John Woo famously made his masterwork *The Killer* (original title: Pair of Blood-Splattering Heroes, 1989) entirely without *a script and a storyboard in 90 days*.
>*“You’re know for making some of the best action sequences of all time,”* Hammill said. *“Do you storyboard those sequences or do you come up with the shots once you’re on the set?”*
>*“No, I’ve never storyboarded anything in a movie,”* Woo said. **“You know what? For this, ‘The Killer,’ I even shot without a script. With no script. Just an outline.”**
>He later added: *“The whole movie was in my head.”*
>Woo explained that he kept his general outline for the film in mind, giving his actors *“a very simple idea of a story.”*
>*“Most of the action, I choreograph by myself, because I’m a pretty good dancer,”* he said, to more laughter. *“An action sequence is like I’m making a dancing scene, or I’m dancing with the actors.”*
>Woo said he would sometimes surprise his producer by arriving at a location, very early, with only a general idea of what he needed to shoot. He described once asking for *“30 stunt guys and 150 extras.”*
>“And they were asking… **Mr Woo, what’s the story about?**” he recalled.
“Listen, fellas, here’s the deal we are making an action movie, all I know is a detective is going to get into something far greater than him, doves have to fly in the middle of a firefight, and Beretta M9s need to be there.
4 Comments
John Woo famously made his masterwork *The Killer* (original title: Pair of Blood-Splattering Heroes, 1989) entirely without *a script and a storyboard in 90 days*.
>*“You’re know for making some of the best action sequences of all time,”* Hammill said. *“Do you storyboard those sequences or do you come up with the shots once you’re on the set?”*
>*“No, I’ve never storyboarded anything in a movie,”* Woo said. **“You know what? For this, ‘The Killer,’ I even shot without a script. With no script. Just an outline.”**
>He later added: *“The whole movie was in my head.”*
>Woo explained that he kept his general outline for the film in mind, giving his actors *“a very simple idea of a story.”*
>*“Most of the action, I choreograph by myself, because I’m a pretty good dancer,”* he said, to more laughter. *“An action sequence is like I’m making a dancing scene, or I’m dancing with the actors.”*
>Woo said he would sometimes surprise his producer by arriving at a location, very early, with only a general idea of what he needed to shoot. He described once asking for *“30 stunt guys and 150 extras.”*
>“And they were asking… **Mr Woo, what’s the story about?**” he recalled.
>“I said, **‘I don’t know.’**”
https://www.thewrap.com/the-killer-at-30-john-woo-explains-how-he-shot-his-action-classic-without-a-script/
[The Killer trailer.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqY3KqCaTcc)
Roger Corman: *Am I a joke to you?*
Inland Empire too
“Listen, fellas, here’s the deal we are making an action movie, all I know is a detective is going to get into something far greater than him, doves have to fly in the middle of a firefight, and Beretta M9s need to be there.
Wait! Make a killer for hire
Ok, action!”