The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

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Rebel Without a Cause and Mean Streets 215 Woo: I thought Rebel Without a Cause was his first one, because in Hong Kong, we saw the movie much later than in the States. In Hong Kong, we saw East of Eden second—and a lovely movie, too. Do you remember what your reaction was when you found out Dean had died? Woo: I was pretty sad. It was big news in Hong Kong—on the radio, TV news, newspapers—everywhere. It was a total shock. He was a lot of young people’s idol. I could even say we worshipped him. He not only changed our lives, but he changed our attitudes. He changed the movies and how the movies looked. I know you also want to talk about Mean Streets. Can you tell me why you chose it, specifically? Woo: If I hadn’t seen this movie, I wouldn’t know what I was living for. Even though I was so in love with movies, I didn’t see much hope. Even though I was active in school, I didn’t have many friends. I was always looking for good friends, trying to find somebody who had the same goals. Since I loved art so much, I tried to find similar people, but I couldn’t find any. I always felt lonely, extremely lonely. I needed to talk to someone. Even in the missionary school, I had so many friends, but all they could talk about was religion. I wanted something real, something that could happen to me. After I watched the movie Mean Streets, I found my friends just right beside me. We should stop here and say that Mean Streets is about a neighborhood friendship. Charlie [Harvey Keitel] is constantly trying to keep his volatile friend Johnny Boy [Robert De Niro] out of trouble. Woo: I had some friends like Robert De Niro in Mean Streets. Like I said, one of my good friends was the son of a gambler, and he had a drug problem. It made me feel sad. It made me have a lot of sympathy for my friend, and I tried to help him and took care of him. I also had another friend, and I tried to help him, but he betrayed me. So, I found this in Mean Streets. The movie was so unlike a formulaic Hollywood movie. It looked so real; it was so touching.
216 John Woo Mean Streets came out in 1973, so you were already in movies. Woo: Yeah, but I saw this film before I directed my first movie. Even after I directed my first movie, I didn’t have much confidence. I must confess, I think I started a little too young. I should have learned more. I started with some kung-fu movies and comedies. After I watched Mean Streets, it made me feel ashamed—“Why don’t I make a movie like that? Tell a true story?” But at that time, not many people liked to see true stories. Even in Hong Kong, they only liked kung-fu movies. That made me feel that I should make a movie like Mean Streets. And you’ve said your character Jacky Cheung in Bullet in the Head was inspired by Robert De Niro’s character in Mean Streets. Woo: Yeah, that’s true. Originally, Bullet in the Head was set up as a sequel for A Better Tomorrow, but the story didn’t work. But I kept the idea, and I kept Mean Streets as a sample. I tried to tell part of my story. In the movie, Tony Leung Chiu Wai portrayed me. And Jacky Cheung’s character was an homage to Robert De Niro in Mean Streets. At the end of the movie, when he goes crazy and gets a bullet in the head—he holds his head walking in the dark alley—he was just like Robert De Niro at the end when he gets shot in Mean Streets. Just to be clear, he gets shot in the neck. Woo: Yeah, in the neck. He’s holding his head, walking in the dark alley, and in the background they are playing opera. That kind of strong image was always in my mind, and I used it in Bullet in the Head. About the friendship, Tony Leung Chiu Wai is just like Harvey Keitel, and the young guy who got so greedy was like the other friend who betrayed him. When I watched Mean Streets, it looked just like a Greek tragedy. Of course, in Mean Streets there are strong themes of friendship, like people in my life and people in my movies. When you really love a friend, and he betrays you, it becomes tragic. Critic Pauline Kael suggested that Charlie is the good side of Martin Scorsese, and Johnny Boy is the negative part. Woo: [laughing] Oh yeah, that’s interesting!
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Danny Boyle on Apocalypse Now Kevin
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-P
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Contents Introduction … vi 1 Edga
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Introduction Movies are personal to
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viii Introduction For me, a sevente
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2 Edgar Wright How would you descri
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4 Edgar Wright an extremely gory Ri
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6 Edgar Wright going on. People are
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8 Edgar Wright Wright: The thing th
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10 Edgar Wright And then the deadpa
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12 Edgar Wright when a director has
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14 Rian Johnson How would you descr
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16 Rian Johnson [laughter] So there
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18 Rian Johnson The Godfather, and
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20 Rian Johnson creates the beauty
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22 Rian Johnson Johnson: Oh God, ar
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24 Rian Johnson As a filmmaker it
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26 Danny Boyle Starring Martin Shee
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28 Danny Boyle Boyle: [laughs] It h
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30 Danny Boyle on the ground, they
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32 Danny Boyle shooting schedule; h
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34 Danny Boyle And, as a filmmaker,
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36 Danny Boyle nonsense. But, it se
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38 Danny Boyle Boyle: Oh yeah, it
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40 Bill Condon How would you descri
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42 Bill Condon Condon: Oh, I think
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44 Bill Condon that great ending. I
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46 Bill Condon And then there’s a
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48 Richard Kelly Terry Gilliam call
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50 Richard Kelly access passes to t
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52 Richard Kelly Kelly: It makes it
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54 Richard Kelly they are not seen
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56 Peter Bogdanovich Texasville (19
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58 Peter Bogdanovich How did it cha
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60 Peter Bogdanovich everything the
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62 Peter Bogdanovich And you were p
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7 John Dahl A Clockwork Orange John
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66 John Dahl For example, I would s
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68 John Dahl way around. Art consis
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70 John Dahl Dahl: It’s interesti
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72 John Dahl My only other criticis
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8 Henry Jaglom 8½ Henry Jaglom cha
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76 Henry Jaglom was going through.
