The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

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!