I saw a headline the other day about Warner Bros developing Hard Boiled with Tom Hiddleston to star and my first reaction was…
WHAAAAAAAAAT???
Followed by outrage, like the kind that explodes on Twitter every 5 seconds.
Hard Boiled?!?
THE Hard Boiled?
Turns out there’s a comic book called Hard Boiled by Frank Miller and Geoff Darrow and the studio is hoping to adapt it as another collaboration between Tom and director Ben Wheatley; they’ve previously worked together on High-Rise. Sarah reviewed the film here.
My association with Hard Boiled, however, is not a comic but Hong Kong cinema. Hard Boiled is one of John Woo’s most famous films. John Woo’s work has profoundly informed many Western directors, including, perhaps most notably, Quentin Tarantino. A few years ago JoBlo called Hard Boiled “the best movie you never saw”, starring Chow Yun Fat, the legend, and Tony Leung Chiu Wai. So, basically, I thought Tom Hiddleston was playing the part of Chow Yun Fat. Now you understand my initial horror. Like, I’m sure Tom Hiddleston will be a great comic action star, whatever, but he is NOT Chow Yun Fat, Jesus Christ.
Here’s Tony Leung a couple of weeks ago promoting a new movie. I don’t understand how the Chinese actors I grew up watching never seem to change.
