“Most things go in and out of style – that is with the exception of war of course.” –Johnny Wong, Hardboiled (1992)
A couple of months ago, I reported that Chow Yun-Fat was returning to John Woo’s Chinese epic BATTLE OF RED CLIFF in an unspecified role after having previously dropped out as the lead.
CHUD.com reports today: CHOW YUN-FAT AND JOHN WOO ARE QUITS
Imagine if Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro suddenly decided they hated each other and would never work with each other again. In my mind, the apparently now-permanent break-up of John Woo and Chow Yun-fat is that catastrophic.
Producer Terence Chang is quoted as saying, “Chow is definitely out. His dropping out of our film caused us tremendous scheduling problems … If he rejoins us, I am afraid he might create ill feelings among all the crew and all the other main actors.”
I still have high hopes for the project… if it ever gets done with the casting musical chairs, that is.
And who knows… if the project is right (I guess it’s not this one), maybe we will still see a collaboration between Chow Yun-Fat and John Woo again.
(I can hope, can’t I?)
