Starting out, Chan worked as John Woo’s assistant and Jackie Chan’s production manager, but turned to romantic comedies as soon as he struck out on his own. There’s a sunny innocence about the director; single at 36, he’s developed a fully formed philosophy of love, which runs through all his movies from the hit gender-bending comedy “He’s a Woman, She’s a Man” to the widely acclaimed heart-tugger “Comrades: Almost a Love Story.” The Chan commandments: First love is always best. It’s better to love someone than to be loved back. And two people almost never love each other equally.
Chan left Hong Kong in 1997 because of the handover–and his own mounting success. “As your movies get more popular, you have less and less fun.” With “The Love Letter,” he says, “I feel like I’m starting fresh, making my first movie again.” Next up, a film about–what else?–two 17-year-olds falling in love for the first time.
