Woo lowers his guns

He made his name splattering the streets of Hong Kong with blood-soaked thrillers, but director John Woo is about to show his warmer, softer side. And it's all for the kids.

Woo yesterday was promoting the DVD box sets of his A Better Tomorrow series (all three parts) and a The Killer/Bullet In The Head double feature (which will be released on Thursday), when he revealed his next project would be something completely different - a Unicef film to heighten awareness of the plight of some of the world's underprivileged children.

All the Invisible Children will feature seven short films from international directors such as Woo, Ridley Scott (Gladiator) and Brazil's Katie Lund (City of God).

'I am trying to put together a film about a Chinese student,' says Woo. 'The whole idea is to make the whole world care about the problems of children ... so hopefully they will have a better tomorrow.'