education, since he could not afford to go to a four-year college) Woo was making his own movies. In 1969 (when he was 23) Woo landed his first "real" job as a script supervisor at Cathay Studios. In an interview, Woo described his beginnings in more detail:

"It was hard to get work in films so I began on the stage...I wanted to be an actor [because] I was really shy...I stuttered and spoke slowly. In acting you train to speak fluently and express your emotions. That was my first purpose. I also overcame my fear of meeting people...when I was on stage I was totally different. At that time I never dreamed about working in movies...I always found my dreams in movies...I was mostly influenced by the French New Wave and French gangster films. After high school, I couldn't afford to continue my education and [at the time] Hong Kong didn't have a film school. So I stole film books from the library. Theories on editing and directing. Books on technique...art books, philosophy books. So that is how I learned film theory and film as a spiritual art. I also learned by watching many, many movies...then I joined a group of young people who were crazy about movies. We all made experimental films. At that
time, Hong Kong films were really bad...I wanted to make films that looked good. The second inspiration was the French New Wave. The idea of director as auteur. It was revolutionary. The crews were smaller...with a single camera and small budgets and they made good movies. This encouraged me by showing me that I didn't need a lot of money or a big crew to make good movies. So I was determined to become a film director. I was twenty."

In 1971, Woo moved to the prestigious Shaw Bros. studio, where he worked under the well-known martial-arts director Chang Cheh, who taught Woo many things (the most important being editing). By 1973, Woo started working on his first film as director, The Young Dragons, a fairly nondescript martial-arts film that also had a young Jackie Chan working on it (as the fighting coordinator). The film (or more specifically, a fight featuring a Freddy Kruger-like knived glove) was thought to be too violent (a problem Woo would and does encounter throughout his career) and was shelved for two years.

Upon release of The Young Dragons and its success at the box office, Woo was hired by Golden Harvest, which, while viewed as a young upstart at the time, would go on to become one of Hong Kong's biggest studios in the mid-1980's. Woo went on to write and direct several more martial-arts films, including Hand of Death (1976) (a.k.a. Countdown in Kung Fu) which not only starred Woo himself but also reunited him with Jackie Chan (who was in a starring capacity this time out) and featured future Hong Kong superstar Sammo Hung. While it may be viewed as slow-moving and cliched today, Hand of Death was an important step in Woo's career as he was able to both write and direct the film, quite an accomplishment in the Hong Kong film industry (which was still under a form of the 1930's Hollywood studio system that favored experience rather than talent) for someone so young. Woo said "it was a great honor to be able to do the movie...most directors were in their forties and I was still in my twenties." Hand of Death was also important for introducing Woo's ideals about dictators and revolutionaries (as shown by Woo's character) and brotherhood and loyalty (shown by Chan's character).

After his initial kung-fu phase, he made a comedy called The Pilferer's Progress (1977) which became a huge success and gave Woo recognition as a comedy director. While Woo enjoyed success with comedies, by the early eighties he started to tire of comedy (having to produce several films a year was quickly taking its toll) and his films suffered because of it. Woo took to working clandestinely under various pseudonyms with Dean Shek's small studio Cinema City in Taiwan just to have something more productive to do. However, even the Taiwanese "excursions" could not help matters back at home, and Woo took to drinking heavily, teetering on the edge of becoming an alcoholic. He spent his days in disgust working on films he didn't care about.

A new world



Woo's Heroes Shed No Tears marked his first venture outside of the kung-fu and comedy genres.

The one exception was Heroes Shed No Tears (1983), where Woo escaped from the kung-fu and comedy genres in an ultra-violent tale of mercenaries sent to capture a drug lord deep inside Vietnam. Woo was satisfied with the film (he has called it his "first real movie") but the studio thought it too violent and shelved it. Woo clashed so hard with the studio heads and made so many enemies in the Hong Kong movie industry, it looked as if Woo's career was dead until he met (through Dean Shek) the noted director/producer Tsui Hark, who -- after numerous late-night drinking sessions with Woo where they bounced ideas off one another -- asked him to direct A Better Tomorrow. As Terence Chang, Woo's current production partner, says:

Heroic bloodshed



A Better Tomorrow would be the film that made John Woo (as well as star Chow Yun-Fat) major forces in Hong Kong cinema.

"John was in Taiwan for two years and made two comedies that were not successful. He wanted to go back to Hong Kong but he had a contract with Cinema City and at the time those people there thought he was washed up as a director. And then his friend, Tsui Hark, helped him. Tsui had become a very successful producer and he had left Golden Harvest and had a deal at Cinema City. It was his insistence that got 'A Better Tomorrow' made."

The film, based on a 1960's movie called True Colors of a Hero, told the story of Ho, a man torn between two worlds. Ho (played by veteran actor Ti Lung) makes his living by working for the Triad (the "Asian Mafia") as a counterfeiter and feels great loyalty to his best friend, Mark Gor (played by Hong Kong action film icon Chow Yun-Fat). However, his little brother Kit (pop star turned actor Leslie Cheung) is about to become a cop, so Ho decides to "hang up his guns" after one last job. The job turns out to be a double-cross, and Ho is captured by the police. To try and stop Ho from talking, the Triad send a thug out to kidnap Ho's father, but he bungles the job and ends up killing the father instead; thus, Kit learns his brother's true line of work.

The new breed



Chow Yun-Fat as the prototypical movie Triad member, Mark Gor, in A Better Tomorrow. The character was so popular that stores in Hong Kong sold out of Gor's trademark Ray-Ban sunglasses and black trenchcoat less than a week after the film's premiere.

Meanwhile, Mark attempts to get revenge for Ho's double-cross by killing a local gangster. He succeeds, but not before a bullet cripples his leg. Upon Ho's release from prison, he finds his best friend a cripple washing windows for measly tips and his brother a stranger. Ho tries to go straight, but neither the Triad (who still want Ho to work for him) or Kit (who wants information) will allow him to. Eventually, he teams with Mark and Kit to try and bring down the local gangsters in a blood-soaked finale. In an article, Woo discussed his own reasons behind making the movie:

"Comedies and Kung Fu films dominated Hong Kong cinema in the mid-eighties. Other genres rarely got the support of the studio and the audience. And also, right before 'A Better Tomorrow,' I shot two films in Taiwan...[that] were commercially unsuccessful; so it seemed quite impossible for me to make the films I really wanted to make. Both Tsui Hark and myself felt that Hong Kong at that time was seriously lacking in moral values. Young people were lost and trust toward the government was shaken. So I wanted to make an uplifting film to highlight the lost traditional values, including the values of family, friendship, tolerance etc. So I decided to remake a sixties film ('True Colors of a Hero,' directed by Lung Kong), and that became 'A Better Tomorrow.'

Woo and Hark would continue to team together and produce some of the landmark titles of the "heroic bloodshed" genre, which combines Scoresian-style relationships and themes, such as friendship and loyalty, with Peckinpah-style "ultraviolence." ABT also (probably permanently) linked Woo with leading man Chow Yun-Fat. Before ABT, Chow was primarily known for romantic comedies, but afterwards, he became synonymous with two-fisted gun action, going on to star in action movies directed by not only Woo, but other noted action directors such as Ringo Lam and Wong Jing in films like 1992's high-powered crime/action movie Full Contact.

With the success of ABT, Golden Harvest decided to finally release Heroes Shed No Tears in 1986 -- albeit with an added sex scene, which Woo despises to this day. He eventually moved on to create Just Heroes (1987) as a sort of benefit project for his aging mentor Chang Cheh. The film, a loose retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear set within a Triad "family," was actually a joint project between Woo and his friend Wu Ma (who was having financial troubles at the time). As such, even though it features big Hong Kong stars such as Danny Lee and Woo's now-typical explosive gunfight sequences, the film lacked the focus of ABT and was a disappointment for Woo. He did enjoy some aspects of filming Just Heroes, though -- it allowed him to pay homage to Akira Kurosawa (who had also done his own version of King Lear called Ran) and thumb his nose at his political critics by placing a self-parodying Mark Gor-wannabe in the film. Despite Woo's lack of enthusiasm for the finished product, he was "hot" in Hong Kong and Just Heroes did well at the Hong Kong box office, even though it is now considered one of Woo's weakest movies.

