If Keanu Reeves’ dog-loving hitman had stuck to his original body count, the John Wick franchise might never have made it past the first film. According to director Chad Stahelski, the Baba Yaga was a far less violent soul in the original draft, which at one point went by a completely different name.
Speaking to Comic Book about the new documentary Wick Is Pain, which chronicles the journey of the now billion-dollar Keanu Reeves-starring franchise, Stahelski recalled how he initially didn’t feel needed for the project, considering that the star’s suit-wearing warrior only had a couple of kills to his name when the project crossed his desk. “I swear to God that the first day it’s called Scorn. I think John Wick only killed two people. I think it was like two or three people or something like that,” explained the director. “It was very contained, Cold War kind of thing. And I said, ‘Look, this is great, but like, you don’t want us, like, it’d be no problem to help you, but you don’t need us. Like, it’s not that kind of movie where you need, like, our whole team and cost you millions of dollars.’”
Nevertheless, Reeves gave Stahelski a nudge, asking him to spruce up the story and turn up the action, urging his friend and former stunt double to direct the film and send Mr. Wick on a different path. One with guns, lots of guns. “He’s like, ‘Well, what if you direct it?’ And I was like, ‘Well, I don’t think there’s a lot of second unit here. Like, you know what I mean? It’s one little car thing.’ He’s like, ‘No, no direct movie.’”
The rest, as they say, is history. Scorn took on a new name and a far more violent approach that struck a nerve with audiences, leading to three sequels (and one in the making) and a spin-off this year in the form of Ballerina, which may never have happened if John had stopped at two or three people. Was it the right decision? In the wise words of the titular hero, we’re going to say, yeah. To see where the Wick movies rank in the stars’ best films (they’re pretty high, in case you’re wondering), check out our list of the best Keanu Reeves movies here.
