John Wick: Chapter 4 unleashes a bullet-ridden volley of entertainment and cements Keanu Reeves as a modern action icon. The actor is back in his signature role as the sharp-suited assassin John Wick, and his killer mission this time takes him all over the globe on a massively destructive (and massively entertaining) revenge spree against the High Table. (Don't know what that is? Check out the John Wick story so far.)
With its intricate mixture of stuntwork, gunplay and kung-fu, the John Wick series continues to push the boundaries of modern action cinema. And the fourth movie is the most ambitious so far, inviting us to revel in some beautiful international locations before Wick, his allies and enemies blow them all to hell.
In anticipation of the movie's opening, we've ripped several tidbits from the movie's official production notes. Here, then, is the making of John Wick: Chapter 4 from those responsible.
Keanu Reeves on the development of the story...
“It’s been a pleasure working with [director Chad Stahelski] and our teams in coming up with new ideas and worlds. Chad has always believed that we should explore The High Table – you never see its members, but we envisioned them as a secret society, like the Masons or the Illuminati.
“In Chapter 4, we wanted to flip the paradigm of Wick on the run and have him go after The High Table. It’s the story of John deciding that he’s not going to run away anymore. Instead, he runs at the Table, which really puts an exclamation point on why people fear John Wick.”
Producer Basil Iwanyk on John Wick's journey...
“At the beginning of the film, everyone assumes Wick is dead. So, he could live happily ever after and be at peace. But no, it’s John Wick! He can’t leave it alone; justice must be done. He kicks the global hornet’s nest, and every assassin in the world is after him. And he’s alone.”
Donnie Yen on the character of Caine...
“I wanted him to be a complex, human character and wondered how he could engage if he could not look Wick in the eyes. I had to find different ways for Caine to express himself. He’s a blind martial arts master who can take on dozens of opponents simultaneously, so he must be very skilled. Finding that balance between being sightless and physically gifted was challenging.”
Director Chad Stahelski on Donnie Yen...
“The first day of filming with Donnie, well, the 18-year-old in me just came out. Standing between Keanu and Donnie, blocking the first fight scene, was a surreal moment for me. With those fight scenes, we wanted to craft something we haven't seen before. Donnie with a sword and pistol; Keanu with a samurai sword and a couple of guns and throwing an AR-15 into a mirror room filled with Japanese artifacts. Let’s see what happens, I thought.”
Ian McShane on the character of Winston...
“Winston is always in control, and it’s interesting to see how he reacts when everything he values is taken away from him. He’s a suave figure when he enjoys all the vestments and services of the hotel, but when it’s stripped away, he becomes a far more dangerous man than we knew.”
The late Lance Reddick on the character of Charon...
“One of the things that’s so interesting about Winston and Charon’s relationship is that it is so close. You get a sense that they’ve been together for many years, probably even before their tenures at the New York Continental. You feel there’s an affection between them, and this film confirms it.”
Laurence Fishburne on the Bowery King's relationship with John Wick...
“Bowery King’s relationship with John is really quite intimate and shrouded in mystery. And I liked that Chad told me that Winston and The Bowery King are brothers, in a way. The Bowery King can be seen as Hades, the god of hell. Like Winston, he’s also a protector of Wick’s secrets. He’s the chef in John’s secret kitchen.”
Stunt co-ordinator Stephen Levy on Keanu Reeves...
“When you’re on a John Wick film, you give one hundred percent. Keanu is one of the first actors/stunt performers in the gym and one of the last ones out. He leaves it on the mat every day. Keanu lives and breathes John Wick.”
Production designer Ken Kavanaugh on the nature of the Japanese locations...
“I tried to mix a traditional with a modern aesthetic. For the Osaka Continental, I used this traditional Samurai way of life – depicted in artwork that dates to the 1600s – as a base. Then we add on to make it contemporary.
"For example, we did a big gunfight in the exhibition room, which has a lot of glass, which keeps reflecting even after it shatters. I framed all these old beautiful rice paper paintings in glass and put modern frames around them.”
Keanu Reeves on the illusion of an epic shoot-out at the Arc de Triomphe...
"This gunfight is in the middle of the traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe. We worked at a non-operational airport in Berlin, Tegel. We did the wire work on the tarmac, and gunfights and judo through several lanes of traffic. We’ve had gun-fu in the previous films, and now we have car-fu.”
Director Chad Stahelski on the notion of the duel...
“There’s nothing more personal than a duel to settle disputes. In a world where there seems to be no escape for John, we wanted to show action in a slower way and deal with the emotional resonance.
"We go back to the core of the films: one man against another, with something huge at stake. It’s something Wick must earn. It’s also a nod to some of my favorite westerns.”
Keanu Reeves on working with Chad Stahelski...
“Working with this core team of creatives who have been responsible for the visionary look and world-building of the John Wick films has been such an honor. Working with Chad on that vision, plus the story and action, has been a pleasure.
"His take on the way that action and dramatic storytelling must go hand in hand, is my taste, and it's been great to have a creative collaborator to put me in dramatic positions and action situations, where we had to come up with new terms, like gun-fu, and car-fu, just to describe them.
"We’ve created a wonderful playground to explore what you can do with this character. Over the course of these chapters, we’ve been able to continue to surprise and to world-build and innovate with John Wick.”
You've heard it from the main players and it'll soon be time to take the ride yourselves. Click here to book your tickets for John Wick: Chapter 4, releasing at Cineworld on March 24th.
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