Filmstalker: Woo departs He-Man and Spy-Hunter

John Woo has reportedly left both He-Man and Spy-Hunter, two major Hollywood projects that he was working on. In fact Spy-Hunter had begun so it's really late in the day for that to happen.

According to CanMag through UK IGN. They say that indeed, Woo has returned to Asia to work on The Battle of Red Cliff. Quite frankly in my mind he's made the right choice, another two lackluster ideas from Hollywood weren't really the best career move for him. However, it doesn't look like these projects are dead.

Spy-Hunter producer Adrian Askarieh..."Spy-Hunter has not been shelved permanently. It has not been shelved period. John Woo is no longer onboard the project and has not been onboard the project for over a year now. We should have an announcement in the next few weeks that will make the fans of Spy-Hunter, and the spy genre in general, very happy."

So Spy-Hunter may well continue, although reports across the Internet are split as to if Rock will remain as the lead or will be recast.

For He-Man word was that Woo might have just taken to producing instead of directing. The word is that these are the contenders for the "acting" role of He-Man:

Paul Walker...Christopher Showerman...Triple-H...Matthew Davis

Mmm...none of them really set the screen alight for me. Good luck to Woo though, I think that probably took a lot of guts and I'd rather see one of his films come from the freedom of the Asian industry rather than any of the above two movies. What do you think?

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How weird, they released a poster for Spyhunter with Rock on it, and he hyped it in countless interviews. How late in the day is this?

Personally I love watching the Rock in movies. I have much respect for him. He knows his place, and knows what he's good at and sticks to it. And he's better off for it.

The casting of He-Man may be pivotal but what isn't so important in my opinion is Woo's participation. I just don't see him being the right guy for the job. Do we want a Hulk-like He-Man? I dont. I want the conan style epic swords and sworcery style He-Man. I'd just like to see someone else do it.

This is a good move for him though. He'll be much happier creating his own projects rather than jumping on the back of these two media machines.

Posted by: Rynndar | July 4, 2006 11:17 AM

It's nowhere near being started, and yet I already can't help but feel this He-Man film will be the worst movie of whatever year it winds up being released. Call me a cynical pessimist, but I simply cannot envisage it working.

As for Woo, if going back to Hong Kong allows him to cut loose and go nuts again in the way he used to do before Hollywood castrated him (with the significant exception of Face/Off), then I'm all for it. I could never understand what in the world made him think doing the He-Man film would be a good idea; although there's bugger all information about Battle of Red Cliff yet, I'm nonetheless looking forward to it, and I've not been able to honestly say that about any of Woo's films for several years now.

Posted by: James Russell | July 6, 2006 3:52 PM

You know I wonder if Woo was contractually obliged to do these films for the Studio?

We hear about this all the time where someone will make the movie their way, but the Studio only gives them the freedom and money if they sign up to do a trilogy of kids movies...You know the idea.

Posted by: Richard Brunton | July 6, 2006 6:19 PM