A hotel, a sommelier, a coin – inJohn Wick&John Wick: Chapter 2,these seemingly mundane things mask an elaborate underground, criminal network. The Hotel is no mere hotel, but The Continental – the headquarter and safe-haven for elite assassins. That sommelier – he’s not there to give you any guidance on wine; but he sure can direct you on the difference between a Colt pistol and a Glock. And that coin…. well, that’s actually - a blood-oath marker for a hit-you-can’t-refuse. In theJohn Wickuniverse, every single place and person is hiding a nefarious purpose, right down to the homeless begging for change at the subway (they’re assassins too). But the real magic trick toJohn Wick(and what makes the franchise so much fun) is that the films never tip their hand to camp. Yeah – a dry-cleaner doubling as a body-removal service is a fairly silly concept; butJohn Wickplays it straight and by doing so, sells the joke and, by proxy, the overarching world. FilmmakerChad Stahelski(along with the first film’s co-directorDavid Leitch) has crafted one of the most bizarre and fun modern action mythologies, turning the simple story of a hitman (Keanu Reeves) avenging his dog into a gateway to a vast, global web of criminals.
In the following interview with Stahelski, the director discusses this elaborateJohn Wickmythology, the influence of Greek myths and his plans to directJohn Wick: Chapter 3. In addition – Stahelski gives a quick update on the plannedHighlanderreboot, which he’s attached to direct. For the full interview, read below.
Collider: To start off – walk me through coming up with this elaborate mythology for theJohn Wickuniverse?
Chad Stahelski (laughing): Acid. A lot of acid.
Of course… How much of this mythology did you have in place for the first film versus coming up with it when you were developing the sequel?
Stahelski: Like left over ideas from the first one?
Stahelski: Honestly… Not that many. [Co-director David Leitch and I] had no clue how the first movie would turn out. We were just wiping our brows, going ‘Whew – Can’t believe we pulled that off.’ We thought people were going to laugh at us for being so wacky. A hotel for assassins? But we wanted to make something fun and we thought that was fun. But once the first movie came out, David and I had a lot of down time before they asked us [to make a sequel]. There was a lot of time between when we finished the film and its release, so we went back and forth to New York twice during the period. Everything we saw we were like, ‘Oh, we could do John Wick here.’ Then we started asking each other – ‘What would be cool? It would be cool if… It would be cool if…’ Before we started preppingJohn Wick 2, I had a notebook of all the fight scenes and ideas that we want to do throughout our careers.John Wickdoesn’t come from any [pre-existing property] so we could do anything. If we wanted to beat people with cars or we wanted to crash a motorcycle or we wanted to do a fight with a bunch of mirrors or a sword fight… We can do anything and that’s the gift of Number Three too. I don’t have to stay in the real world likeThe EqualizerorBourne.I don’t have to fit into this mythology ofThe Magnificent Sevenor a comic book superhero. ForJohn Wick, if I showed you something tomorrow of John Wick doing… He just pulls out this hockey stick and starts beating people, you’d be like ‘Oh cool, John Wick beating people with a hockey stick.’ I’m free to do what I want… So as far as set pieces go, yeah - we have a few more things we didn’t use from number two. We want not so much to go bigger on the third one but [instead] to show you more of the intricacies of the world… I feel like there’s all these different subtleties that I skipped over in number two that I’d like to go back to in number three and show you the inner workings of different parts of New York. Rather than massive set pieces, I’d like to show you cooler, more intricate ones.
So are you actively working on part three right now?
Stahelski: Yeah – we’re currently in the middle of writing it right now…
Is there a tentative shooting date?
Stahelski: It’s more of a how fast can we get our shit together. But I would assume that if not by the end of this year, the beginning of next year.
Are you still planning on directing it?
Stahelski: Right now I’m super involved. I love the property. I love Keanu. Right now I say that I’m fairly…
Open to it?
Stahelski: Yeah. Currently I’m acting as prep director, as you would say. Hopefully everything will work out time-wise. Of course – I would love to. You’ve got to say weird stuff like that in Hollywood.
I know you mentioned expanding on the mythology for Part Three…
Stahelski: Definitely. You want to show something different, something original… Why do people likeJohn Wick? Because it’s a little different. We’re showing you some cool stuff that you don’t see in the Bond or the Bourne movies… Rather than trying to emulate them and do the ‘same old, same old’, we’re trying to give you the wacky side of what those worlds would be… But again, I think it would be a mistake budget-wise and creatively to just go big and blow up a freeway. That’s not our gig. That’s a comic book or a Bond gig. We want to show you cool and intricate hidden details. What are those little details in everyday life? Hopefully we make people look at garbage collectors and cleaner vans and taxi cab drivers and homeless people a little differently now.
How manyJohn Wickfilms do you potentially see?
Stahelski: You know if the worst thing in my career is I just make John Wick movies and a John Wick TV show, I’d be fine. But it’s really up to you guys. If you want to see them, I’m sure they’ll keep making them. I can only really speak for myself, but I know from speaking with Keanu that he loves the character. We think it’s fun. If people like seeing them and as long as we don’t burn out and start cashing in, I think we have the ability to create a few more moments. Whether that’s one film or five films, I don’t know.
Do you have any idea on where you want John Wick’s emotional arc to go in the third film?
Stahelski: We’re very comfortable with where we want him to go in the third one and what Keanu wants to do. If you really watch the first and second film, there’s really only one place it can go – so I’ll let you sort that out.
You’ve mentioned how John Wick is so steeped in mythology. Is there a particular mythological story that you look to as a template for theJohn Wickfranchise?
Stahelski: I tried that - whether it’s taking a Perseus or just pick your top ten Greek stories or fables. We tried to plug it in, but it didn’t quite fit. So we pick and choose. It’s more about the process of the story. We only have three acts: It’s the Gods, you’ve pissed them off, [and now] suffer the consequences. Most Greek mythology deals with fate [and] vengeance & what that means. And it stops short of that. They don’t pull a twist. It’s pretty straightforward. LookJohn Wickisn’t rocket science. Two plus two is four. But rather than ‘two plus two is four’, we’re like ‘one plus two minus three plus three plus five minus six plus two is four’. It’s more about how you get there, than what the equation is. We try to take the interesting parts and tell the story and worry more about the telling than what it ‘is’. Hopefully inJohn Wick Chapter One and Two, twenty minutes in, you should know what everything is. I don’t want to bore you with plot twists and over-development of the plot.
Do you see these films delving more into John’s backstory?
Stahelski: Yeah – but it’s about John revealing it. It’s not about finding a hidden book or a secret map about who John Wick is. Anyone watching can start piecing it together. You know he’s had some serious training. Was it military? Ehh – he kind of looks military. Where’s he from? Well – he speaks all these languages. We’re giving you the pieces. Hopefully five years from now, you and your buddies will talk about how ‘He’s this or he’s that.’ We’ll give you a couple more pieces and then let you stitch it together.
Before I wrap up, what’s the status onHighlander? Are you still on it?
Stahelski: Still am. Currently writing. Just a massive amount of writing.
Do you approach it the same way as John Wick in terms of building an elaborate mythology?
Stahelski: Yeah – I love immortality and I love the love story. I look it as a ‘love story through time… with a lot of sword fights’
John Wick: Chapter Twois currently available via 4K and Blu-ray.
