The creators of John Wick the film franchise had no idea how big the first film would be or where it would take the franchise, but they definitely had a style and specificity in mind when they went into the process of making the film.
Now, on the 10th anniversary of their action film, the directors Chad Stahelski AND David Leitch celebrate the milestone by speaking with Business Insider about the various battles they had to overcome to launch the Keanu Reevesfranchise driven. One of the most surprising arguments concerned the actor’s beard, as the financiers claim John Wick he preferred the star to be clean-shaven like his famous look Breaking point, Speed AND The Matrix.
Stahelski said regarding the beard:
“Absolutely. We were trying to make a fantasy movie about modern Greek mythology. It’s not mainstream. So we wanted to do something interesting with Keanu. But the money wanted to see Keanu Reeves dick. Keanu “Breaking Point”, Keanu “Speed” .
“And I don’t know if this exists anymore, but at the time we were told by the powers that be that you shouldn’t cover the protagonist’s face with a beard.”
Leitch added:
“I don’t want to get into it, but I’ve since had controversial conversations about stars having facial hair. “He needs to be clean shaven for international matches!” This is the classic studio line.
Stahelski said the team “took a lot of shit” for refusing to have Reeves shave, a choice that stemmed from the fact that the filmmakers wanted people to see the character not as Reeves’ action heroes they were familiar from his previous films. Stahelski recalled:
“We knew you couldn’t fire us, so on the first day of shooting, we had Keanu in a beard, and later that week, when they looked at the dailies, with cinematographer Jonathan Sela’s now famous low-light shots, people fucking loved it. ”
Reeves’ beard remained and became one of the defining components of John Wick’s look. Another thing that remained in the film was the death of John’s dog, which kicks off the entire saga of the action franchise. Leitch said of the story decision:
“We were told, ‘It’s bad luck.’ “That’s some bad juju.” “It’s ‘Old Yellow’, you can’t do that!” ‘No one will want to see it on screen; you will alienate the audience.’
And I say, ‘We’re going to kill people at close range; killing the dog is one thing, but what about the brutal slaughter of all these humans?
Will they be able to accept it?’ … They didn’t understand that we were making a genre film. We’re fans of the genre through and through, and we know that those hard-boiled moments are what make the moments memorable.
Stahelski added:
“For the next two weeks it was suggested to us to shoot an alternate ending that revealed that the puppy didn’t actually die. But Keanu defended us. … Finally, they thought, ‘Fuck it, let’s see what these guys can do.’”
My opinion is that I absolutely hate when dogs die in movies. It almost always seems like a cheap ploy to upset the public. However, in the case of John WickIt would have been crazy to see him fly into a rage, then take his dog back and just say, “Oops?”
I would have been happy for the dog, but it would have been a little silly, and it would have stopped the franchise right there.
And I’m glad they kept the beard.
via: Variety
by Jessica Fisher
Source: Geek Tyrant
Lloyd Grunewald is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. He is a talented writer who focuses on bringing the latest entertainment-related news to his readers. With a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and a passion for writing, Lloyd delivers engaging articles that keep his readers informed and entertained.