Keanu Reeves Gifted John Wick 4 Stuntmen Something Fancy And Something Grim
This post contains spoilers for "John Wick: Chapter 4"
John Wick has racked up an impressive kill count over four movies. Distractify has his total body count at 439, and considering franchise director Chad Stahelski confirmed the first three films take place over the course of a week or so, that's an insane amount of foes dispatched in relatively quick succession. With "John Wick: Chapter 4," Keanu Reeves' hitman outdid himself yet again, adding a further 140 or so bodies to his tally. And with the fourth installment supposedly taking place six months or so after the third, that's 439 kills in about six months' time — a total most action heroes can't rival.
But that's what we come to "John Wick" movies for — a seemingly never-ending series of elaborate and effortless kills, most of which come as Wick demonstrates his unique gun-fu style, taking out thug after thug in a flurry of impressively choreographed violence. In fact, you wouldn't be crazy to think his kill count was higher than 439 considering just how devoted these films are to presenting impressive, high body-count fight scenes.
Of course, anyone who's seen the behind-the-scenes video of the stunt performer tumbling down an escalator on "John Wick: Chapter 4" will know that none of these scenes are easy to make. Reeves even managed to slice open a stuntman's head while filming "Chapter 4," with the actor also revealing that one unfortunate individual was hit by a car during production. After all that, it's no surprise the star of the John Wick saga went out of his way to show his appreciation for his stunt crew. Interestingly enough, he did so with gifts that combined the very same slickness and brutality that his film series is known for.
Class and carnage
We've been in the midst of a protracted "Keanaissance" ever since 2014 — which likely helped "John Wick: Chapter 4" at the box office. Everyone loves Keanu Reeves, especially the very online contingent of our society, who've been celebrating the man's kind spirit and effortless badassery for the better part of a decade now. So of course, the movie star known for his selflessness was going to express his gratitude for the "Chapter 4" stunt performers.
And according to Maxim that gratitude came in the form of four Rolex Submariner watches, which Reeves gifted to stunt performers when the movie wrapped filming back in 2021. According to the report, the custom timepieces "featured personalized engravings — including the inscription 'JW4 2021' — Oystersteel cases and bracelets, black unidirectional Cerachrom bezels and color-matched dials, and Rolex's signature cyclops magnifying lens." All of which sound very fancy. Naturally, he had to balance out all the refinery with something a bit more representative of John Wick's penchant for violence.
Which, according to the New York Times, he did this in stylish fashion when he gave out customized t-shirts to each of the 35 "John Wick: Chapter 4" stunt performers involved in the now famous Paris stair scene at the climax of the film. Each shirt reportedly featured the number of times every stunt performer had been "killed" by Reeves' assassin during filming, with some apparently having been slain more than 20 times.
Chapter 4 stepped things up
With its almost 3-hour runtime, "John Wick: Chapter 4" really delivered on its promise of ratcheting up the action, providing a bigger canvas for John Wick to splatter with the blood of his enemies. But it wasn't just that the body count that went up. Chad Stahelski, himself a former stunt performer, pushed his inventiveness this time around, working with his team to develop some truly unique action scenes that included a video game-inspired top-down sequence and stunt performers being hit by cars multiple times during the intense Arc De Triomphe set piece.
Having put their stunt team through the wringer with "John Wick: Chapter 4," then, it's not surprising Keanu Reeves wanted to express his gratitude, and the Rolex gifts particularly show the extent to which he was aware of their hard work. Of course, it helps that Reeves is known for performing his own stunts and combat, so he didn't necessarily have to be so generous considering he was in the midst of the action along with the stunt team.
With "Chapter 4" becoming the highest-grossing R-rated movie since "Bad Boys For Life," there's been a lot of speculation about a potential "John Wick: Chapter 5." Whether that will happen depends on if they can figure out a convincing way to bring back the departed Wick and if Stahelski and Reeves are willing to sign up for another installment. As of now, there's no official word on another sequel, but if it does happen, it will be truly fascinating to see how they manage to push things further than they did with "Chapter 4." Whatever fresh hell they put the stunt team through next time around, Reeves will probably have to buy everyone a house to show his appreciation.