The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

212 John Woo
I was pretty strong—every day, almost every day I had to grab something,
some weapon, in case there was an ambush.
And our family was pretty poor. We were homeless for a couple years.
The whole thing to me, it seemed to me—there was a system I didn’t like.
Pressure always came down on me. It just felt like a living hell. I always
found a way to break through, to find myself. Since we were living in a pretty
bad situation, my mother and my uncle, they were pretty tough on me. They
were a very traditional family.
But that didn’t mean my parents were bad to me. They were just so afraid
that I’d go the wrong way. So they tried many ways to go straight. So when
I watched the film, I found myself just like James Dean: I needed people
around me who were more understanding of me. Giving more love and giving
more encouragement.
The funny thing was, what James Dean did in the movie, it was the same
as what I did. I had a couple friends who were in trouble, just like Jacky
Cheung’s character in my movie Bullet in the Head. I remember the reason I
chose Jacky Cheung. He was a rebel in his eyes. His eyes have a similar look
of anger, a similar passion as James Dean. Also, Leslie Cheung’s character
in A Better Tomorrow is pretty much like James Dean. It’s a little bit of an
homage to that character.
In our neighborhood there were the gamblers. They were pretty mean to
their sons, like with a friend of mine. No one cared about him. He started to
break the law, did some foolish things, taking drugs, and became a gambler.
And he got in trouble with the police. I took care of him and tried to protect
him. I took him in as my friend. It was a pretty sad story. When I saw James
Dean, he looked out for his good friend, and I felt the same way.
You played a character similar to James Dean in high school. What was
the production like?
Woo: The play was inspired by the movie. It made me feel like I should tell
my story. The play’s name was—how to say it in English?—something like
Parents’ Hearts. The story was about a rebel—he was really wild, and he
never listened to his parents and did a lot of bad things. He just wanted to be
himself, but there was not much of an understanding. I wrote the play, and I
played the same character as James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.