Keanu Reeves‘ beard was a prickly subject for “John Wick” financiers. Franchise directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch revealed there’s an uncommon motive why the backers of their motion traditional had been anti-facial hair.
Throughout an interview with Enterprise Insider discussing the tenth anniversary of the 2014 movie, Stahelski recalled the “John Wick” group having “caught a lot of shit” for wanting Reeves’ character to have a beard.
“We felt you can’t fire us, so first day of shooting, we had Keanu in the beard, and later that week, when they watched the dailies, with cinematographer Jonathan Sela’s now-famous half-light shots, people fucking loved it,” Stahelski stated.
So what was their objection? A drained one. Leitch stated they got the “classic studio line” that Reeves “needs to be clean-shaven for international” audiences.
“We wanted to do something cool with Keanu,” Stahelski stated. “But the money people, they wanted to see Keanu fucking Reeves. ‘Point Break’ Keanu, ‘Speed’ Keanu. And I don’t know if this exists anymore, but at the time we were told by the powers that be you don’t cover up your leading man’s face with a beard.”
He added that the unique movie was “trying to do a modern-day Greek mythology fantasy movie” that was decidedly “not mainstream,” and the beard was half of that.
“I don’t want to get into it, but since then I have had contentious conversations about stars having facial hair,” Leitch stated.
Reeves’ beard wasn’t the one onscreen accent that precipitated “John Wick” financiers to balk. Leitch and Stahelski additionally stated they weren’t allowed to kill off Wick’s canine.
“We were told, ‘It’s bad luck.’ ‘It’s bad juju.’ ‘It’s ‘Old Yeller,’ you can’t do this!’” Leitch stated. “‘No one will want to see this on screen; you’re going to alienate the audience.’ And I’m like, ‘We’re going to execute people at close range; killing the dog is one thing, but what about the brutal massacre of all these human beings? Are they going to be able to accept that?’”
Leitch stated there have been individuals who simply “didn’t understand” this was purported to be a style film full with memorable, hard-boiled moments, particularly John Wick getting revenge on the world as a result of somebody killed his canine.
What’s worse, it was strongly urged that they do one thing even worse than shaving Reeves’ beard: shoot an alternate ending the place the canine lives.
“For the next couple of weeks it was suggested that we shoot an alternative ending revealing that the puppy actually isn’t dead,” Stahelski stated. “But Keanu stood up for us. Eventually, they just felt, ‘Fuck it, let’s see what these guys can do.’”
Stahelski and Leitch turned out to be proper. The Wick movies have been one of Lionsgate’s most profitable current franchises, with “John Wick 4” bringing in $440 million worldwide. Subsequent summer time, Reeves will return within the spinoff movie “Ballerina” starring Ana de Armas, which takes place in between the occasions of the third and fourth movies.