MOVIE NEWS – John Wick director Chad Stahelski defined the franchise’s action style.

For the John Wick franchise, director Chad Stahelski wanted to combine realistic martial arts, motorsports and firearms with a bit of Hollywood magic. After a long and eventful stunt career (he was Keanu Reeves’ double in the Matrix trilogy), Stahelski turned to directing. Together with David Leitch, they created the John Wick universe.

Stahelski directed all four films in the series, which are praised for their incredible stunt work and fight choreography.

Stahelski recently sat down with Collider to talk about the upcoming Highlander reboot. He was also asked about his work as director of the John Wick films. During the conversation, Stahelski revealed his overall goal with the franchise’s unique action style. The director said that most of the fights and shootings in the films are pure fiction. Audiences are too used to it to change completely. As a result, Stahelski had to fuse his pursuit of realism with over-stylized action choreography, which the audience perceives as realistic. Stahelski said:

“I’ll keep it to the core. Most audiences, I’ll use the gun analogy, most of what you know about gunfights or car chases, because most of us don’t get involved in gun fights, or car chases, or sword fights, we learn through movies. And what those movies show you is about 95% bullsh*t. You don’t fight 50 guys with your bare hands, but it’s wish fulfillment.”

“So John Wick, we know it’s a cartoon — I know it’s not — but we also have fun with it. But we do tactical reloads, we try to do fire manipulations, stuff like the professionals do, the military do. But then we have fun with it, you know?”

Training the actors for John Wick takes a lot of time

The behind-the-scenes training clips from the John Wick movies are almost as popular as the movies themselves. In the leading role, Keanu Reeves plays a former assassin returning from retirement. To portray the character convincingly, Stahelski had to train the actor in various martial arts, work with firearms, and brush up on stunt driving. The result: 90-95% of the actions in the film are performed by Keanu Reeves.

Although fans can only glimpse the training via social media, Stahelski revealed that preparing an actor for a stunt-filled role is a long and arduous process.

“Actors are no different than you. If you have to become an NBA basketball player, could you do it in three weeks? Could you do it in three months? Could you do it in three years? Yet the burden is on us to make it looks like they’re the best in the world that has ever lived.”

In the end, the investment paid off. The John Wick movies revolutionized the modern action movie genre. They spawned a whole wave of epigones, such as Atomic Blonde and the Extraction franchise. Stahelski praised Reeves’ commitment to the role. The director also pointed out that Keanu Reeves has been playing the character for nearly a decade, giving Stahelski years to perfect the actor’s on-screen technique. Stahelski explained:

“I don’t think you understand what kind of time that takes. We can use a few movie tricks, stunt doubles, editorial. But at the end of the day, you still have to believe it. But when you see Keanu Reeves doing gunwork, that’s Keanu Reeves. When you see Keanu driving, that is Keanu driving the car. And that has taken the better part of 10 years to get to that point.”

Source: Collider