This article contains John Wick: Chapter 4 spoilers.
Chad Stahelski’s filmmaking career began 30 years ago when he performed some stunts for a direct-to-video ninja flick called Brain Smasher… A Love Story starring Andrew Dice Clay. Some 18 films later, and Stahelski had worked his way up the stunt-person ladder to serve as the stunt double for Neo, aka Mr. Keanu Reeves himself, in The Matrix. It was the beginning a beautiful friendship. He continued to work with Reeves for the second and third Matrix installments, rising to martial arts stunt choreographer’s chair, and then the two reunited for Constantine in 2005. It was a fruitful collaborative relationship, however it would become something else entirely when less than a decade later they partnered again, now as director and star, for Stahelski’s directorial debut, John Wick (2014).
According to Stahelski, neither he nor Reeves thought John Wick would become what it is today.
Chad Stahelski’s filmmaking career began 30 years ago when he performed some stunts for a direct-to-video ninja flick called Brain Smasher… A Love Story starring Andrew Dice Clay. Some 18 films later, and Stahelski had worked his way up the stunt-person ladder to serve as the stunt double for Neo, aka Mr. Keanu Reeves himself, in The Matrix. It was the beginning a beautiful friendship. He continued to work with Reeves for the second and third Matrix installments, rising to martial arts stunt choreographer’s chair, and then the two reunited for Constantine in 2005. It was a fruitful collaborative relationship, however it would become something else entirely when less than a decade later they partnered again, now as director and star, for Stahelski’s directorial debut, John Wick (2014).
According to Stahelski, neither he nor Reeves thought John Wick would become what it is today.
- 3/28/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
If you've seen "John Wick: Chapter 4," odds are good that you might be hankering for more in the "John Wick" universe sooner rather than later. Erica Lee, who produced all four of the "Wick" films, couldn't agree with you more.
"We're definitely developing more spin-offs," she told me after we talked about the two spin-offs we already know about — the upcoming feature "Ballerina," starring Ana de Armas, and the TV series, "The Continental," which focuses on younger versions of Winston and Charon, who are played by Ian McShane and Lance Reddick in the existing films. The possibilities for additional spin-offs are extensive, though Lee did say that the driving question in decided what to pursue comes down to the question: "What are the characters that stand out in the films, that pop, that have an interesting story to tell, who are still alive?"
Lee shared some of the characters she thinks meet those criteria,...
"We're definitely developing more spin-offs," she told me after we talked about the two spin-offs we already know about — the upcoming feature "Ballerina," starring Ana de Armas, and the TV series, "The Continental," which focuses on younger versions of Winston and Charon, who are played by Ian McShane and Lance Reddick in the existing films. The possibilities for additional spin-offs are extensive, though Lee did say that the driving question in decided what to pursue comes down to the question: "What are the characters that stand out in the films, that pop, that have an interesting story to tell, who are still alive?"
Lee shared some of the characters she thinks meet those criteria,...
- 3/27/2023
- by Vanessa Armstrong
- Slash Film
(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them).
Keanu Reeves was about as big as movie stars get in the late '90s/early 2000s thanks to hits like "The Matrix" propelling him to superstardom. Yet, the trite saying of "the bigger they are, the harder they fall" came calling. By 2010, Hollywood wasn't calling the "Speed" actor anymore, just as he was approaching 50. "It sucks, but it's just the way it is," Reeves explained to IndieWire in 2014. "The last studio movie I did was '47 Ronin,' but before that it had been a long time — probably 'The Day the Earth Stood Still,'" which came out all the way back in 2008. Luckily, his fortunes were about to change in a big way thanks to the little assassin movie that could: "John Wick.
Keanu Reeves was about as big as movie stars get in the late '90s/early 2000s thanks to hits like "The Matrix" propelling him to superstardom. Yet, the trite saying of "the bigger they are, the harder they fall" came calling. By 2010, Hollywood wasn't calling the "Speed" actor anymore, just as he was approaching 50. "It sucks, but it's just the way it is," Reeves explained to IndieWire in 2014. "The last studio movie I did was '47 Ronin,' but before that it had been a long time — probably 'The Day the Earth Stood Still,'" which came out all the way back in 2008. Luckily, his fortunes were about to change in a big way thanks to the little assassin movie that could: "John Wick.
- 3/25/2023
- by Ryan Scott
- Slash Film
Can you imagine your favorite movie franchise being called something completely different? That was almost the case with John Wick. Movie names change all the time and in-development projects usually have working titles that are later dropped, so that shouldn’t really come as a surprise. Except in this case it was a goof-up on Keanu Reeves’ part that led to the revision.
John Wick was almost called Scorn, which does seem to be the character’s primary motivation throughout the film. But according to writer Derek Kolstad, Keanu kept referring to the film as John Wick and that’s how action movie history was made. In yet another example of the good-natured actor’s charisma, the studio didn’t intervene to correct him and just decided to adopt the character’s name as the official title.
“The only reason it’s called John Wick is that Keanu kept referring to it as John Wick,...
John Wick was almost called Scorn, which does seem to be the character’s primary motivation throughout the film. But according to writer Derek Kolstad, Keanu kept referring to the film as John Wick and that’s how action movie history was made. In yet another example of the good-natured actor’s charisma, the studio didn’t intervene to correct him and just decided to adopt the character’s name as the official title.
“The only reason it’s called John Wick is that Keanu kept referring to it as John Wick,...
- 5/26/2020
- by Pirzan Turel
- We Got This Covered
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