It has been 20 years since John Woo last directed an American feature film. However, that will soon change with the thriller Silent Night, currently in post-production. As one of the most influential filmmakers of the last 35 years, Woo is best known for his work in action films, most notably Hard Boiled, Face/Off, and Mission: Impossible 2. Silent Night will also fall under the action genre, but Woo recently revealed that the film has no dialogue.
Why Does John Woo’s Silent Night Not Have Any Dialogue?
While speaking with Vulture, Woo explained Silent Night and the specific filmmaking techniques he used to tell a story without dialogue.
“Very interesting movie. The whole movie is without dialogue. It allowed me to use visuals to tell the story, to tell how the character feels. We are using music instead of language. And the movie is all about sight and sound,” Woo said. “The budget was a little tight, and the schedule was tight, but it made me change my working style. Usually, for a big movie, a studio movie, we shoot a lot of coverage, then leave it to the cutting room. But in this movie, I tried to combine things without doing any coverage shots. I had to force myself to use a new kind of technique. Some scenes were about two or three pages, but I did it all in one shot.”
Silent Night stars Joel Kinnaman as Godlock, a man hellbent on killing 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,” the official synopsis reads. “Shot and nearly killed while in pursuit of the murderers, Godlock vows to avenge his son by any means necessary.”
Woo directs Silent Night from a script written 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.
