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Has it actually been 10 years since “John Wick” debuted in theaters? Time flies while you’re having enjoyable righteously knocking off a daft variety of unhealthy guys for killing your pet. Apart from the sheer leisure worth of the franchise, we will additionally thank the crew of screenwriter Derek Kolstad and the director tandem of Chad Stahelski and David Leitch for upping the Hollywood recreation relating to stunt-heavy motion set items. These gents are consummate craftsmen who know motion motion pictures work finest once they’re staged and shot as virtually as doable, so that they gleefully (but rigorously) put their stunt crew by means of their paces for our enhanced enjoyment.
Sure, the “John Wick” franchise is gun fetishism at its most knuckleheaded, however the bone-crunching, bullet-whizzing kineticism trumps my ethical objections each time. I do not know what that claims about me personally, however, darn it, these motion pictures are simply flat-out irresistible (clearly, on condition that they’ve made over $1 billion at the global box office).
Whereas there’d be no “John Wick” with out the aforementioned trio, the sequence possible would not have grow to be the high-octane field workplace sensation that it’s immediately with out Keanu Reeves. The star’s knowledgeable facility for plausible hand-to-hand fight and firearm discharging provides these motion pictures a high-octane thrill you would not get with a star who farms out most of his brawling to his stuntman. This being stated, it is truthful to surprise how these motion pictures would possibly’ve performed had the primary “John Wick” gone ahead with one of many largest motion stars on the planet within the title function.
From John McClane to John Wick?
In a 10th anniversary chat with The Hollywood Reporter, David Leitch revealed that when he was first approached to do second unit work on the movie, none apart from Bruce Willis “would possibly’ve been connected on the time.” It is noteworthy that the Thunder Street manufacturing crew of Basil Iwanyk and Peter Lawson had been contemplating a then fifty-something Willis as a substitute of the nine-years-younger Reeves.
What would which have appeared like? Once more, it could’ve been rather less fluid visually what with all the doubling for Willis – who was physically game in 2012’s “Looper,” however not able to go toe-to-toe with the likes of the 87Eleven stunt crew. It might’ve been a really completely different movie, one which Stahelski and Leitch possible would’ve by no means made.
In response to Leitch, Reeves was the right match for the duo, who had been able to step ahead from second-unit directing to make their very own film. Because of the insistence of their supervisor Kelly McCormick (who’s now Leitch’s producing companion and spouse), they bought their shot and made probably the most of it. The following chapter within the “John Wick” sequence, “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina” (starring Ana de Armas), hits theaters June 6, 2025.
