It wouldn’t be a “John Wick” movie if an unfathomable number of faceless villains didn’t die prematurely. As much as each film cements John Wick’s reputation as the world’s deadliest assassin, you can always be sure that the next one will feature plenty of delusional assassins who think they can get the latest price on his head. But of course, going after John Wick is a choice that very few survive.
At this point, so many people die in every “John Wick” movie that each of the stuntmen is forced to take on multiple roles to keep from completely depleting Hollywood’s stockpile of stuntmen. “John Wick: Chapter 4” upped the ante with its three-hour running time and worldwide assassination story, claiming more deaths than ever before. So the stunt team worked overtime – but the film’s star made sure to show his gratitude for the victims.
New profile The New York Times revealed that after production on “John Wick: Chapter 4,” Keanu Reeves found a unique way to thank the stunt doubles he pretended to kill countless times. He presented each of the film’s 35 stuntmen with a shirt bearing the exact number of those who died on screen in the film. Some performers died more than 20 times, while one person died “five to six times” in the final battle sequence alone.
While t-shirts make great gifts, there’s probably one thing the “John Wick: Chapter 4” stunt team wants even more: an Oscar. Franchise director Chad Stahelski recently outlined why he thinks it’s time for the Academy Awards to start recognizing stunt performers.
“There’s not a single arguable reason not to have stunts at the Oscars,” Stahelski said. “No one will deny that we are at least equal to every other department. We are part of every film, just like the music, the costumes, the technical achievements, the direction or the cinematographer are part of the Hollywood story. And no one who works in the departments will deny this. I just don’t think we talked.”
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