The John Wick franchise is a people's favourite and with the third movie set to release in May, lets explore some unknown facts behind the franchise.
With the third movie of the John Wick franchise making its way to the big screen after a long wait, the highly anticipated sequel to 2017's critically acclaimed actioner 'John Wick: Chapter 2' looks to expand on the intriguing comic book-esque universe introduced in the original film. It will see Keanu Reeves return as the titular character, a former assassin who just can't escape his murderous past. It is one of the most refreshing action pictures in ages, downplaying digital effects with plenty of kick-ass action mixed in with subversive humor. It's brutal, beautiful and fresh, combining numerous classic action movie ideas to start a successful movie franchise Here are 10 facts you didn’t know about John Wick.
The initial idea was to star an actor who is well into his 60s. Given the fact that the character has a fabled reputation, the filmmakers thought that the character should be an older actor. But Basil Iwanyk, the head of Thunder road pictures decided instead to look for someone who is not so old but has a seasoned experience in the film industry.
Before he became a grieving husband of a vengeful assassin pulled back into the world he wished to escape, we see Reeves in the shower, with a broad tattoo across his back. The Latin phrase, "Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat" appears in big, broad letters at the top, and it translates to 'fortunes favors the bold'. The phrase originated from the military which was the motto for the third Battalion Marine base in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. This hints at Wick's military past before his time as a mob assassin
He did most of the stunts on his own, without the help of a stunt double. But his prowess was not only confined to the action scenes alone. He also did quite a bit of driving, including the scene of him letting off automotive steam at a private airport. In a 2014 interview with Indiewire, he said, "If I’m doing it, it’s not a stunt. Stuntmen do stunts...I get to do some physical acting. I get involved in some action but they’re not stunts. I flip over guys, I get flipped, I run, I jump, I play."
For the most part, while he was filming the nightclub scene, Reeves was running 104 degrees of fever. He learned all the fighting techniques himself and barely used a stunt double.
He uses a Center Axis Relock stance for close combat and changes into Weaver and Isosceles stances for long range shooting.
Reeves underwent an intensely physical performance while filming the movie. The actor did 90% of his stunts and it is even more impressive given the fact that the actor had a bout of flu during filming. The actor was so obsessed with getting his action sequences nailed that he memorized the entire nightclub film sequence on the very day it was filmed.
The dog that John Wick owns in the movie is a beagle pup named Andy. The dog was 8 weeks old when the movie started filming.
One of the most exciting aspects of John Wick Chapter 2 was the reunion between Keanu Reeves and his Matrix co-star, Lawrence Fishburne. The first John Wick movie also featured several Matrix alumni, including Daniel Bernhardt and both the movie's directors, got their big break as stunt coordinators on The Matrix trilogy,
Two days before his cinematic debut, John Wick was made into a downloadable game character in Payday 2. It was a promotional partnership between Lionsgate Films and Overkill Software and the game featured Wick involved in a heist gang in Washington, D.C. who target banks, work as drug traffickers, and even rig an election and smuggle nuclear weapons. It was a very intelligent move in terms of marketing of the movie and as we all know, it went on to become a huge franchise.
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