Old friends reunited



Woo's friend Dean Shek (second from left) helped convince Woo to make ABT2.

After Just Heroes, Woo struggled to find another project. He wanted to stay away from ABT, but the film's popularity (teenagers took to dressing like Mark Gor, something which got Woo in trouble with politicians, who accused him of glorifying the Triad lifestyle) and Tsui Hark's constant prodding eventually convinced Woo to do the sequel. A Better Tomorrow 2 (1987) suffered from a weak plot which had Mark Gor's twin brother Ken (once again played by Chow Yun-Fat) coming to Hong Kong to help out Ho and Kit after a old gangster (played by Dean Shek, in a move some said was a payback to Shek after he helped Woo out) finds himself nearly insane in America. Despite the somewhat questionable premise, ABT2 features a high-powered finale with one of the highest body counts per minute recorded on film and was another huge hit for Woo. However, things behind the scenes were not so rosy. The initial cut of ABT2 ran over three hours, and the studio demanded it be cut down. Woo felt the characters in ABT were under-developed and was against any changes, but went ahead and made another edit. Producer Tsui Hark also made his own edit and the two began arguing about what should and should not be in the movie.

Is this supposed to be funny?



The Killer, despite a mediocre run at the Hong Kong box office, would be the film that brought both John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat to Western audiences' attention -- even though it was (due to poor translating) initially marketed as a comedy.

The two managed to patch things up enough to work on one of the aforementioned "landmark titles," and the movie that would break Woo to western audiences (and win Woo a Hong Kong Film Award for direction) -- 1989's The Killer. The film tells the story of an assassin-for-hire named Jeff (played by Chow Yun-Fat, whose character is called "John" in alternate translations of the movie) who has a change of heart after accidentally blinding Jennie (Sally Yeh), a nightclub singer, during a "hit." After prodding from his best (and only) friend, Sydney (Chu Kong), Jeff agrees to take on one last job so he can pay for a cornea transplant for Jennie. However, during the job, he is spotted by a hot-headed cop named Danny (Danny Lee); Jeff's bosses now view him as a liability and try to kill him, shooting an innocent little girl in the process. After Jeff risks his life (and getting captured) to save the child, Danny realizes that he is not dealing with a typical "gun-for-hire." Eventually, the two team up to take on Jeff's bosses in a climatic shootout in a church (the imagery of which is so "shocking" to some in the U.S. that three minutes was excised from this sequences for its release on American shores). Despite its status now as a classic, The Killer (which is Woo's favorite movie, since he feels that the characters are fully developed) flopped in Hong Kong. Many people thought the film too serious and just not very "fun" to watch. However (despite inane marketing campaigns that touted The Killer as a comedy due to bad translations), Woo was gaining international recognition. He was invited all over the world to attend film festivals and talk about his movies. At the age of 44, Woo was being called a "wunderkind" by his contemporaries and he finally started to think of himself as a success. The good times could not last forever, though.

A personal tragedy



Woo calls Bullet in the Head his most personal film. Despite the fact that it is now considered one of Woo's best films, it failed miserably at the Hong Kong box office and was taken out of his hands and re-edited.

After a series of disputes over A Better Tomorrow III, Woo and Hark parted ways. Hark himself directed ABTIII and began to spread the word that Woo was unreliable to work with. Most everybody believed him (or at least wanted to), because many of the "old school" of martial-arts directors thought Woo had "ruined" Hong Kong cinema. Lau Kar-Leung, a noted martial-arts director who directed such classics of the genre as Jackie Chan's groundbreaking Drunken Master (1979), said sadly in an interview that "people don't want to see realistic martial arts films anymore...all they want to see is Chow Yun-Fat with 300 bullet holes in him." After being virtually blackballed from most of the major studios, Woo eventually formed his own production company with his new business partner Terence Chang.

Woo used his new company to produce his version of the ABTIII script, which he reworked into Bullet in the Head. BITH is, by Woo's own account, his most personal film to date. It tells the story of three friends Ben (Tony Leung), Frank (Jacky Cheung) and Paul (Waise Lee) who must journey to war-torn Vietnam after Ben and Frank accidentally kill a man. While in Vietnam, they try to deliver some contraband to a local crime boss but their car is blown up by some revolutionaries and they are forced to join with a local rogue, Luke (Simon Yam) to attempt to steal some gold from the boss. They succeed, but are captured by the Viet Cong, who get Paul (who has become obsessed with the gold) to sell out his friends. Luke comes to the rescue, but not before a cowardly Paul shoots an injured Frank in the head to keep him quiet. Upon his return to Hong Kong, Ben seeks out Paul for revenge. While BITH is regarded as one of Woo's best films, again the local audience didn't like it. This time, the intense riot scenes were just too much for a people still reeling from the Tiannemen Square Massacre. Woo was forced to shoot another ending (which, ironically, still had the same result but in a more "action-packed" way), but even so the studio took the movie from Woo's hand and did their own edit. Only a few official copies of Woo's original vision survive today.



Out with a bang



John Woo's final Hong Kong movie Hard-Boiled features some of his most explosive action sequences to date.

Dismayed by lack of audience response and wanting to do something lighter, Woo's next film was 1991's Once a Thief, a breezy comedy/action/romance reteaming Chow Yun-Fat and Leslie Cheung as two-thirds of a high-class robbery crew who are in love with the same woman, Cherie (Cherie Cheung), who is the other third of the crew. While not a huge hit, Once a Thief did well enough at the box office to gain Woo funding for his next movie, Hard-Boiled (1992).

Hard-Boiled would be Woo's last Hong Kong movie, but it is by no means his weakest. Chow Yun-Fat once again stars, this time as a supercop named Tequila who is hot on the trail of arms dealer Johnny Wong (Anthony Wong). Complicating matters is a undercover cop named Tony (Tony Leung) who is so determined to catch Wong himself he personally guns down his old gang. The two eventually team up to take on Wong and his small army, who are stationed in a hospital. While the story is somewhat conventional, Hard-Boiled sets a tone that has rarely (if ever) been matched, even in other Woo films. Not content to just show large explosions, Woo also crated some striking symbolism for the upcoming Chinese takeover of Hong Kong, especially during the finale, where Tequila brings a newborn baby out of danger. Again though, Hard-Boiled was not popular with the Hong Kong people. Many felt Woo was becoming too dark and over-the-top, and many accused him of "selling out" to Hollywood. However, as with Woo's previous films, Hard-Boiled has become known as a classic in the action genre, both in Hong Kong and around the world.

The big time



Nicolas Cage in Woo's first major US hit Face/Off. The film took in over $125 million at the US box office and seems to have cemented Woo's future in Hollywood.

After attracting Hollywood's attention, Woo was invited by Universal to direct the Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle Hard Target in 1993. Woo clashed with the studio heads many times during the making of the picture, mostly due to the fact that his initial edits failed to produce a "R" rated picture. Eventually, Hard Target was taken out of Woo's hands and chopped down by the studio itself (after even "the muscles from Brussels" Van Damme had a shot in editing the film) to produce a "suitable" cut. Woo was very dissatisfied with the finished product (and the "Hollywood system"), but decided to stick it out due to the worsening business conditions in Hong Kong from the approaching Chinese takeover.

In 1996, after receiving CineAsia's prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, he finished working on Broken Arrow, which teamed him with American pop icon John Travolta. While the film was not a huge success (both critically and financially), it gave Woo his break in Hollywood and allowed him to gain enough power to finally get script approval for his next movie, Face/Off (1997), which would go on to surpass the "hit" mark for American movies, taking in over $100 million at the box office. The film would also earn him his first American film awards, winning the "Best On-Screen Duo" and "Best Action Sequence" at the 1997 MTV Movie Awards. Recently, Woo has begun diversifying his interests. He has directed two pilots for television, John Woo's Once a Thief (based on the Hong Kong movie) and Blackjack, and has become an executive producer, lending his name to The Replacement Killers (which was Chow Yun-Fat's American debut) and The Big Hit. Woo's latest film, Mission:Impossible 2 (2000), was Woo's largest hit to date. Despite persistent rumors of Woo and producer/star Tom Cruise clashing on the set and a delayed release date, MI2 stood out as one of the few true successes of a lackluster summer season, taking in over 200 million dollars in the United States alone.

