He is survived by numerous family members. The film won the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and rightly earned Cheung international acclaim.Ĭheung continued to tackle interesting parts after the success of Concubine: a depraved opium addict in another stylish film by Chen Kaige, Temptress Moon (1996) a gutsy performance as the vituperative Ho Po-wing, one of a pair of gay Chinese lovers on holiday in Buenos Aires in Wong Kar-Wai's sexually explicit Happy Together (1997) and most recently, a man possessed by a dead girlfriend who tries to lure him into jumping to his death (another eerie parallel to his own suicide) in Chi-Leung Law's horror film Inner Senses (2002), which earned him a best actor at this last Sunday's Hong Kong Film Awards. He directed his first feature in 1973 and has been a prolific director ever since, working in a wide. His portrayal of Cheng, who experiences bitterness and regret throughout his life, and is driven to suicide by a failed love affair, was one of great sensitivity, and an incandescent charisma that few knew he possessed. Born in southern China, John Woo grew up in Hong Kong, where he began his film career as an assistant director in 1969, working for Shaw Brothers Studios. The '90s saw Cheung steadily improve as an actor with some varied roles: a cunning jewel thief in John Woo's slick suspense drama, Once a Thief (1990) a suave villain in Wong Kar-Wai's Days of Being Wild (1991) and his extraordinary star turn as the gay, female-impersonating Chinese opera singer Cheng Dieyi in Chen Kaige's brilliant historical drama Farewell My Concubine (1993). That film helped Cheung present his versatility as a romantic leading man as well as his skill at action sequences. The film's success allowed Cheung to expand his film range and his next role was as an opium-smoking playboy in Stanley Kwan's Rouge (1987), a romantic ghost story that fluctuated between the Hong Kong of the '30s and the '80s.
John woo once a thief professional#
The turning point came when John Woo cast him as the rookie cop opposite Chow Yun-fat in the wildly popular Hong Kong action flick A Better Tomorrow (1986). Set in Hong Kong and Toronto, the story follows Mac Ramsey and Li Ann Tsei, lovers and professional thieves who are separated while fleeing the powerful. As kids, Chow Yun-fat, Cherie Chung, and Leslie Cheung (A Chinese Ghost Story) were starving street urchins together. His high profile in pop music led to some film work, which at first was light, teen fare. A romantic art-heist comedy, far lighter in tone than most of director John Woos work, and in places much sillier. Cheung used this opportunity to cultivate his first taste of stardom as one of Asia's most popular singers and a celebrity to Chinese-speaking people around the world.
Upon his return to Hong Kong, he entered in the 1976 ATV Asian Music Contest, and took second prize. The post-1986 Hong Kong cinema of John Woo is an apocalyptic crisis cinema, an. He was fascinated by cinema from an early age (his father was the tailor to screen legend William Holden) and following graduation from secondary school, he studied drama at Leeds University in Great Britain. He was 46.Ĭheung was born on Septemin Hong Kong, the youngest of ten children.
John woo once a thief series#
The threats they encounter take them into startling, brutal worlds where the stakes are high and failure can earn you a bullet in the head.Ī first for television, Once a Thief brought the unique excitement of Hong Kong films to the small screen, fusing romance, action and humour – all in the ballistic, unique style of John Woo, the director of unforgettable action thrillers A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Bullet in the Head and Hard Boiled, who was the series executive producer.Īt long last, maverick Hong Kong action director John Woo's Once a Thief – The Complete Series will be released for the first time in any format in the UK as a 6-disc set on 29th August 2011 by Network Releasing at the RRP of £24.99.Leslie Cheung, the Chinese singer and actor who won international acclaim for his role as a homosexual opera singer who commits suicide in the Oscar-nominated Farewell My Concubine (1993), died after leaping from a hotel in Hong Kong on April 1.
Working with a former cop, Victor Mansfield (Nicholas Lea), they are part of an elite law-enforcement agency that takes on forces that are too powerful, protected, or difficult for regular law enforcement agencies.
John Woo's Once a Thief – The Complete Series on DVDīrought up to be expert in all manner of criminal skills – from the martial arts to the art of con – Mac Ramsey (Ivan Sergei) and Li Ann Tsei (Sandrine Holt) are forced to use their expertise to fight crime. They can be accessed by clicking on the links below.
John woo once a thief how to#
Older news stories have been archived by year and month, most recent first. Find out how to watch John Woo's 'Once a Thief'.
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