In honor of the franchise’s tenth anniversary, the directors of «John Wick» Chad Stahelski and David Leitch told interesting stories about the creation of the first film. Keanu Reeves’ beard almost got in the way.
Investors insisted that John Wick shave off his beard for a better reception at the box office. In other films, such as «Speed» and «Matrix», Keanu was filmed without a beard, the audience knew him as such. But it spoiled the filmmakers’ idea:
«We tried to make a fantasy movie, a modernization of Greek mythology. It’s not mainstream. So we wanted to do something cool with Keanu. But people with money wanted to see Keanu fucking Reeves. Keanu from «Breaking Bad», Keanu from «Speed». And I don’t know if it’s relevant now, but back then we were told not to cover the protagonist’s face with a beard,” Stahelski says.
Stahelski says the «team got a lot of crap from the» team for refusing to shave Reeves. This choice stems from the fact that the filmmakers wanted a fresh take on the character, not like Reeves’ action heroes that audiences were familiar with from his previous films.
«I don’t want to get into it, but I’ve been arguing about stars having facial hair ever since. «He has to be clean-shaven for international distribution!». It’s a classic studio line,» Litch added.
Reeves’ beard remained and became one of the most important components of John Wick’s image.
«We felt like they couldn’t fire us, so on the first day of shooting we had Keanu with a beard, and later that week when they watched Jonathan Sela’s daily footage, people loved it,» Stahelski recalls.
Another thing that remained in the movie despite the protests is the death of John’s dog, which begins the saga.
«We were told: «This is a failure, this is bad, you can’t do this! No one wants to see that on the screen; you’ll alienate the audience». And I said: «We will execute people at close range. Killing a dog is one thing, but what about the brutalization of all these people? Will they be able to accept that?» … They didn’t realize that we were making a genre movie. We’re genre fans to the core, and we know that memorable moments are made with a lot of hard work,” Litch says.
The directors proposed an alternative ending in which the dog actually stayed alive. But Keanu Reeves stood up for them, and in the end, everyone said: «Fuck it, let’s see what these guys can do».
The franchise became super successful and received four films and spin-offs, one of which are being created right now. Keanu Reeves proved that his beard doesn’t bother him. He continued to act in this image, in particular in the game «Cyberpunk 2077». The directors demonstrated their own sense of genre and style.
Source: Business Insider