The influence of Woo's films is quite easy to see, especially in his native Hong Kong; by 1988, just two years after A Better Tomorrow, the martial-arts genre was almost eclipsed (save for movies by "outsiders" such as Van Damme or Steven Seagal, or the occasional movie by popular stars such as Jackie Chan or Sammo Hung), by literally dozens of copycat "heroic bloodshed" movies. In western countries such as America, the effects were more subtle. For example, the "mindless killing machine" personified by John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) in 1985's Rambo: First Blood Part II gave way to the "killer with a conscience" or "man trapped in a situation out of his control" personified by John McLane (Bruce Willis) in 1988's Die Hard. The trend continues today; very rarely do we see a hero in American films such as Clint Eastwood's "Dirty" Harry Callahan (a virtual icon for 1970's and 80's American action movies) who kill with no remorse -- rather, we see characters like Cameron Poe (played by Nicolas Cage, who lists The Killer as one of his favorite movies and would team with Woo for Face/Off) in Con Air (1997), who takes time out after killing a man to retrieve a stuffed bunny for his daughter.

Besides the motivations behind the characters, Woo's films have also influenced the look of those characters in American action films. Quentin Tarantino once said that after seeing A Better Tomorrow, he went out and got different clothes so he could look like Chow Yun-Fat. In fact, the "black suits with skinny ties look" popularized by Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction was first used in Woo's A Better Tomorrow II (as an interesting side note, two characters in the Tarantino-scripted film True Romance are watching ABTII on television during one scene in the movie). In Keenan Ivory Wayans' A Low Down Dirty Shame, one character goes so far as to call himself Chow Yun-Fat while wearing the sunglasses and trenchcoat Chow had made popular in the ABT series -- a look also sported by Keanu Reeves in one of 1999's biggest hits, The Matrix.





Chow Yun-Fat's "Mark Gor look" as seen in the A Better Tomorrow films (left) was mimicked by Keanu Reeves in The Matrix (right). In a strange coincidence, The Matrix was blamed for encouraging youth violence in the US, similar to what happened with ABT in Hong Kong.

Woo's "killer with a conscience" featured in films like A Better Tomorrow and The Killer came into fruition in American films like Die Hard (right), which featured more realistic characters than previous US action films such as Rambo: First Blood Part 2 (left).

Of course, Woo is known for action, and this is where a great deal of the "new breed" of action directors (and some old veterans) get their "inspiration" for their action sequences. One of Woo's trademarks, men shooting it out with a gun in each hand, has almost become a cliche of the action genre. Even Pamela Anderson in the "fluffy" Barb Wire took out the "bad guys" with dual guns blazing. Bruce Willis in Last Man Standing always fights with two guns out, dropping one only to take a drink. Returning to A Low Down Dirty Shame, one character directly mimics Chow Yun-Fat in A Better Tomorrow II by taking out his enemies while sliding backwards down a staircase.



John Woo's signature trademarks, such as the use of a gun in each hand (demonstrated on the left by Chow Yun-Fat in Hard-Boiled) have made their way into American movies, such as Bruce Willis' Last Man Standing (right).

Woo is also known for the "Mexican standoff," where one or more characters have a "dead lock" on one another (while other directors, notably Sam Peckinpah, used the technique before, many people believe it was Woo that perfected it). This has been seen in literally dozens of American films in recent years, including Reservoir Dogs, True Romance, Natural Born Killers and 2 Days in the Valley, just to name a few. Woo's innovative editing techniques, such as the use of "wipes" and freeze-frames (which were considered by many American editors to be "hokey" and "too TV") have also become mainstays of American action cinema, as has Woo's use of slow-motion to add dramatics to his action sequences. It is because of all of these influences that many consider John Woo to be an auteur.



The "Mexican Standoff" as seen in Woo's The Killer (left) and Quentin Taratino's Reservoir Dogs (right). The suits worn by the characters in Reservoir Dogs are similar to those worn by the heroes in A Better Tomorrow 2.

But, you may ask, what is an auteur and how would it apply to John Woo? The term "auteur" was first put forth by a group of French film critics in a journal known as Cahier Du Cinema in the early 1960's. Basically, it states that the director of the film is the "author," that is, he/she is responsible for anything and everything that is put on the screen. Usually this term is given only to those directors who have demonstrated some sort of originality, creativity and/or longevity. Some contemporary examples of auteurs would include Martin Scorsese (Casino, GoodFellas), Steven Spielberg (Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan) and Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange). Even though Woo is primarily an action director (and carries with it those negative connotations held by many "educated" people), one needs only to look at the faces of two friends as they must act as executioners for their Viet Cong captors in Bullet in the Head or at the expression of anguish in Jeff's eyes in The Killer when he realizes he will never be able to save Jennie, or at the face of a child caught in a cross-fire in Face-Off to see that Woo is capable of creating something far more exciting than explosions; he is capable of creating "real" emotions on film, and that is what being a true auteur is all about. Perhaps, in a few years, when the dust settles, his fans (and critics) will be able to step back and look at the big picture and beyond the bullets and bodies.

In conclusion, John Woo, after many years of hard work, has become known as the world's best action film directors. His action sequences have become the stuff of legend and are now the basis from which all other action movies are judged. More importantly, along with the bloodshed, Woo has proven that he can create real characters with real emotions that the audience can sympathize with. Perhaps that is his greatest talent, and perhaps that is why he will become known as an auteur in the years to come.

Michael Moore

Date of Birth
23 April 1954, Flint, Michigan, USA

Birth Name
Michael Francis Moore

Nickname
The Big Man

Height
5' 11½" (1.82 m)

Mini Biography
Michael Moore was born in Flint, Michigan April 23, 1954. He studied journalism at the University of Michigan-Flint, and also pursued other hobbies such as gun shooting, for which he even won a competition. Michael began his journalistic career writing for the school newspaper "The Michigan Times," and after dropping out of college briefly worked as editor for "Mother Jones."

He then turned to filmmaking, and to earn the money for the budget of his first film Roger & Me (1989) he ran neighborhood bingo games. The success of this film launched his career as one of America's best-known and most controversial documentarians. He has produced a string of documentary films and TV series predominantly about the same subject: attacks on corrupt politicians and greedy business corporations. He landed his first big hit with Bowling for Columbine (2002) about the bad points of the right to bear arms in America, which earned him an Oscar and a big reputation. He then shook the world with his even bigger hit Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), making fun of President George W. Bush. This is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. Michael is known for having the guts to give his opinion in public, which not many people are courageous enough to do, and for that is respected by many.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Francesco Bori

Spouse
Kathleen Glynn (19 October 1991 - present) 1 child

Trade Mark
Usually wears a baseball cap and glasses.

Often mentions or shows his hometown of Flint, Michigan in his films.

Famous for his provocative populist documentaries that are unapologetic attacks on social wrongs, including those he considers callous business corporations and opportunistic right wing politicians.

Usually wears jeans and sneakers.

Narrates all of his documentaries in the first person

Often uses classic film clips and music for juxtaposition.


Trivia
Was arrested during filming of the video "Sleep Now In The Fire" by Rage Against the Machine, protesting Wall Street and the investment of American money overseas (i.e. in hostile and Communist countries). The filming also shut down the New York Stock Exchange early that day when band members tried to enter the floor uninvited.

His favourite films are Smultronstället (1957) and Taxi Driver (1976).

It was announced on March 13, 2002 his book "Stupid White Men...and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation", had reached #1 on the New York Times non-fiction list.

Briefly served as both editor and columnist for Mother Jones magazine.

