It has been 20 years since John Woo last directed an American feature film. With the thriller, however, that will soon change silent Night, currently in post-production. One of the most influential filmmakers of the past 35 years, Woo is best known for his work in action films, most notably Hard Boiled, Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2. “Silent Night” also falls under the action genre, but Woo recently revealed that the film has no dialogue.
It has been 20 years since John Woo last directed an American feature film. With the thriller, however, that will soon change silent Night, currently in post-production. One of the most influential filmmakers of the past 35 years, Woo is best known for his work in action films, most notably Hard Boiled, Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2. “Silent Night” also falls under the action genre, but Woo recently revealed that the film has no dialogue.
Why is there no dialogue in John Woo’s “Silent Night”?
When talking to vultureIn “Silent Night,” Woo explained the specific filmmaking techniques he used to tell a story without dialogue.
“Very interesting movie. The whole film is without dialogue. It allowed me to use visuals to tell the story and show how the character is feeling. We use music instead of language. And the film is all about sight and sound,” Woo said. “The budget was a bit tight and the schedule tight, but it made me change my working style. Normally for a big film, a studio film, we shoot a lot of coverage and then leave it to the editing room. But in this film I tried to combine things without doing any coverage shots. I had to force myself to use a new technique. Some scenes were like two or three pages long, but I did it all in one take.”
“Silent Night” stars Joel Kinnaman as Godlock, a man determined to kill those responsible for his son’s death. Scott Mescudi (Kid Cudi) and Catalina Sandino Moreno also star.
“In Silent Night, Godlock (Kinnaman) is a father on a mission to avenge his young son who was tragically caught in the crossfire of gang violence on Christmas Eve,” reads the official synopsis. “Shot and nearly killed while pursuing the killers, Godlock vows to avenge his son by any means necessary.”
Woo is directing “Silent Night” from a screenplay by Robert Archer Lynn. Erica Lee, Basil Iwanyk, Lori Tilkin and Christian Mercuri will produce. Production companies include Capstone Studios, A Better Tomorrow Films and Thunder Road Films. Silent Night is currently undated.