Keanu Reeves Significantly Changed John Wick When He Signed On To The Project

Keanu Reeves ‘ John Wick has become something of an icon in the world of action movies. The first John Wick movie in 2014 became a commercial hit quite unexpectedly and the 2 sequels that followed were a result of the success of the first film. There is currently a fourth chapter of the franchise in the works which is slated to be released on March 24, 2023. But the franchise that blew up to be such a big pop culture phenomenon was actually not initially envisioned in the way that it was presented to the audience in the end. Not even close.

The initial write-ups for John Wick imagined the character as a 75-year-old as opposed to the eventual 35-year-old that was featured in the movie. It was decided that John Wick would be an old assassin who would have been retired for about 25 years before he is forced back into action. The picture of John Wick that the writers had was something similar to a Clint Eastwood or a Harrison Ford type character. However, when Keanu Reeves signed on to the project one of the first initiatives that he took was sitting with screenwriter Derek Kolstad and changing John Wick from a 75-year-old to a 35-year-old.

The change served the obvious purpose of allowing Reeves to play the character with ease but it also fitted better to the plot as was obvious from the final product which made millions at the box office.

The first John Wick film saw the character retired from the life of an assassin and trying to cope with the grief of the death of his wife. He is forced back into his past life when a gang member murders his dog that was left to John Wick by his wife. John Wick had hoped to get away from his dark life with his wife however that journey was short-lived and the death of his dog signified him losing all hope of ever escaping it. The part where the time away from his assassin life was so short-lived was the part that broke the most hearts and made the motivations of John Wick all the more compelling.

Hence, it was Keanu’s edits to the scripts in addition to his amazing performance in the movie that helped turned the project into what it has become today.