Raised money for the production of his first film, Roger & Me (1989), by running neighborhood bingo games in his house.

Irish-American.

Is a card-carrying member of the National Rifle Association. Moore told Tim Russert that he joined so as to be elected its president and then dismantle the organization.

On the day after his infamous "Oscar Backlash", where he attacked both George W. Bush and the Iraq war, attendance for his movie Bowling for Columbine (2002) went up 110%. The following weekend, the box office for the film was up 73%.

Throughout his film Bowling for Columbine (2002) Moore proudly sports a Michigan State University baseball hat.

Has a daughter, Natalie.

Lives in New York City.

Elected to Davison, Michigan board of education at age 18; this is described and elaborated upon in chapter 5 "Idiot Nation" in his book "Stupid White Men."

His movie Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) was shown at the Cannes Film festival, making it the most sought-after movie there. [May 2004]

Attended the University of Michigan-Flint in the 1970s.

Supported Ralph Nader in the 2000 presidential elections.

Although he owns a VW Beetle, he is now said to travel about by chauffered limo.

Early in Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) a celebrity-filled rally for Al Gore is shown and Moore (in his narration) refers to Ben Affleck, "Little Stevie" Wonder, and "the guy from Taxi Driver (1976)," that "guy" being Robert De Niro. This was perhaps a bit of joke because Taxi Driver (1976) is Moore's favorite film and De Niro is one of the actors Moore respects the most.

Senator John McCain referred to him as a "disingenuous filmmaker" during his speech at the 2004 Republican National Convention. Moore, who was present at the convention in the press area, stood and waved both arms at the crowd, which started chanting "four more years!" Moore then flashed a sign language L (for "loser") at the crowd and, according to "The Guardian" newspaper, said, "Two more months!"

While the press tried to pit Moore and his Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) against Mel Gibson and his The Passion of the Christ (2004) against each other as the representation of "blue" and "red" states in the election year of 2004, the two men get along well personally and find their opposition to be an invention of the press. Actually Moore, a practicing Catholic, loved "Passion" and saw it many times and Gibson, who opposed the invasion of Iraq despite his conservative reputation, greatly enjoyed "Fahrenheit."

Another of his favorite films is also his favorite documentary, Hearts and Minds (1974).

After the box office failure of Canadian Bacon (1995), a very depressed Moore briefly contemplated early retirement. However, famous producer rep John Pierson and filmmaker Kevin Smith changed Moore's mind and gave him inspiration during Pierson's "Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes" book tour. Smith could identify with Moore's grief, having just experienced the box office failure of Mallrats (1995).

2007 - Ranked #27 on EW's The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood.

Though born in Flint, it is not actually his hometown. He grew up 10 miles east of Flint in Davison, which doesn't have a hospital.

Having completed Capitalism: A Love Story (2009), he has hinted that he may take a break from documentary filmmaking and that his next project will be a feature film. He's written two screenplays he'd like to get made, a comedy and a thriller.


Personal Quotes
I like America to some extent. Take the Japanese for instance. They are complicated and tend to be reserved in expressing themselves. Sometimes, it is difficult for me to understand them. Americans are simple and clear. They are charming people. You will understand how good an individual American is. What I am not satisfied with America is that the nation cannot control the government and economy. Only a handful of people have the power to control the country.

I don't compromise my values and I don't compromise my work. That's why I've been kicked from one network to the next: I won't give in.

Americans, when they see Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), will see things they have never seen before.

When asked by David Letterman why Disney didn't want to release his film Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004): "They watched it."

In response to bootleg copies of the movie popping up: "Is it wrong for someone who's bought a film on DVD to let a friend watch it for free? Of course it's not. It never has been and never will be. I think information, art and ideas should be shared. I don't agree with the copyright laws, and I don't have a problem with people downloading the movie and sharing it with people as long as they're not trying to make a profit off my labour. I would oppose that. I do well enough already, and I made this film because I want the world to change. The more people who see it, the better, so I'm happy this is happening."

"There is no terrorist threat!".

About his follow-up film to Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) and the re-election of President George W. Bush, where Bush won 51% of the popular vote: "We want to get cameras rolling now and have it ready in two, three years. We want to document it. Fifty-one per cent of the American people lacked information (in this election), and we want to educate and enlighten them. They weren't told the truth. We're communicators and it's up to us to start doing it now. The official mourning period is over today, and there is a silver lining: George W. Bush is prohibited by law from running (for presidency) again."

Thousands of Republicans turned to me chanting "Four more years.' I thought, 'That's strange, Republicans are usually good at math, but they're off by a few dozen months. Bush only has two months left.' So I held up two fingers to correct their miscalculation. But that just drove them into more of a frenzy.

Upon winning his Academy Award for Bowling for Columbine (2002): "On behalf of our producers, Kathleen Glynn and Michael Donovan from Canada, I'd like to thank the Academy for this. I have invited my fellow documentary nominees on the stage with us, and we would like to say that they're here in solidarity with me because we like non-fiction. We like non-fiction and we live in fictitious times. We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's the fiction of duct tape or fiction of orange alerts, we are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you. [Interrupted by mingled boos and cheering] And any time you got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up. Thank you very much."

"I thought it was a powerful piece of filmmaking. I'm a practicing Catholic, and you know I think Mel and I may be from different wings of the Catholic Church. My film might have been called 'The Compassion of the Christ.'" - On The Passion of the Christ (2004)

"I remember going back to my hotel room that night, where they had all the pundits on post-Oscar and they were all like, 'That's the end of Michael Moore. That's the last we'll see of him.' By the end of the night, I believed it. I thought, 'No one is going to want to work with me in this town. I just ruined their big party.' We're all supposed to ignore that the war is going on and just have a party. Well, now here we three years later and it's not just me. It's a few other people saying that we weren't told the truth." - On The 75th Annual Academy Awards (2003) (TV)

We've spent the better part of the year shooting our next movie, Sicko (2007). As we've done with our other films, we don't discuss them while we are making them. If people ask, we tell them 'Sicko' is a comedy about the 45 million people with no health care in the richest country on Earth.

When I'm shooting a movie, I'm always in an invisible theater seat. I respect the fact that people have worked hard all week and want to go to the movies on the weekend and be entertained. But the struggle for me does not come between politics and entertainment, because I know that if I succeed in making an entertaining and funny or sad film, the things I want to say politically will come through very strong. If there ever is a struggle, making a good movie will always supersede the need to be noble.

Having been bumped from Larry King last night for Paris Hilton, I am beginning to take things personally. The priorities in this country are seriously askew.

About Sicko (2007): I made Bowling for Columbine (2002) in the hope the school shootings would stop and that we would address the issue of how easy it is to get a gun in the United States and, tragically, those school shootings continue. I made Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) and I said that we'd been led to a war under false pretense. I said it on the Oscar stage and I was booed off. It's my profound hope that people will listen this time.

I think [homophobia is] a very ripe subject for someone like me to make a movie about. Simply because we are not there yet and it remains one of the last open wounds on our soul that we are not willing to fix yet... If you believe in equality, if you believe in standing up for the rights of all, especially for people most affected by bigotry and discrimination, then you have no choice but to be present and accounted for when it comes to standing up for gays and lesbians in our society.

I am not sure what I am going to do for my next film, but I certainly believe that I have no right to tell another couple whether they can or cannot be married. That is simply not allowed in my ethical book of standards. I am a very spiritual person - I don't talk about it publicly that much, but I went to the seminary when I was in high school; I read the New Testament. And let me tell you something: There is nowhere in the four Gospels where Jesus uses the word homosexual, nor the word abortion. The right wing has appropriated this guy. It makes you think, what someone can do in your name a thousand years from now. And they have used him to attack gays and lesbians, when he never said a single word against people who are homosexual. Anyone who professes to be a Christian and does that is certainly not following the teachings of Jesus Christ.

People want to see documentaries, but there's a disconnect between that desire and the exhibitors out there. We're not asking for charity. This could be on the 15th screen of a multiplex that would otherwise have the sixth showing of the new Harry Potter movie. Some of these films make $200 or $300 per screen.

