John Wick Financiers Pushed Back On 1 Keanu Reeves Character Detail, Recalls Director

John Wick directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch detail how the film’s financiers pushed back on one detail regarding Keanu Reeves’ character. Directed by Stahelski and Leitch, though the latter was uncredited, the 2014 action film follows the relatively simple story of a legendary assassin who comes out of retirement to seek revenge against the men who killed his puppy, which was a final gift from his late wife. The movie was a surprise success and launched a successful franchise, with Reeves returning as John Wick for three sequels from 2017 to 2023.

During a recent interview with Business Insider for the 10th anniversary of John Wick, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch detailed how the film’s financiers pushed back on one detail regarding Keanu Reeves’ character. The filmmakers fought with financiers over John Wick’s beard because the studio preferred a clean-shaven look for recognizability and international appeal, though the directors insisted on the beard to differentiate the character from Reeves’ past roles. After initial resistance, the studio embraced the decision once they saw the footage. Read their full comments below:

Stahelski: Absolutely. We were trying to do a modern-day Greek mythology fantasy movie. That’s not mainstream. So we wanted to do something cool with Keanu. 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.

Leitch: I don’t want to get into it, but since then I have had contentious conversations about stars having facial hair. “He needs to be clean-shaven for international!” That’s the classic studio line.

Stahelski: We wanted people to think, “Oh, this is not the Keanu we know.” We caught a lot of shit. But 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.

What John Wick’s Beard Meant For The Movie

The Directors Wanted To Reinvent Keanu Reeves

Directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch fought to keep John Wick’s beard because they wanted to reinvent Keanu Reeves and make audiences think, “Oh, this is not the Keanu we know.” At the time, in 2014, Reeves’ career was declining due to several box-office disappointments. Stahelski and Leitch cast Reeves not because they wanted the action star that audiences knew and loved from Speed and Point Break, who happened to be clean-shaven, but because they wanted to reinvent the actor as an aging, rugged assassin, and the beard helped with that characterization.

The film’s financiers wanted John Wick to be clean-shaven so Reeves was more recognizable to audiences as the action star from Speed and Point Break. However, the directors had good reason for John Wick’s beard, as his rugged and more unkept appearance was a fundamental aspect of the character and meant to represent his feelings of grief and loss. However, it wasn’t until after seeing the first footage that the film’s financiers eventually embraced John Wick’s beard.

Our Take On John Wick’s Beard

It Became A Crucial Part Of The Character

It’s a good thing that Chad Stahelski and David Leitch won the fight with the film’s financiers to keep John Wick’s beard. The character’s rugged appearance not only distinguished this reinvented version of Keanu Reeves from his sleek action hero roles in Point Break and Speed, but also added layers to the character, his unkept appearance symbolizing his grief and loss, ultimately making him feel more authentic. Today, it would be difficult to imagine John Wick without a beard. It was a small decision that helped define him as an iconic character.

Source: Business Insider

John Wick is the first entry in the action-thriller franchise directed by Chad Stahelski and starring Keanu Reeves. Retired hitman John is brought back into the field when the dog his recently deceased life left him is murdered. Full of rage and equipped with unparalleled combat skills, John begins to track down the ones responsible for the act of violence and lays waste to any who dare to cross his path, sending panic throughout the criminal underworld.

Director

David Leitch
, Chad Stahelski

Release Date

October 24, 2014

Studio(s)

Thunder Road Pictures
, 87Eleven Productions

Distributor(s)

Summit Entertainment

Writers

Derek Kolstad

Runtime

101 Minutes

Budget

$20-30 Million

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