John Wick 3's Shinobi Actors Had To Be As Stealthy As Real Ninjas
Keanu Reeves' retired hitman has overcome countless obstacles while carving a bloody path of vengeance throughout each and every "John Wick" movie. As if having his dog murdered and his sweet ride stolen by Theon Greyjoy (of all people!) wasn't bad enough, he then had to fend off both Ruby Rose and Common, NBA basketball star Boban Marjanović, and practically every contract killer in the world as he attempted to stay one step ahead of everyone else during the subsequent sequels. While the upcoming "John Wick: Chapter 4" will pit our favorite reluctant assassin against even more formidable foes, "John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum" also upped the ante considerably back in 2019 — notably through the addition of the Shinobi, a pair of ninja assassins played by Cecep Arif Rahman and Yayan Ruhian.
In an interview with Collider published before the release of "Chapter 3," Reeves opened up about all the ways that director Chad Stahelski set the threequel apart from the rest of the pack. He singled out the hand-to-hand melee between Wick and both Shinobi warriors in particular, saying that:
"So, it's a kind of glass office, which I think is inverting the idea of the mirrors that was in the second one. There's a lot of tech to this, in terms of the scale, the way it's shaped. The anamorphic lenses — all of the lensing. Conceptually, it's transparent, but there is ways to hide in it. There is really extraordinary lighting that's happening."
But while the set dressing and technical details will appeal to a certain kind of filmmaking nerd, audiences came away impressed by the stunts, choreography, and visceral thrills provided by all three actors at the top of their game.
'Because it's John Wick, there's no cheating'
Chad Stahelski, Keanu Reeves, and the rest of the cast and crew of the "John Wick" franchise take pride in delivering hard-hitting stunts working in perfect concert with the vigorous filmmaking challenges of setting up and pulling off every ambitious set piece. So when it came time to throw ninjas into the action, well, everyone involved wanted to make it as "real" as possible. That meant playing up their almost supernatural abilities to fade away into the darkness at will and reappear almost out of nowhere to gain the upper hand on Wick.
While being interviewed on the set of the movie, Reeves had this to say:
"So, we've got Ninjas. Chad loves ninjas, so we've got some ninjas. They've been really doing some cool stuff with characters, assassins that are blending into backgrounds. Because it's 'John Wick,' there's no cheating, so they're really in a shot and you don't see them until they come running up. Were you watching the monitors on the last sequence? That was one of the easier ones. Just someone running out of the darkness."
Talk about committing to the bit! We heard plenty of stories at the time about the training required for the dog-centric scenes with Halle Berry or Reeves riding an actual horse for real through the streets of New York City. It's simply par for the course that actors Cecep Arif Rahman and Yayan Ruhian had to do their best ninja impression to shoot one of the most impressive sequences in "Chapter 3."
"John Wick: Chapter 4" will smash its way into theaters on March 24, 2023.