Ang Lee

Date of Birth
23 October 1954, Pingtung, Taiwan

Height
5' 7" (1.70 m)

Mini Biography
Born in 1954 in Pingtung, Taiwan, Ang Lee has become one of today's greatest contemporary filmmakers. Ang graduated from the National Taiwan College of Arts in 1975 and then came to the U.S. to receive a B.F.A. Degree in Theatre/Theater Direction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Masters Degree in Film Production at New York University. At NYU, he served as Assistant Director on Spike Lee's student film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983). After Lee wrote a couple of screenplays, he eventually appeared on the film scene with Tui shou (1992) (aka Pushing Hands), a dramatic-comedy reflecting on generational conflicts and cultural adaptation, centering on the metaphor of the grandfather's Tai-Chi technique of "Pushing Hands". Xi yan (1993) (aka The Wedding Banquet) was Lee's next film, an exploration of cultural and generational conflicts through a homosexual Chinese man who feigns a marriage in order to satisfy the traditional demands of his Taiwanese parents. It garnered Golden Globe and Oscar nominations, and won a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. The third movie in his trilogy of Taiwanese-Culture/Generation films, all of them featuring his patriarch figure Sihung Lung, was Yin shi nan nu (1994) (aka Eat Drink Man Woman), which received a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination. Lee followed this with Sense and Sensibility (1995), his first Hollywood-mainstream movie. It acquired a Best Picture Oscar nomination, and won Best Adapted Screenplay, for the film's screenwriter and lead actress, Emma Thompson. Lee was also voted the year's Best Director by the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle. Lee and frequent collaborator James Schamus next filmed The Ice Storm (1997), an adaptation of Rick Moody's novel involving 1970s New England suburbia. The movie acquired the 1997 Best Screenplay at Cannes for screenwriter James Schamus, among other accolades. The Civil War drama Ride with the Devil (1999/I) soon followed and received critical praise, but it was Lee's Wo hu cang long (2000) (aka Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) that is considered one of his greatest works, a sprawling period film and martial-arts epic that dealt with love, loyalty and loss. It swept the Oscar nominations, eventually winning Best Foreign Language Film, as well as Best Director at the Golden Globes, and became the highest grossing foreign-language film ever released in America. Lee then filmed the comic-book adaptation, Hulk (2003) - an elegantly and skillfully film with nice action scenes. Lee has also shot a short film - Chosen (2001) (aka Hire, The Chosen) - and most recently won the 2005 Best Director Academy Award for Brokeback Mountain (2005), a film based on a short story by Annie Proulx.

IMDb Mini Biography By: artist_signal

Spouse
Jane Lin (1983 - present) 2 children

Trade Mark
Frequently casts actor Sihung Lung as his 'father figure'

Some of his films - Sense and Sensibility (1995), Wo hu cang long (2000) (aka Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) - involved repressed women trying to deal with the confines of their society.

Outdoor settings


Trivia
While attending NYU, worked on Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983), Spike Lee's well-renowned student film.

Graduated from Tisch School of the Arts Graduate program

Graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1980 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Theater Studies from the Department of Theater.

Earned his Masters Degree in Fine Arts from New York University

Turned down an offer to direct Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003).

Two sons: Haan (b. 1984) and Mason (b. 1990), both born in Illinois.

His movies Xi yan (1993), Yin shi nan nu (1994) and Wo hu cang long (2000) were Oscar-nominated for "Best Foreign Language Film". Wo hu cang long (2000) won.

Father of Mason Lee

Left Taiwan in 1978 to study in the US.

A dedicated fan of Calgary Flames hockey team.

Taught Kai Wong filmmaking as Montgomery-Fellow-in-Residence at Dartmouth College, an Ivy League college which Meryl Streep once attended.

Never storyboards his movies, even visually complex films such has his acclaimed Wo hu cang long (2000) (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon)

Developed a very strong relationship with Anne Hathaway while filming Brokeback Mountain (2005). It was Ang who persuaded Anne to take the role of Jane Austen in Becoming Jane (2007); having directed Sense and Sensibility (1995) he knew she would be perfect for the role.

One of 4 children.

Father Sheng Lee died in 2004 at the age of 91. He was the head teacher at Tainan First Senior High School.

Is one of only seven living directors who have won the Directors Guild of America Award more than once. The others are Steven Spielberg (3 times) and two-time winners Clint Eastwood, Ron Howard, Francis Coppola, Oliver Stone and Milos Forman. However, Lee is unique in this group and being the only one not to have directed a best picture Oscar winner.

Directed 5 actors in Oscar nominated performances: Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Michelle Williams.

Is one of 7 directors to win the Golden Globe, Director's Guild, BAFTA, and Oscar for the same movie, winning for Brokeback Mountain (2005). The other directors to achieve this are Mike Nichols for The Graduate (1967), 'Milos Forman' for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Richard Attenborough for Gandhi (1982), Oliver Stone for Platoon (1986), Steven Spielberg for Schindler's List (1993), and Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (2008).


Personal Quotes
"Making a martial arts film in English to me is the same as John Wayne speaking Chinese in a western".

It could be the hidden side of you; I think making movies is a great way to release that. I think it is important to be honest with that, and have fun with it.

There's a private feeling to the movie, an intimate feeling. I think eventually everybody has a Brokeback Mountain (2005) in them. Someone you want to come back to. And, of course, some people don't come back.

I don't know where I am, but I never know where I am. I was born in China, then my parents moved to Taiwan, where we were outsiders, then to the States, then back to China, then back here. I trust the elusive world created by movies more than anything else. I live on the other side of the screen.

American films are less American every day, because you have to please a world audience. There's less authenticity, so it's more accessible.

On the receiving side, I think the whole world is more ready, with the Internet, with film festivals and DVDs. It used to be a one-way street from West to East: we were receiving and the West was producing. I think we're getting closer and closer. The gap between cultures is getting erased every day.

I'm experienced enough to know that the hardest thing to tell is an epic short story; slices of life that add up to an epic feeling.

Everywhere can be home and everywhere is not really home and you have to deal with loneliness and alienation. I'm old enough to realize that eventually you have to deal with loneliness, anyway. I'm happily married, I love my children, but eventually you have to deal with yourself. I trust the elusive world created by movies more than anything else. I'm very happy when I'm making a movie.

Nothing stands still. That's important in my movies. People want to believe in something, want to hang on to something to get security and want to trust each other. But things change. Given enough time, nothing stands still. I think seeking for security and lack of security is another thing in my movies.

Every movie I make. That's my hideout, the place I don't quite understand, but feel most at home.

My father's family were liquidated during the Cultural Revolution in China because they were landowners. He was the only one to escape. I was born and brought up in Taiwan. But you absorb the trauma. My parents had no sense of security. It was as if the world could turn against them at any moment.

I think I find something new in each culture after being away for a bit, and that's creatively important. You can't move forward without changing, and that's why I try to stay open to new perspectives. I want to keep learning. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you can never learn enough.

I think you look like a fool as a director when you talk too much about what the actors are doing. You want them to listen to you, but personally speaking, I don't want them to just follow everything I say without processing it. This is a problem for Asian actors. They are so polite, and they've been trained to smile and nod and agree with everything someone in power tells them. I'm not looking for conflict, but I'm not happy if someone is repressing their feelings either.

I was never romantic in real life. That is why I have to make movies about it.

I'm a drifter and an outsider. There's not one single environment I can totally belong to. My cultural roots are something illusive.

Working with Heath was one of the purest joys of my life. He brought to the role of Ennis more than any of us could have imagined - a thirst for life, for love, and for truth, and a vulnerability that made everyone who knew him love him. His death is heartbreaking. - Mourning actor Heath Ledger.

