Woo shocked by Venice Festival honor
Source: Xinhua |
September 5, 2010, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Venice Film Festival artistic director Marco Mueller said that telling Chinese filmmaker John Woo he would be presented with the venerable festival's Golden Lion career honor had all the drama of one of Woo's films.
"At first, he said 'No, no, no, I don't deserve it,"' Mueller recalled. "It took a lot of deep convincing from me and (long-time Woo collaborator) Terence Chang. But I don't feel we are bestowing an honor here. The prize was simply there waiting for him."
Woo joins the ranks of the cinema industry giants who have won the award before him, including Orson Wells, Igmar Bergman, Luis Buuel, Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick.
The career Golden Lion prize has been presented to 80 people before this year, but this is the first time a Chinese figure has been honored.
"When Marco called me, my first reaction was shock," Woo said. "Then I thought he might be joking. Then I felt emotional, and finally I was just grateful."
Woo, 63, said he dedicated the prize to his mother, who he said was the first person to take him to the cinema and who encouraged him to follow his cinematic dreams, and to fellow director Cheh Chang, Woo's mentor, who died eight years ago.
Woo was presented with the prize in Venice's sold-out Palazzo del Cinema, just before the world premiere of "Reign of Assassins," the thriller he co-directed with Chao-Bin Su.
The movie is Woo's third film -- following epics Red Cliff and Red Cliff II -- since Woo returned to China two years ago from Hollywood.
"At first, he said 'No, no, no, I don't deserve it,"' Mueller recalled. "It took a lot of deep convincing from me and (long-time Woo collaborator) Terence Chang. But I don't feel we are bestowing an honor here. The prize was simply there waiting for him."
Woo joins the ranks of the cinema industry giants who have won the award before him, including Orson Wells, Igmar Bergman, Luis Buuel, Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick.
The career Golden Lion prize has been presented to 80 people before this year, but this is the first time a Chinese figure has been honored.
"When Marco called me, my first reaction was shock," Woo said. "Then I thought he might be joking. Then I felt emotional, and finally I was just grateful."
Woo, 63, said he dedicated the prize to his mother, who he said was the first person to take him to the cinema and who encouraged him to follow his cinematic dreams, and to fellow director Cheh Chang, Woo's mentor, who died eight years ago.
Woo was presented with the prize in Venice's sold-out Palazzo del Cinema, just before the world premiere of "Reign of Assassins," the thriller he co-directed with Chao-Bin Su.
The movie is Woo's third film -- following epics Red Cliff and Red Cliff II -- since Woo returned to China two years ago from Hollywood.
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