Impossible to Work With
Terence Chang dishes the juicy hot goss in his 2023 memoir about John Woo directing Tom Cruise in a remake of a Alfred Hitchcock film: “The script of Notorious will be finalized by the great screenwriter Robert Towne. Robert wrote the movie script Chinatown, which I admire extremely, so everyone is looking forward to it very much. But where does the story take place? Italy was initially suggested, but Spain was eventually decided. So John Woo, Tom and his team of more than ten people went to several places in Spain to scout locations, and finally chose Seville. After the script was developed, the main setting was Sydney, Australia. The reason may be that Tom's wife at the time was Australian Nicole Kidman. The two of them had a home in Sydney and wanted to have a more romantic relationship. Let's get together more often. In order to save money, the Spanish plot was also filmed in Australia.”
“But Paramount was not satisfied with the script Robert produced. We were already in Sydney, having script meetings with Robert every day at Tom's house. However, our script meetings with Robert made no progress. Maybe there was jet lag, but Robert seemed very tired, and once he actually fell asleep and snored during the conversation. Paramount decided to send another screenwriter, Paul Attanasio, who had written Donnie Brasco, to Sydney to participate in rewriting the script. But Paula Wagner, Tom’s partner, asked someone to take Paul around and didn’t let him meet John Woo and me. Paul spent two weeks as a tourist in Sydney and finally left. This was not the way to go. John Woo said that he had no interest in participating anymore. It would be better to wait for Tom to hand over the completed script to him, and he would concentrate on filming.”
“The film started shooting in Sydney in April 1999 and took almost a year. Firstly, the weather is not good, and secondly, Australia has never had such a large-scale action film shot there, and the experience and execution of some staff members are different from those of Americans. The design of the American art director is great, but the set does not leave any space for cameras to move around, and the glass, including the laboratory scene, is surrounded on all sides. It is very difficult for anyone to light it. People who understand Tom Cruise's work very well do not dare to give him too contrary opinions. Sometimes John Woo directed other actors. During the performance, Tom would correct him, so there were several times when John Woo wanted to quit midway. I remembered what Chow Yun-Fat said to me, and I used it to persuade John Woo. I said: If you quit now, not only will your salary and dividends be lost, but your reputation will also be damaged. People will definitely say that you can't handle actors. If you complete the movie, the movie will definitely sell, which will definitely be a good influence on you in the future. It will be beneficial.”
“It has been more than forty years since Tom debuted and he has maintained his status as a superstar for a reason. In addition to his excellent conditions, he has extremely high demands on himself, constantly challenges himself, and is loyal to his art. The starting point of his controlling nature on the scene was to achieve greater results and greatest results, rather than to demonstrate his power. This is not only in production, but also in promotion. Many actors don't like to do publicity because they are afraid of suffering losses and hard work, but he is always afraid of not having enough publicity. For example, if he is arranged to go to Seoul to promote, he will ask where the second largest city in South Korea is. When he was told it was Busan, he immediately asked the distribution company to arrange for him to go to Busan for promotion. When it came time to promote Mission: Impossible II, the distribution company UIP arranged a trip to Asia, and Hong Kong was one of the stops. I didn't want to go, but Tom said to me: You are from Hong Kong. I want to go to Hong Kong to promote, how could you not go? So I went too.”
“Tom was arranged in the presidential suite on the top floor of the Peninsula Hotel. He took a helicopter from the airport to land on the rooftop of the Peninsula Hotel. According to the arrangements of the promotion company, except for the premiere, all other activities were held in the hotel, and he would not be allowed to leave the hotel at all. But when it was time for dinner, he said to me: "I want to eat Beijing food. Can you take me out to eat?" I have been away from Hong Kong for a long time, and I only remember that there is a Beijing restaurant in Central that I used to go to frequently. He said: "Okay! Let's go to that one." The people in the publicity company were frightened, fearing that his appearance would cause a commotion. But they did not dare to go against his wishes, so they arranged for him to take a boat to Central. There are no private rooms in the Beijing Building, but he didn't care and enjoyed his meal. After dinner, he said he wanted to hang out in the bar district, so I suggested going to Lan Kwai Fong. The person in charge of security was nervous and asked him to sit in the car and not come out. Of course he would not be obedient, so he stood on the street of Lan Kwai Fong and looked around. A foreigner saw him and shouted "Tom!" Within a few minutes, a large crowd of people gathered around him. We had no choice but to escort him into the car and leave.”
“The Hong Kong premiere was held at the Convention and Exhibition Center and was quite a sensation. I invited Chow Yun-Fat and his wife to participate and introduced them to Tom. After the screening started, Tom said he didn't want to watch anymore and wanted to go to dinner. Chow Yun-Fat suggested going to Jumbo Seafood Restaurant, and Tom was very excited after hearing this. When we left the exhibition center, some media saw us and followed us in their cars. By the time we left after dinner, there were already a large number of media waiting on the shore, and cars were following us like crazy on the way back to the city. The process was full of dangers! M:I-2 ultimately grossed US$550 million worldwide, breaking the record set by the first film. Tom then invited John Woo to direct the third episode, but John Woo had other plans.”