Quentin Tarantino

Date of Birth
27 March 1963, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

Birth Name
Quentin Jerome Tarantino

Nickname
QT

Height
6' 1" (1.85 m)

Mini Biography
In January of 1992, Reservoir Dogs (1992) appeared at the Sundance Film Festival, by first-time writer-director Quentin Tarantino. The film garnered critical acclaim and the director became a legend immediately. Two years later, he followed up Dogs success with Pulp Fiction (1994) which premiered at the Cannes film festival, winning the coveted Palme D'Or Award. At the 1995 Academy Awards, it was nominated for the best picture, best director and best original screenplay. Tarantino and writing partner Roger Avary came away with the award only for best original screenplay. In 1995, Tarantino directed one fourth of the anthology Four Rooms (1995) with friends and fellow auteurs Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Allison Anders. The film opened on December 25th in the United States to very weak reviews. Tarantino's next film was From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), a vampire/crime story which he wrote and co-starred with George Clooney. The film did fairly well theatrically.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Kale Whorton

Trade Mark
Lead characters usually drive General Motors vehicles, particularly Chevrolet and Cadillac, such as Jules' 1974 Nova and Vincent's 1960s Malibu.

Briefcases and suitcases play an important role in Pulp Fiction (1994), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Jackie Brown (1997), True Romance (1993), and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004).

Makes references to cult movies and television.

Frequently works with Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Uma Thurman, and Samuel L. Jackson.

His films usually have a shot from inside a car trunk.

He always has a Dutch element in his films: The opening tune, Little Green Bag, in Reservoir Dogs (1992) was performed by George Baker and written by Jan Gerbrand Visser and Benjamino Bouwens who are all Dutch. The character Freddy Newandyke, played by Tim Roth is a direct translation to a typical Dutch last name, Nieuwendijk. The code name of Tim Roth is Mr. Orange, the royal color of Holland, and the last name of the royal family. The Amsterdam conversation in PulpFiction, Vincent Vega smokes from a Dutch tobacco shag (Drum), the mentioning of Rutger Hauer in Jackie Brown (1997), the bride's name is Beatrix, the name of the Royal Dutch Queen.

[The Mexican Standoff] All his movies (including True Romance (1993), which he only wrote and did not direct) feature a scene in which three or more characters are pointing guns at each other at the same time.

Often uses an unconventional storytelling device in his films, such as retrospect (Reservoir Dogs (1992)), non-linear (Pulp Fiction (1994)), or "chapter" format (_Kill Bill: Vol.1 (2003)_).

His films will often include one long, unbroken take where a character is followed around somewhere.

Often casts comedians in small roles: 'Stephen Wright' as the DJ in Reservoir Dogs (1992), Kathy Griffin as an accident witness and Julia Sweeney as the junkyard guy's daughter in Pulp Fiction (1994), 'Chris Tucker' as Beaumont in Jackie Brown (1997).

Widely imitated quick cuts of character's hands performing actions in extreme closeup, a technique reminiscent of Brian De Palma.

Long closeup of a person's face while someone else speaks off-screen (closeup of The Bride while Bill talks, of Butch while Marsellus talks).

[Aliases] He uses aliases in nearly all of his movies: Honey Bunny and Pumpkin from Pulp Fiction (1994), Mr White, Blonde, Orange etc. from Reservoir Dogs (1992). Bill's team in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) (Black Mamba, Copperhead, Cottonmouth, and California Mountain Snake), The Basterds and other major characters in Inglourious Basterds (2009)

[Director's Cameo] Often plays a small role in his films (Jimmie Dimmick in Pulp Fiction (1994), Mr. Brown in Reservoir Dogs (1992), the answering machine voice in Jackie Brown (1997), The Rapist in Grindhouse (2007) and Warren in Death Proof (2007)).

Frequently uses Mêlée weapons, such as the samuri sword that Butch uses in Pulp Fiction (1994) and the bride uses in the Kill Bill movies, also the stake attached to a jackhammer used by George Clooney in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).

Extreme violence, much of which is off-screen in his films.

Frequently has a female character who wears a black and white pant suit (Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction (1994), Pam Grier in Jackie Brown (1997), Daryl Hannah in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)).

Often creates fictional brands of objects due to his dislike of product placement. The Red Apple cigarettes and Big Kahuna burger established in Pulp Fiction (1994) are often referenced in his other films.

Frequently sets his films in Los Angeles.

Often frames characters with doorways and shows them opening and closing doors.

Minor character dialogue is off-screen in his films.

A character cooly talks through an intense situation, either delaying the occurrence of violence or avoiding it through resolution.

Interjects scenes with introduction of a character's background (Inglorious Basterds, Hans Stieglitz is introduced. In Kill Bill V1. O-Ren is introduced with a interuption in the main story)


Trivia
Was sued by Don Murphy for $5,000,000, accused of assault. Tarantino attacked Murphy in restaurant, slammed him against the wall and punched him. [14 November 1997]

Together with Lawrence Bender founded record company called A Band Apart Records. It will focus on film soundtracks and its releases will be distributed through Maverick Records, owned by Madonna. [30 July 1997]

Was planning to direct an episode of "The X Files" (1993) but refused to join the Director's Guild of America. The Guild refused his request for a waiver so that he could direct the show. [November 1996]

Claims that Tarantino acted in the film Dawn of the Dead (1978) or the film King Lear (1987) are incorrect. Quentin falsely listed these credits years ago on his acting resume to compensate for his lack of experience and these incorrect credits have subsequently been attributed to him in such places as Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide and the Cinemania CD ROM.

First noted screenplay was titled "Captain Peachfuzz and the Anchovy Bandit," which was written in 1985.

Tarantino claims that James Best taught him how to act.

Collects old board games having to do with TV shows like "I Dream of Jeannie" (1965), "The Dukes of Hazzard" (1979), "The A-Team" (1983), etc.

In all of his original screenplays the name of a police detective named Scagnetti is referred to at least once. Most of the times the particular scene was cut out of the final versions.

Is widely reported to have helped to write Tony Scott's Crimson Tide (1995).

As of the year 2001, he wanted to begin filming the film Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) with Uma Thurman. Production was delayed because of Thurman's pregnancy.

Is a big fan of The Three Stooges.

His father, actor/musician Tony Tarantino is of Italian descent, and his mother, Connie McHugh, is half-Irish and half-Cherokee.

Although he uses both elements in his films, he strongly detests violence and drugs.

Is listed in the acknowledgments of actor Ethan Hawke's novel, Ash Wednesday.

Two of Tarantino's favorite films are _'Manos' the Hands of Fate (1966)_ (which he owns a 35mm copy of) and Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982), which he references in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003).

Was the head judge at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, where Pulp Fiction (1994) won the Palme D'or, the top honor, only ten years earlier.

In most of his movies, you'll spot Red Apple cigarettes.

Considers Ride in the Whirlwind (1965) one of the finest Westerns ever made, even writing an extensive article about it for Sight And Sound magazine titled A Rare Sorrow. The article was featured in the Pulp Fiction (1994) Special Edition DVD as an extra and also appears in Paul A. Woods' Film Geek Files (pgs. 129-132). Interestingly, the director of Ride in the Whirlwind, Monte Hellman, was the executive producer of Reservoir Dogs (1992).

Has an IQ of 160 despite dropping out of high school.

He is a good friend of Robert Rodriguez.

He has called Uma Thurman his muse.

Named after the Burt Reynolds character Quint Asper from "Gunsmoke" (1955)

Was at one point in his life considering to become a novelist. He said that he tried writing two chapters of a novel about his experiences working at the Video Archives in Hermosa Beach. As can be immediately seen, novelistic narrative techniques bear a strong influence on his distinct filmmaking style.

In 1994, before Pulp Fiction (1994), in an interview with Charlie Rose, he cited his three favorite films as Blow Out (1981) (directed by Brian De Palma), Rio Bravo (1959) (directed by Howard Hawks) and Taxi Driver (1976) (directed by Martin Scorsese).

