Keanu Reeves Gave John Wick 4 Stunt Actors T-Shirts With Their Movie Death Count On
Warning: The below contains spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4.
Keanu Reeves gifted the John Wick: Chapter 4 stunt actors customized t-shirts bearing the number of times they died in the movie.
According to The New York Times, Reeves distributed an unusual gift that was sure to raise a few laughs following the production of John Wick 4. The actor reportedly gave the stunt crew t-shirts with their movie death counts on them. For some, that number was above 20.
The John Wick franchise has never played it safe when it comes to its jaw-dropping action set-pieces, and John Wick 4 had the most action of the series “by a good margin.” One particularly notable scene took place on the 222 steps leading up to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Paris.
That scene alone involved 35 stunt performers; its coordinator Scott Rogers estimated that one particular stunt crew member was “killed” five or six times during the seven nights it took to film Wick’s various ascent attempts up the gargantuan staircase.
“It’s like, of course, that’s what you want,” fight coordinator Jeremy Marinas said of the scene. “You want 100 guys falling down the stairs and you want me to make every reaction and fall different. Of course, you do. It was like we were just another day at work.
“We all know how hard it is just to walk up stairs when we don’t want to,” Marinas said, adding, “Just to think about how well Keanu — not John Wick — Keanu was able to do shooting upwards while stepping. It’s hard enough to be a marksman on flat ground.”
Reeves previously referred to John Wick 4 as “the hardest physical role” of his career. He touched on the dedication that the role required, specifically the hours of training he had to put in to hone the skills in his “toolbox” and elevate the action to “the next level.”
“That look John Wick gives when he looks at his watch and actually looks up the staircase, I think that’s maybe 50 percent John Wick and 50 percent Keanu Reeves going, ‘Ugh, Stahelski did it to me again,'” director Chad Stahelski said of filming the sequence on the steps.
Stahelski argued that John Wick’s resilience is an important aspect of his character, adding, “You got to suffer. That’s what’s fun about John Wick. He suffers, and he keeps going.”
Whether or not John Wick will actually keep going remains to be seen. After all, John Wick 4 was the anticipated finale of the main franchise, but Lionsgate appears to have shifted its position and put John Wick 5 back on the drawing board after the fourth film’s box office triumph.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.
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