John Woo is back in the saddle directing another war epic. The Chinese action director, at ease making films in both East and West, is working towards striking a deal with IMAX to show his big-budget WWII epic Flying Tigers in their theaters, , according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film, estimated at $90 million budget, will focus on U.S. Army Lt. Claire Lee Chennault, leader of the Flying Tigers squadron that trained the first group of Chinese fighter pilots tasked with clashing against the Japanese in the sky. Woo's most recent film was Red Cliff, a historical saga about third-century warlords vying for control of China. Broad in scope but with an almost ridiculous attention to detail and certain grace, Cliff oozed with a reverence for Chinese history. Maintaining that same deferential tone will probably be a wise move for Woo in Tigers, what with the recent censorship developments in China.
Government-imposed limitations notwithstanding, having a bilingual war movie celebrating the camaraderie and cooperation of China and America to defeat a common enemy during WWII, in the bracing IMAX experience, can't be all bad. Woo's a filmmaking elder statesman with ties to Chinese and American cinema; this movie could kinda nicely wrap up his ambassadorial potential for these two countries.
