John Wick: the character played by Keanu Reeves could have been very different

Saga having revolutionized the world of action films in the mid-2010s, “John Wick” has become almost inseparable from its interpreter Keanu Reeves. The proof with this revelation extracted from a new book devoted to the scenes of the franchise.

John Wick : the return of the REAL action movie

We probably don’t say it enough, but before the first opus of John Wick arrives in theaters, action cinema oldschool was looking for a real second wind. You know, that cinema where a single man beat dozens of extras. Indeed, if he dominated the 80s and 90s with stars like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal, this cinema somewhat died out around the 2000smodified or replaced by other more modern action films.

We are talking about superhero movies (avengers), cars (Fast & Furious) or spy films (saga james bond Daniel Craig version, Mission ImpossibleJason Bourne). Clearly, old-school action cinema is rare, no matter how much Sly tries to revive it with his saga. Expendables.

Last Action Hero ©Columbia Pictures

However, in the early 2010s, screenwriter Derek Kolstad developed a script titled Scorn, the story of a hitman coming out of retirement to seek revenge. Inspired by neo-noir films, he sees his project join the famous black list of the best scenarios not yet produced by Hollywood. lionsgate thus takes over the script and places two directors who are still novices on the film: Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. These two former stuntmen, however, have experience in fighting scenes and are above all fans of old-fashioned action cinema, whether American or Asian. Above all, they have a perfect idea of ​​who would play the protagonist of their film: Keanu Reeves.

The rest, we know: John Wick is a huge success. Several sequels will see the light of day, not to mention spin-offs in preparation. As for Keanu Reeves, he is making an impressive comeback to the fore.

old wick

In a new book dedicated to the furious hitman and titled They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog: The Complete Uncensored Oral History of John Wick, Gun Fu, and the New Age of Actionwriters Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman reveal that originally Derek Kolstad imagined a much older man when he wrote the screenplay. The producer of the saga, Basil Iwanyk, confirms it via this book:

One of my best friends sent me this screenplay by Derek Kolstad titled Scorn. The lead role was a 75-year-old man, who retired 25 years ago. It was fun to watch some sort of Clint Eastwood kick some ass. So I thought to myself, “Okay, there are probably a couple of names that can play this role: Clint Eastwood and Harrison Ford.

John Wick
John Wick (Keanu Reeves) – John Wick ©Lionsgate

However, it is ultimately not the two legendary stars who are chosen. Why ? Because Iwanyk is advised to bet on Keanu Reeves instead. And this, despite the fact that the actor hadn’t done anything of note in a whileand that his last two action films, Man of Tai Chi and 47 Ronins, had been trade flops. The producer still offers the role of John Wick to the actor who quickly accepts in view of the potential of the project as well as the character whose bruised past touches him personally.

According to Kolstad, as he says in the book, it was the comedian himself who liked the script so much that he revamped the character so that he can play it and make a younger version of it:

The first thing Keanu said to me was, “Okay, Derek, I’m going to play him at 35.” And I said, “Good”

We would like to give thanks to the writer of this article for this remarkable material

John Wick: the character played by Keanu Reeves could have been very different