It's not worthy imagining immoderate histrion playing John Wick different than Keanu Reeves, truthful well-suited (pun intended!) helium is for the relation of a melancholy assassin who tin present a one-liner with the aforesaid razor-sharp precision helium applies to vanquishing immoderate hostile foolish capable to get successful his way.

But communicative creator Derek Kolstad, who wrote a screenplay called Scorn that turned into John Wick, envisioned a much grizzled hero. As in, a 75-year-old widower successful the Clint Eastwood or Harrison Ford vein who'd been retired of the crippled for 25 years and has a alternatively aged dog.

The stars aligned, though: As Kolstad remembers successful Edward Gross and Mark Altman's 2022 oral history They Shouldn't Have Killed His Dog, his cause brought him 5 offers for his publication and encouraged him to instrumentality the lowest due to the fact that that radical seemed the astir gung-ho astir getting the movie made.

Then, Reeves' agent astatine the time happened to inquire his bully person Basil Iwanyk, whose Thunder Road Productions had conscionable snatched up Scorn, if helium had immoderate bully enactment movies successful the works that would beryllium a acceptable for his client.

Even though the main quality was inactive 75 successful the draught helium read, Reeves said yes close distant (as successful the aforesaid day)—with the caveat, Iwanyk remembers, that "things" needed to beryllium done to bring the pb person to Reeves' age.

Which astatine the clip was astir 48 but looked similar 35 successful regular-person years. And, incidentally, that lower fig is besides the property the histrion told Kolstad helium envisioned for John Wick.

Chad Stahelski and David Leitch—who some did stunt enactment connected The Matrix trilogy, with Stahelski serving arsenic Reeves' assemblage treble for Neo—originally came successful to punch up the enactment to accommodate Reeves' talents and youthful vitality, and past volunteered to nonstop the full thing.

Reeves loved their ideas—"John Wick arsenic an municipality legend, a thriller assassin movie with a realistic vibe and otherworldly setting," Stahelski recalled successful the book—and that's however the code of the intense, convulsive and yet besides witty and intricately crafted franchise was arrived at.

Stahelski has been down the camera for each 4 films, portion aft the archetypal Leitch moved connected to nonstop the likes of Dead Pool 2, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw and Bullet Train.

Kolstad besides wrote Chapter 2, co-wrote Chapter 3 with Shay Hatten and Chris Collins, and remains credited with creating the communicative and characters. However, helium told Collider in 2021 that he wasn't progressive with making Chapter 4.

"It wasn't my decision," Kolstad said. But, fundamentally saying that sometimes that's conscionable the mode the shot bounces successful this business, helium added, "I'm ne'er going to speech s--t astir John Wick. I privation this happening to past and thrive."

The enactment of 2014's John Wick is mostly triggered by the upsetting decease of his canine (given to him by his precocious woman Helen, played by Bridget Moynahan in flashback throughout, truthful he'd person thing to emotion [sob] successful her absence), but he besides wants his mint-condition 1969 Ford Mustang backmost from the thieves who truly didn't deliberation this each through.

But portion the doomed ringleader (Alfie Allen) asks John if his Boss 429 is a 1970 model, Reeves lone corrects him connected the year. The car is really a 1969 Mustang Mach 1, according to HotCars.com, which knows these things and points retired the galore features a Mach 1 has—an automatic transmission, thing called a "non-functional hood scoop," etc.—that a Boss 429 from that twelvemonth does not.

The tract besides reports that 5 classical Mustangs were utilized and efficaciously totaled successful the making of John Wick.

Reeves has ever been speedy to outcry retired his stunt double, Jackson Spidell (who was engaged for a year to John Wick actress Adrienne Palicki after they met making the 2014 original). But Spidell has said that the actor—who was trained by combat and stunt coordinator Jonathan Eusebio successful the Filipino martial creation of Kali—is much often than not the guy onscreen engaging successful hand-to-hand combat.

In the oral history, Spidell estimates that Reeves did "90 percent of the fights" successful the archetypal 3 films, portion helium would "jump successful if determination were immoderate hard falls, car hits, precocious falls, worldly similar that. The truly utmost stuff."

Moreover, Spidell continued, "there's nary wires involved. It's each astir timing." And, Eusebio said, Reeves "trains constantly," whether it's for the combat scenes, handling guns oregon thing other to marque John Wick's skills look authentic.

From the outside, the antithetic hotel where assassins tin bent their hats but not each different is played by the Beaver Building astatine the intersection of Wall Street Court and Pearl Street successful Manhattan.

Various locations astir the metropolis stood successful for the interiors of the Continental, including an aged slope successful the Financial District made up to look similar the lobby—where concierge Charon, played by Lance Reddick, stood sentry for 4 films. (In Greek mythology, Charon is the ferryman of Hades who transports souls crossed the stream Styx which separates the surviving from the dead.) 

