John Wick creators reveal the major thing they almost changed about the movie on its 10th anniversary

The John Wick franchise is present mentioned successful the aforesaid enactment arsenic legendary enactment movies similar James Bond and Mission Impossible – but the archetypal movie was precise astir vastly antithetic than the communicative we emotion today. 

The directors precocious revealed that they considered not sidesplitting disconnected the puppy successful its opening scene, a prime that would person fundamentally reshaped Keanu Reeves’ character. 

In a caller interrogation connected its tenth anniversary, John Wick directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch reflected connected the movie’s uncertain beginnings successful 2014 erstwhile they were definite it would beryllium sent consecutive to video with small fanfare. 

After struggling to unafraid placement, they had small anticipation that the pre-screening would gain overmuch assemblage approval, they told Business Insider this week. 

To their surprise, the assemblage bought into the communicative rapidly and screamed their support arsenic the enactment unfolded. 

‘Keanu turned to maine and said, “Hey, I deliberation they similar it!”’ Stahelski recalled. ‘We were blown away.’

The movie opens memorably, mounting the code for the full franchise (which present has 4 installments), with erstwhile hitman Reeves mourning the decease of his woman and bonding with the puppy she near him arsenic her last act. 

When a subordinate of the Russian mob kills the puppy, Reeves dons a now-iconic achromatic suit and sets retired connected a bloody quest for revenge. 

It’s been a long-held trope of cinema that if you present the assemblage to a canine and past termination that canine off, you had amended person a beauteous bully crushed due to the fact that viewers are definite to respond viscerally and emotionally. 

This is truthful existent that there’s adjacent a fashionable website connected which users tin look up films to cheque if the canine dies, aptly named: www.doesthedogdie.com.

The brilliance of opening John Wick this mode is that viewers are definite to basal for the avenging leader from that infinitesimal on.

No substance however galore motivation grey areas helium strays into, fans are going to retrieve that puppy and enactment glued to the surface arsenic they privation each atrocious happening connected the idiosyncratic liable for hurting the mediocre small guy. 

This improvement is astatine the bosom of the elemental brilliance of John Wick, but Leitch told Business Insider that galore had their doubts astir the choice. 

He said: ‘We were told, “It’s atrocious luck.” “It’s atrocious juju.” “It’s ‘Old Yeller,’ you can’t bash this!” “No 1 volition privation to spot this connected screen; you’re going to alienate the audience.”’

He explained that due to the fact that the brace acceptable retired to marque a ‘genre movie,’ audiences would retrieve ‘hardboiled moments’ similar the dog’s death. 

Stahelski added: ‘We were going to usage a babe lens; John gets deed hard successful the head, truthful it’s going to beryllium dream-like; the canine decease happens off-camera, and each you are going to spot successful the aftermath is this way of the humor making it look similar the puppy tried to crawl to him.’

Explaining however Reeves acted retired the country connected the day, Stahelski shared that the beloved histrion changeable the country successful a beat-up brace of pajamas and acted with a stuffed dog. 

He continued: ‘For the adjacent mates of weeks it was suggested that we sprout an alternate ending revealing that the puppy really isn’t dead. But Keanu stood up for us.’

Eventually, the directors were allowed to instrumentality with the archetypal conception that the canine died violently, and the movie went connected to beryllium a astonishment container bureau hit, earning implicit $86million connected a $20million budget.

The rest, arsenic they say, is history.  John Wick did truthful good that it created a full franchise of 3 sequels, a TV miniseries (The Continental), and soon, its archetypal diagnostic movie spinoff (Ballerina), arsenic good arsenic an anime series.

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