<p>Director John Woo (b. 1946) reinvented the modern action movie and helped open the door for Asian filmmakers to the Western world. His hyper-violent, highly choreographed style made him a box office powerhouse, a respected auteur, and a revered figure among fellow directors. <p> First discovered by Western audiences through his Hong Kong films <i>The Killer</i> and <i>Hard Boiled</i>, Woo introduced the world to a new brand of psychologically frenzied action film. After coming to the United States in the early 1990s, Woo produced a trilogy of hard-charging action films--<i>Broken Arrow</i>, <i>Face/Off</i>, and <i>Mission: Impossible II</i>--that were both popular and critically acclaimed. But Woo's signature bullet ballets, his kinetic, blood-spattered action sequences, represent a dichotomy in the director's philosophy. <i>John Woo: Interviews</i> reveals a peace-loving, devoutly religious man at odds with his reputation as the master of cinematic violence. <p> Unprecedented access to the director helped editor Robert K. Elder create in <i>John Woo: Interviews</i> the first authoritative English-language chronicle of Woo's career. <p>Robert K. Elder writes about film, the arts, travel, and music for the <i>Chicago Tribune</i>. His work has appeared in the <i>New York Times</i>, <i>Premiere</i>, the <i>Los Angeles Times</i>, the <i>Boston Globe</i>, <i>Gear</i>, the <i>Oregonian</i>, and many other publications. A member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Elder teaches film at the Facets Film School in Chicago.