John Woo is one of the great action filmmakers of all-time, and right now he seems to be experiencing a career renaissance, which is pretty awesome. Following his recent films Silent Night and the remake of his own classic The Killer, Woo is attempting something he’s always wanted to do, but never had the chance: a musical.
According to Empire, Woo is teaming up with the quirky pop duo Sparks on a musical, or as he calls it, a “half-musical.”
“My next project is actually a half-musical,” Woo revealed. “I’m going to be working with the Sparks brothers, who wrote the script and songs — we are just starting work on some changes to the script.”
The project is being set up at Focus Features under the title X Crucior, which they describe as a musical epic. Sparks confirmed the news on social media, as well.
We don’t have many details, but Woo did confirm this won’t be one of his blockbuster action spectacles…
“It will be my first movie where I don’t need to hire a stuntman,” the director joked.
Sparks have been very involved in Hollywood of late. It began with Edgar Wright’s 2021 documentary The Sparks Brothers, and continued that same year when they wrote all of the music for Leos Carax’s film, Annette. Their most recent album, The Girl is Crying in Her Latte, was released in 2023.
John Woo and Sparks, an unexpected dream team? And who knows? Maybe it won’t be the end of their partnership? Woo revealed that he also has a Western project in the works with writer Brian Helgeland. I’m sure it could use some composers, right?
“I have a Western project; a wonderful script from Brian Helgeland,” Woo told Empire. “It has a lot of romance and a lot of emotion and exciting action.”
It’s good to know that Woo won’t stray far from his wheelhouse for long.