In the last Sight & Sound Greatest Films Poll (2002), he listed his Top Ten films as: Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo. (1966) (aka "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," Leone), Rio Bravo (1959) (Hawks), Taxi Driver (1976) (Scorsese), His Girl Friday (1940) (Hawks), Rolling Thunder (1977) (Flynn), They All Laughed (1981) (Bogdanovich), The Great Escape (1963) (J. Sturges), Carrie (1976) (De Palma), Coffy (1973) (Hill), Dazed and Confused (1993) (Linklater), _Tian xia di yi quan (1973)_ (aka "Five Fingers of Death," Chang) and Hi Diddle Diddle (1943) (Stone).

Considers two of his best friends to be Paul Thomas Anderson and Sofia Coppola.

His mother was only 16 when she gave birth to him.

Once a vocal proponent of celluloid-over-digital film-making, Tarantino got his first experience with the latter technology by directing a segment of the film Sin City (2005) with his friend 'Robert Rodriguez' (I) . Rodriguez, who lauds the technology at every opportunity, made it his mission to convert Tarantino as well. At the end of shooting, Tarantino is reported to have said simply, "Mission accomplished."

On "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992), he stated his all-time favorite James Bond film is From Russia with Love (1963).

Hates product placement hence, the use of the fictional cigarette Red Apple and now-defunct cereal Fruit Brute in his films.

Dropped out of Narbonne High School in Harbor City, California, at the age of sixteen to pursue film making.

Six of his movies are mentioned in FHM's (DK) 100 Best Male Movies Ever (7 October 2004 issue): True Romance (1993) at #75, From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) at #73, Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) at #26, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) at #25, Reservoir Dogs (1992) at #11, and Pulp Fiction (1994) at #1.

Was offered the role of the President of the United States of America in Batoru rowaiaru II: Chinkonka (2003) but had to decline due to scheduling conflicts.

Known for giving comebacks to "forgotten" actors and/or cult actors by giving them important roles in his movies: John Travolta (Pulp Fiction (1994)), David Carradine(Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)), Lawrence Tierney (Reservoir Dogs (1992)), Pam Grier (Jackie Brown (1997)), Robert Forster (Jackie Brown (1997)), Sonny Chiba (Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003))... even in smaller/cameo roles: Sid Haig (Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)), Edward Bunker (Reservoir Dogs (1992)) and Michael Parks (Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), and From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), which QT wrote and co-starred in).

Frequently casts Michael Bowen.

Has stated that he would like to direct a James Bond movie at some point in his career.

Has named Rio Bravo (1959) as one of his favorite films.

Named his production company, A Band Apart, after the Jean-Luc Godard film Bande à part (1964) (Band of Outsiders).

Often references numerous attributes of the works of Jean-Luc Godard, particularly in Pulp Fiction (1994). The disjointed structure of Pulp Fiction (1994) may itself be an homage to Godard's use of jump cuts in À bout de souffle (1960) (Breathless), the film that launched the French New Wave of cinema.

Is a huge fan of the Half-Life computer game series, and has considered possibilities of directing a movie adaptation.

Ranked #81 on Premiere's 2004 annual Power 100 List. He was unranked in 2003.

Cites his influences as Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Sergio Leone, and Jean-Luc Godard.

Ranked #8 in Empire (UK) magazine's greatest directors ever 2005 poll.

Was the spokesman for SkyperfecTV, a Japanese based satellite TV network, a competitor to the now locally defunct DirecTV endorsed by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Was guest director for one scene for Robert Rodriguez' Sin City (2005).

Eli Roth wanted to have the world premiere of Hostel (2005) at the 2005 Iceland Film Festival. During the festival, Roth and Quentin Tarantino were made honorary vikings at Viking Village, in a ceremony arranged by Eythor Gudjonsson. Roth's Icelandic name is Eli Sheldonsson, and Tarantino's Icelandic name is Quentin Conniesson.

His all-time favorite director is Howard Hawks.

Each of his movies, with the exception of Death Proof (2007), features someone from the cast of Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973). Harvey Keitel from Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994), Robert De Niro from Jackie Brown (1997), David Carradine from Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), and David Proval is in Four Rooms (1995).

Was originally offered the chance to direct Men in Black (1997), but turned it down.

Was originally offered the chance to direct Speed (1994/I), but turned it down.

Is godfather to two of Michael Madsen's sons Hudson and Calvin Michael. Michael and his wife DeAnna joked in OK! magazine about naming Quentin godfather to their newest son Luke Ray as well.

Is spoofed in the short film Let's Get Real! (1999), which contains several satirical references to Pulp Fiction (1994).

Has stated that he would like to make and star in a film telling the story of John Brown, the abolitionist.

Named his favorite films of 2005 as Sin City (2005), Domino (2005), Hustle & Flow (2005) and The Devil's Rejects (2005).

Has named My Bloody Valentine (1981) his all-time favorite slasher film.

During his stay in the Philippines, Tarantino got trapped in traffic due to flooding as he was traveling to Malacanang Palace to meet President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and receive a lifetime achievement award. Refusing to give up, he and his partner Tikoy Aguiluz got off their limousine and took a pedicab each to reach the palace. After arriving, Tarantino stated "It was a lot of fun. It just took a long time but it was not bad at all".

Has two sisters and one brother: Tanya Marie Tarantino (b. Pasadena, California, 4 Oct 1964), Ronnajean Tarantino (b. Arizona, Phoenix, 22 June 1969) and Edward James Tarantino (b. Simi Valley, California, Simi Valley, 3 Oct 1974).

His father was born in Queens, New York, and has a sister named Diane. Their parents are Dominic Tarantino and wife Elizabeth.

His mother was born in Tennessee on September 3, 1946, She is the adopted daughter of Ellis and Elizabeth (Betty) Shaffer.

After his parents divorced, his mother married Curtis Zastoupil.

As a child, one of his favorite movies was Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). He credits the film with helping him learn genre distinctions.

Wrote the forward for the book Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi".

Was offered a chance to direct Westworld (2009), but turned it down.

Was ex-girlfriend Mira Sorvino's date the night she won her best supporting actress Oscar.

Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, he was raised in Los Angeles.

Close friends with Jennifer Beals.

Is of Italian, Irish and Cherokee descent.

In the 2008 Empire Magazine poll of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time, Tarantino listed his favorite films as: 1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), (Sergio Leone), 2. Rio Bravo (1959), (Howard Hawks), 3. Blow Out (1981), (Brian De Palma), 4. Taxi Driver (1976), (Martin Scorsese), 5. His Girl Friday (1940), Howard Hawks), 6. 5 Fingers of Death / King Boxer (1972), (Chang-hwa Jeong), 7. Pandora's Box (1929), ('Georg Wilhelm Pabst'), 8. Carrie (1976), (Brian De Palma), 9. Unfaithfully Yours (1948), (Preston Sturges), 10. Five Graves to Cairo (1943), (Billy Wilder), 11. Jaws (1975), (Steven Spielberg). Choices #2, 3 and 4 are marked as "interchangeable".

Lived with Jennifer Beals while getting his first films produced.

Directed 4 actors in Oscar nominated performances: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, and Robert Forster.

His three favourite Alfred Hitchcock movies are; Suspicion (1941), Sabotage (1936) and Torn Curtain (1966).


Personal Quotes
(At MTV Movie Awards 1994) As he won Best Picture for Pulp Fiction (1994) "Pop quiz, hotshot: you go to the awards ceremonies all year long; you keep losing to Forrest Gump (1994)! It's really annoying the hell out of you - what do you do? You go to the MTV Awards!"

On "rival" director Guy Ritchie marrying Madonna: "I guess I'll have to marry Elvis Presley to get even."

If I've made it a little easier for artists to work in violence, great! I've accomplished something.

When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, 'no, I went to films.'

On using surfing music, when hating the surfing culture: "It's like surf music, I've always like loved that but, for me, I don't know what surf music has to do with surf boards. To me, it just sounds like rock and roll, even Morricone music. It sounds like rock and roll Spaghetti Western music, so that's how I kind of laid it in."

Movies are my religion and God is my patron. I'm lucky enough to be in the position where I don't make movies to pay for my pool. When I make a movie, I want it to be everything to me; like I would die for it.

