Lionsgate
After suffering through a career rough patch following the release of the third Matrix film, Keanu Reeves’ A-list career came roaring back in 2014 when he began starring in the John Wick franchise, which has since produced three films with another two on the way (in addition to a TV series and an Ana de Armas spin-off).
As it turns out, though, Reeves had to put in the personal leg work to make the career-changing role come to life, as a new book has revealed the character was originally written with the intention of casting a much older actor such as Harrison Ford or Clint Eastwood.
New book reveals that John Wick was originally supposed to be played by a much older actor
“The lead was a seventy-five-year-old man, twenty-five years after being retired. It was the fun of watching Clint Eastwood kick ass. I thought, Okay, there’s probably one or two names you could do this with: Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford. Other than that, I’m not sure how I put this movie together. But the tone of the script for John Wick was subversive and really fun. It has a very clear emotional through line and a great premise for an action movie,” producer Basil Iwanyk says in the new book They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog: The Complete Uncensored Oral History of John Wick, Gun Fu, and the New Age of Action.
Buy ‘THEY SHOULDN’T HAVE KILLED HIS DOG’ here
Reeves also spoke to Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, the writers of the book, and detailed why he gravitated towards the project:
“Basil brought the script to me with the idea that I would be a part of such a great collaboration,” Reeves says. “We all agreed on the potential of the project. It has this character of John Wick, but then you also have the real world, and at the same time this kind of underworld. This den of thieves that have this honor and a code. It has this emotional connection with John Wick, who’s grieving, who’s lost the love of his life and has this mythical dark past. And I loved the quest that he goes on to reclaim his life. And the world he moves through to do it.”
As for John Wick: Chapter Four — which is rumored to be subtitled “Hagakure” — that film is scheduled to hit theaters in March 2023. Ana de Armas is also set to begin production on her spin-off movie Ballerina this year, too.
They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog: The Complete Uncensored Oral History of John Wick, Gun Fu, and the New Age of Action is now available to purchase on Amazon.
RELATED: Keanu Reeves Kills Dudes With Nunchucks In First Footage From ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’
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