Reddick died abruptly astatine the property of 60 connected March 17, 3 days earlier the John Wick: Chapter 4 premiere. Attendees wore bluish ribbons successful grant of their precocious co-star and the movie is present dedicated to him.

Daisy, the Beagle puppy whose institution John Wick lone gets to bask for a fewer days, was played (safely and without immoderate incident) by 8-month-old Andy.

And yes, the filmmakers did have 2nd thoughts astir Daisy's fate, because, arsenic Stahelski told The Hollywood Reporter, "We were risking recognition cards, a location mortgage, everything. Basil Iwanyk enactment his institution up. And past you person that time wherever you recognize we're doing each this and we're sidesplitting a puppy? I thought we would ne'er travel backmost from it."

But, they rationalized astatine the clip that the heartbreaking country was cardinal to the John Wick mythology. "We had to spell truthful overboard," the manager said, "so utmost to propulsion it to fto you cognize that it was perfectly symbolic."

It helps that, astatine the extremity of the archetypal film, John finds himself different four-legged champion friend—a dashing grey pitbull, played by bully girls Princess and Cha Cha, who ends up being the perfect nameless companion for her mercurial human.

Equestrian gymnast and trainer Tad Griffith provided respective of his ain horses for that sure-why-not-let's-put-John-Wick-on-a-horse-in-Manhattan chase country in Chapter 3. Nip and Tuck ended up doing astir of the dense galloping.

Reeves, successful summation to riding 3 times a week astatine Griffith's ranch, besides took pains to make a transportation with the animals earlier the cameras started rolling.

"He was precise benignant to the horses astatine each times," Griffith told The Ringer. "People conscionable get connected them and dainty them similar a prop. That's the past of the industry, but that's not what helium did astatine all. He was ever acrophobic astir their payment and however they were feeling and he'd ever speech to them, which goes a agelong mode due to the fact that that's precisely however we bash it."

The pursuit scene, with respective motorcycle-riding killers pursuing Wick, reportedly took 3 nights to film. A motortruck speeding up of them, Reeves would beryllium successful the saddle and attached to wires, conscionable successful lawsuit the horse stopped short. And yes, tons of editing was progressive afterward.

"A batch of radical would tally for a mile trying to get 3 seconds of magic—I similar to tally for a shot tract for six seconds of magic," Griffith said, explaining that each changeable consisted of astir 10 seconds of galloping. "So if we get 10 seconds, I tin astir warrant six seconds of large stuff." 

That's Iron Chef America "chairman" Mark Dacascos as Zero, the sushi chef/assassin/John Wick fanboy connected our antihero's trail, successful 2019's Chapter 3—Parabellum.

As it turned out, Dacascos loved the movies from the opening (he said yes earlier speechmaking the script) and everyone from the films—including stuntman Spinell—was a immense instrumentality of his (because Dacascos is really a revered martial creator who conscionable had a truly chill gig connected Food Network).

"Doing those fights with him was a weird full-circle woody successful my life," Spinell said successful Gross and Altman's book, "but besides was conscionable a batch of fun."

It's unclear what John Wick was doing with his status different than being Helen's adoring husband. And Moynahan, who felt the gravity of her tiny but pivotal relation from the beginning, didn't privation to cognize anyone different than the man her quality knew and loved. So, she chose to disregard the remainder of the plot.

"Helen was bringing the emotion and the light, and benignant of the joyousness into his life," the Blue Bloods star told FilmIsNow successful 2014. "And successful that information of the script, I didn't privation to cognize that broadside of him that would possibly pass a antithetic communicative for me. So I chose to permission that and instrumentality the broadside of John that possibly she had really spent her beingness with arsenic opposed to that broadside that helium wasn't participating successful erstwhile they were together."

But, though they surely were blessed to spell with cliffhangers astatine the extremity of the 2nd and 3rd films, director Stahelski told Comicbook.com last summertime that doing 2 movies astatine erstwhile didn't enactment for him.

"It seems successful the different franchises that person tried it, they conscionable consciousness similar the aforesaid happening done again, right? Like there's nary caller influence," Stahelski said. "Sometimes you request that originative enactment to travel up with caller s--t. Otherwise I'm stressed retired astir making 2 movies alternatively of 1 truly bully one. I'm conscionable not that bright. I'm not that clever."

So arsenic acold arsenic a Chapter 5 is concerned...we'll see.

"I deliberation it would beryllium unfair to our instrumentality basal and unfair to the spot successful wide to conscionable agelong it retired successful the involvement of ratio oregon fiscal oregon originative efficiency," Stahelski said of automatically going past Chapter 4. "I'd alternatively bash it, instrumentality a breather, get our s--t together, analyse our mistakes and spot what worked and what didn't."