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78 Henry Jaglom out of control. A g
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80 Henry Jaglom Over the years, I
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9 Brian Herzlinger E.T.: The Extra-
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84 Brian Herzlinger during the scen
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86 Brian Herzlinger that world brou
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88 Brian Herzlinger You met Spielbe
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90 Brian Herzlinger And he says,
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92 Brian Herzlinger in theaters bec
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10 Alex Gibney The Exterminating An
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96 Alex Gibney one was political in
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98 Alex Gibney There’s one scene
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100 Alex Gibney you’ve had to do
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102 Alex Gibney I would say that th
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11 Kimberly Peirce The Godfather Pe
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106 Kimberly Peirce and he gets him
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108 Kimberly Peirce Have you ever r
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12 Steve James Harlan County U.S.A.
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112 Steve James later. It’s so tr
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114 Steve James an outsider. She ha
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116 Steve James out there, which wa
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118 Steve James James: Sure. It was
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120 Steve James give-and-take, then
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122 Steve James 28 Up and The Times
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124 Austin Chick Can you tell me ab
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126 Austin Chick Chick: Yeah, I mea
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128 Austin Chick Chick: The very fi
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130 Austin Chick But this does have
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14 Guy Maddin L’âge d’or Guy M
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134 Guy Maddin a movie myself. My m
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136 Guy Maddin It has a great shape
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138 Guy Maddin Maddin: Oh my God, i
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140 Guy Maddin shooting things, I l
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142 Guy Maddin to the way we love.
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144 Guy Maddin see that the spicy,
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146 Michel Gondry How you would des
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148 Michel Gondry You’re right. I
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150 Michel Gondry I think they have
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16 Michael Polish Once Upon a Time
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154 Michael Polish because he was u
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156 Michael Polish I’ve heard it
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158 Michael Polish aspects of filmm
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17 Arthur Hiller Open City Roberto
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162 Arthur Hiller movies like that,
Page 173 and 174: 164 Arthur Hiller hope I put in thi
Page 175 and 176: 166 Arthur Hiller Coburn character
Page 177 and 178: 168 Pete Docter How would you descr
Page 179 and 180: 170 Pete Docter Docter: Yeah, I had
Page 181 and 182: 172 Pete Docter Tatum O’Neal was
Page 183 and 184: 174 Pete Docter meaning of the scen
Page 185 and 186: 176 Atom Egoyan How would you descr
Page 187 and 188: 178 Atom Egoyan It’s been suggest
Page 189 and 190: 180 Atom Egoyan old quote about sto
Page 191 and 192: 182 Atom Egoyan That had a huge inf
Page 193 and 194: 184 Atom Egoyan Bergman was working
Page 195 and 196: 186 Atom Egoyan always find that im
Page 197 and 198: 20 Gurinder Chadha Purab aur Pachhi
Page 199 and 200: 190 Gurinder Chadha blond hair and
Page 201 and 202: 192 Gurinder Chadha My films are fr
Page 203 and 204: 194 Gurinder Chadha Even now, as I
Page 205 and 206: 196 Richard Linklater Raging Bull 1
Page 207 and 208: 198 Richard Linklater I’ve been i
Page 209 and 210: 200 Richard Linklater To see someon
Page 211 and 212: 22 Jay Duplass Raising Arizona Jay
Page 213 and 214: 204 Jay Duplass superbly executed
Page 215 and 216: 206 Jay Duplass camera, similar to
Page 217 and 218: 208 Jay Duplass And Moonstruck is t
Page 219 and 220: 23 John Woo Rebel Without a Cause a
Page 221 and 222: 212 John Woo I was pretty strong—
Page 223: 214 John Woo —but the role went t
Page 227 and 228: 218 John Woo Scorsese’s violence
Page 229 and 230: 220 John Woo That’s one of the pe
Page 231 and 232: 24 John Landis The 7th Voyage of Si
Page 233 and 234: 224 John Landis That’s funny, bec
Page 235 and 236: 226 John Landis People have a misun
Page 237 and 238: 228 John Landis completely dazzles
Page 239 and 240: 230 John Landis Casablanca or Citiz
Page 241 and 242: 25 Kevin Smith Slacker For director
Page 243 and 244: 234 Kevin Smith very clever, very f
Page 245 and 246: 236 Kevin Smith place I’d really
Page 247 and 248: 238 Kevin Smith Smith: The benefit
Page 249 and 250: 240 Kevin Smith What was your react
Page 251 and 252: 242 Chris Miller When did you first
Page 253 and 254: 244 Chris Miller at the same time.
Page 255 and 256: 246 Neil LaBute The Soft Skin 1964
Page 257 and 258: 248 Neil LaBute if anyone, is short
Page 259 and 260: 250 Neil LaBute most passionate mom
Page 261 and 262: 252 Neil LaBute LaBute: Yeah, well,
Page 263 and 264: 254 Neil LaBute Such a small portio
Page 265 and 266: 256 Neil LaBute If I remember right
Page 267 and 268: 258 Neil LaBute Lachenay moves arou
Page 269 and 270: 260 George A. Romero The Dark Half
Page 271 and 272: 262 George A. Romero I’ve never h
Page 273 and 274: 264 George A. Romero Pressburger an
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266 Frank Oz How would you describe
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268 Frank Oz Tell me about that dis
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270 Frank Oz There’s a story abou
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272 Frank Oz coffeehouse. That was
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274 Frank Oz know what I’m doing.
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276 Frank Oz It’s amazing how you
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30 John Waters The Wizard of Oz The
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280 John Waters And then, the seldo
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282 John Waters countries—maybe t
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Acknowledgments First, thanks to th
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Index A accidents, on-set, 148-149
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288 Index Coutard, Raoul, 257 Cowar
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290 Index Hoop Dreams, 117, 118, 12
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292 Index My Beautiful Laundrette,
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294 Index special effects, 223, 224
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