The John Wick the movie franchise has been so fun to watch over the years and Keanu Reeves he’s pretty damn awesome in the lead role. But it was revealed that the original version of the character was a 75-year-old man! He was originally written for an actor like Harrison Ford or Clint Eastwoodbut when Reeves got hold of the script, he ended up making it his own.
This information comes from a book written by the franchise manufacturer Basil Iwanyk titled They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog: John Wick’s Complete, Uncensored Oral Story, Gun Fu, and the New Era of Action. Lwanyk confirmed in the book on Weekly entertainment:
“One of my best friends is Charlie Ferraro of UTA, who sent me this script by Derek Kolstad called ‘Scorn’. The protagonist was a 75-year-old man, 25 years after he retired. It was fun to watch Clint Eastwood kick ass. I thought, ‘Okay, there are probably one or two names you could do this with: Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford.’ “
“My other best friend in the world, this Jimmy Darmody, is a CAA agent who represented Keanu at the time. And he said, ‘Do you have any action movies for Keanu Reeves?’ I remember thinking to myself: ‘Keanu is one of the big action stars of the last 25 years, what happened to him? What did he do? ‘ And he was directing his own movie, ‘Man of Tai Chi’, and making ’47 Ronin. ‘ We give him the script, we tell him, ‘Clearly, you’re not 75.’ “
When Reeves got the script, he says in the book he knew John Wick it would be “such a great collaboration” and he added:
“We all agree on the potential of the project. He has this John Wick character, but then you also have the real world and this kind of underworld at the same time. This den of thieves who have this honor and a code. He has this emotional connection with John Wick, who is in mourning, who has lost the love of his life and has this mythical dark past. And I loved the quest that continues to claim his life. And the world in which he moves to do so ”.
Screenwriter Derek Kolstadhe added that it was Reeves himself “who put his claws on [the script] and he made it his own. ”He loved the script and the character so much that he reinvented the character and turned him into something he could play. The writer goes on to say:
“I spent two months at Keanu’s house on weekends working on the script. When I first met him and walked into his house, and as he turned the corner to say hello – it’s a nice house, it’s not ostentatious for a guy worth, I don’t know, billions – and I look into his office, I see he has 300 scripts stacked on his desk, because he reads everything UTA, WME, William Morris sends. He reads them all.
“Law [the script] on a Friday, in 90 minutes, and he would say to me, “I want to do it.” At that moment, before I met him and actually clicked on him, I thought, ‘Yeah, I want to do it too.’ The first thing Keanu said to me was, “Okay, Derek, I’ll play him 35”. And I’m like, ‘Okay.’ “
I love that Reeves took such a hands-on approach to developing this film. John Wick’s character is really perfect for him and it’s great that the franchise has been so successful. Who knows, maybe one day, years from now, we’ll see Reeves play a 75-year-old version of John Wick! If the franchise keeps going strong, it could happen!
Meanwhile, Reeves will return as John Wick John Wick: Chapter 4out in theaters on March 23, 2023.
by Joey Paur
Source: Geek Tyrant
