Q: Did you realize. when you were still in Hong Kong-or even when you first came to the United States-how many admirers you had in America?

A:I was really surprised and shocked to realize that there were so many fans in this country. I never knew. Before I came here, I only went to one or two film festivals I knew that some people were interested in my work, but I never knew how many That really encouraged me, and also made me feel a great responsibil-ity to keep my own style and not let people down , especially the critics and journalists here who gave me full support.
I don't see them as "fans." I see everybody as my friend. And every movie I make is a bridge to send my regards and feelings to my friends. Movies seem like a good method of communication. So no matter where I work, I have to keep myself, my own style, my own character I also received so much support from the film community in the United States.
A producer once told me that nobody in the film industry was jealous of me. Everyone seemed very excited about me to come here Everybody wanted me to be successful, and no one wanted to see me fail I was so moved, so moved.
I figured that if people love my movie, then they'll also love me [laughs]. I feel so lucky. It's just like getting a new life. In Hong Kong, all you can make are action or comedies. It's hard to try anything new, and I felt that my style was begining to go down I wanted to try something new, something human real drama, find more things to express on film

Q: So you see yourself moving away from action films?

A:Yes I would like to try comedy, and would also love to make a musical. Q: Join Woo wants to make a musical!!??

A:That is my biggest dream. You know, when I was a kid, I was so crazy about musicals, and was so influenced by them I'm sure you can see that I'm inspired by musicals In my camera movements, which is choreographed like a musical. I found the real beauty in musicals when I was a kid.
I was raised in a Kowloon slum, a neighborhood called Shek Kip Mei It was much more awful then I felt like we were living in hell, with drug dealers, gangsters, gamblers There was a lot of crime In the 50's and 60's I had to fight
very hard to survive, and I always dreamt about flying away from this hell to another, better place, where there was no crime, no hatred, where people loved and trusted each other. Then, I found his dream in two places One was the church. The church saved me, gave me good guidelines. Whenever I got beat up, or felt upset or lonely, or did something wrong, I would go to the church to make my confession. and feel safe insde The other place was the movie theatre, where I found my dream in the musi-cals The people were so charming, so full of life and colorful, with the singing as lovely as angels The first two musicals I ever saw were SINGIN' IN THE RAIN and SE\'EN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS And then, in the '6()s my favorite musi-cal was Jacques Demy's THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG and THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT. From his movies, I learned about love and romanticism
The problem was, when I was a kid I was so shy, and never learned to use the proper language to deal with people Even now, I have a problem expressing myself in words. That's why I like action, which substitutes for language That's why. as a kid, I loved dancing and singing I've always tried to use body language to express myself I love using visuals to tell a story, rather than language, which I suppose is why my visuals are the strongest element in my films.