On the comparison between Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)'s group fight and Neo vs. 100 Agent Smiths in The Matrix Reloaded (2003): "First off, I've always thought of the black suits as mine, so I don't think of them as Agent Smiths, I think of them as Reservoir Dogs with less cool sunglasses. The similarities between the fight sequences never occurred to me until I had a director's screening and Luc Besson turned up with Keanu Reeves as his guest. I watched Keanu watching and suddenly I felt it."

On media criticisms of violence in his movies: "Sure, Kill Bill's a violent movie. But it's a Tarantino movie. You don't go to see Metallica and ask the fuckers to turn the music down."

On media criticisms of violence in his movies: "What if a kid goes to school after seeing Kill Bill and starts slicing up other kids? You know, I'll take that chance! Violent films don't turn children into violent people. They may turn them into violent filmmakers but that's another matter altogether."

On collecting movies: "If you're a film fan, collecting video is sort of like marijuana. Laser discs, they're definitely cocaine. Film prints are heroin, all right? You're shooting smack when you start collecting film prints. So, I kinda got into it in a big way, and I've got a pretty nice collection I'm real proud of."

On how to take the violence in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) (re: The final duel with Lucy Liu): "It's supposed to be kind of amusing and poetic at the same time. And also just a teeny-tiny bit solemn. When you see her head, it's funny. And then her line, 'that really was a Hattori Hanzo sword,' that's funny. But then, the next shot is not funny, when she tips over and Meiko Kaji is singing about revenge on the soundtrack. So, it's all together. Funny. Solemn. Beautiful. Gross. All at the same time."

On becoming famous: "Going into a videostore and going through the videos, looking at every title they have, trying to find some old spaghetti western, that's gone."

I have an idea for a Godzilla movie that I've always wanted to do. The whole idea of Godzilla's role in Tokyo, where he's always battling these other monsters, saving humanity time and again- wouldn't Godzilla become God? It would be called Living Under the Rule of Godzilla. This is what society is like when a big fucking green lizard rules your world.

On violence in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003): "When I was on "The View" (1997), Barbara Walters was asking me about the blood and stuff, and I said, 'Well, you know, that's a staple of Japanese cinema.' And then she came back,'But this is America.' And I go, 'I don't make movies for America. I make movies for planet Earth.'"

On directing the "ER" (1994) episode "Motherhood": "When I was directing ER, I didn't want to stand out. Everyone else is wearing all that crap. I wanted to fit in. I didn't want to be the odd man out. I wanted to be inside, not on the outside. When I was directing the ER thing, the emergency room guys wore the green scrubs. I wore those for a few days. Then, I wore the blue scrubs, which were the surgeons,' for a few days. When I wore the nurse's pink scrubs, though, that's when I became a hero on the set. The nurses didn't think I was going to throw in with them. I ended the episode, the last two days, wearing the nurses' scrubs. When I walked on the set all the nurses applauded me. They were like, 'Oh my God, he's so cool!'"

On Thriller - en grym film (1974) and its influences on Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003): "And that is, of all the revenge movies I've ever seen, that is definitely the roughest. The roughest revenge movie ever made! There's never been anything as tough as that movie."

"If you want to make a movie, make it. Don't wait for a grant, don't wait for the perfect circumstances, just make it." - Giving advice to young aspiring filmmakers at the 1994 Independent Spirit Awards

I hope to give you at least 15 more years of movies. I'm not going to be this old guy that keeps cranking them out. My plan is to have a theater by that time in some small town and I will be the manager - this crazy old movie guy. (March 2005)

I will never do 'Pulp Fiction 2', but having said that, I could very well do other movies with these characters.

I've come to a point where I like Pauline Kael's reviews of Godard more than Godard's films.

(On making another "Kill Bill" movie) "Oh yeah, initially I was thinking this would be my "Dollars Trilogy". I was going to do a new one every ten years. But I need at least fifteen years before I do this again. I've already got the whole mythology: Sofie Fatale will get all of Bill's money. She'll raise Nikki, who'll take on The Bride. Nikki deserves her revenge every bit as much as The Bride deserved hers. I might even shoot a couple of scenes for it now so I can get the actresses while they're this age."

I'm never going to be shy about anything, what I write about is what I know; it's more about my version of the truth as I know it. That's part of my talent, really - putting the way people really speak into the things I write. My only obligation is to my characters. And they came from where I have been.

The exploitation films were made in such an artless way with these big wide shots of Sunset Boulevard or of Arcadia or downtown L.A. or wherever. In mainstream films, especially in the 1980s, the Los Angeles you saw wasn't the real one; it was a character with this back-lot sort of atmosphere. They tried to luxuriate it. In exploitation films, you see what the place really looked like, you see the bars and mom-and-pop restaurants.

There's only one list that's more illustrious than the list of directors who won the Palme d'Or. It's the list of directors who didn't.

I don't believe in putting in music as a band aid to get you over some rough parts or bad film making. If it's there it's got to add to it or take it to another level.

When I give props to these movies, you have to understand - it's not like they were all good. There's an expression: You have to drink a lot of milk before you can appreciate cream. Well, with exploitation movies, you have to drink a lot of milk-gone-bad before you can even appreciate milk! That's what part of the love of these movies is - going through the rummage bin and finding the jewels.

[on the death of David Carradine] He was a dream to direct, a fantastic actor, a great character actor and really one of Hollywood's great mad geniuses.

[On how The Dirty Dozen (1967) could never be made today] Ernest Borgnine. Charles Bronson. Those guys were real men. They were a different breed. Many of them had been to war. Today's young actors are soft.

[On the Cannes Film Festival] I just like Cannes. It's like the whole planet is checking your movie out - boom! - at one time, and - bam! - it either works or it doesn't. And especially when I'm there - it's the closest thing to Muhammad Ali having a championship fight. It's just - bam! You're throwing it down.

I've had people write that I've seen too many movies. In what other art form would being an expert be considered a negative? If I were a poet, would I be criticized for knowing too much about Sappho? Or Aristotle?

Some people will like Inglourious Basterds (2009). Some people won't. But it was made with all the passion I've made everything with - except maybe my first film, which was probably made with more passion than I'll ever have again.

When you gotta go out and make a movie to pay for the kid's private school and for the three ex-wives, don't talk to me about your artistry. It's their job. It's not my job. It's my calling.

[On why his characters in Inglourious Basterds (2009) use Native American fighting tactics] I'm actually equating the Jews in this situation, in World War II, with the Indians. It's not nothing that they're doing Apache resistance. It's not about dying. It's about killing. They ambush their guys. They trick the enemy. It's not a straight-up fight. And then they go and they just completely desecrate the bodies to win a psychological war.

[On Late Night with Conan O'Brien, when asked how he comes up with such good dialog] Well, not to be facetious or anything, but....I'm a good writer!

I think the opening chapter of Inglourious Basterds (2009) is one of the best things I've ever written - before that sequence my best piece of writing would be the Sicilian sequence in the True Romance (1993) script; that was the best thing I'd ever done in a beginning to end piece. And I think I finally matched it, or topped it with that sequence so I knew I couldn't just let it go. I would have been haunted by it and I wouldn't be able to move on to anything else until I had it out of the way.

CGI has fully ruined car crashes. Because how can you be impressed with them now? When you watch them in the '70s, it was real cars, real metal, real blasts. They're really doing it and risking their lives. But I knew CGI was gonna start taking over.

There's my realer-than-real movies like Reservoir Dogs (1992). And then there's my movie-movies. And Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) is definitely one of those. It's the movies that Jules and Vince (from Pulp Fiction (1994)) would go and see...I always thought of Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) as my Apocalypse Now (1979) and that House Of Blue Leaves is my 'Ride Of The Valkyries' helicopter sequences.

When I first discovered Howard Hawks, I spent a year and a half reading the TV guide and they played about 80 percent of his entire oeuvre on Los Angeles TV. Brian De Palma, Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone and Hawks were a huge influence on me.


Where Are They Now
(September 2006) Currently at the shooting of Hostel: Part II (2007).

(August 2007) Planning to write a book about the Philipinne B-movie industry.