John Wick's Director Spent Thousands Of Dollars On A Single Shot Of Dog Poop
Going into filming the action fantasia that is "John Wick: Chapter 4", franchise director Chad Stahelski had some big challenges to overcome. How the hell do you shoot a fight scene at the Arc de Triomphe at the height of rush hour? How do you shoot a video-game-inspired top-down sequence that requires John Wick to unleash a firestorm of incendiary "dragon's breath" ammo and looks like it was shot in one long take? And perhaps most challenging of all, how do you top three previous films which elevated action to an art form, influencing a whole era of similar films as a result?
Stahelski was used to tackling such issues. Back when "John Wick" was yet to make its 2014 debut, he and co-director David Leitch were basically making what was supposed to be a meager B-movie style project with a star whose then most recent movie — "47 Ronin" — was a bonafide box office bomb. What's more, the directors had to fight for the long takes used in the film's fight scenes, which seems crazy considering that style came to define action movie-making in the post-"John Wick" world. It was all part of maintaining a sense of reality for the all-important combat, allowing audiences to see that Reeves really performed all the action himself.
Thankfully, Stahelski and Leitch pushed ahead despite there being no guarantee of "John Wick" enjoying the success it eventually did. With its electric gun-fu combat and simultaneous embrace and subversion of action movie tropes, however, the film struck a chord, birthing a whole action franchise and innumerable imitators. But amid the struggles to overcome lackluster expectations and establish a whole new way of choreographing action, there were lesser issues — one of which had to do with having a dog poop convincingly.
The most expensive dog poop in cinema history
Chad Stahelski and David Leitch deserve praise for establishing what has basically become an action sub-genre with "John Wick," wherein an essentially invincible yet underestimated action hero reveals him or herself to be the certified badass they are by way of expertly choreographed fight scenes that use long takes and a mix of martial arts and John Woo-style gun-fu. But that doesn't mean the directors did everything right. In fact, you could argue they're behind one of the most unnecessary uses of CGI in film history.
In the director's commentary for "John Wick," the pair recall shooting the film's early scenes where the titular assassin is gifted a puppy by his late wife. After speaking about how they used traditional techniques to get the shots they needed — bacon on Reeves' beard so the dog would lick his face etc. — the co-directors are confronted with a brief shot of the ill-fated pup relieving himself on John Wick's lawn. As it turns out, there was nothing traditional about this shot, which was actually "achieved" using CGI.
After Leitch comments on the "visual effects poop," Stahelski announces that the production "got a deal on it," before Leitch clarifies that the shot in question cost the co-directors "five grand." Yes, you read that right. Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, who'd gone to great lengths to make the rest of their film feel as gritty and realistic as possible, spent $5,000 on CGI poop. For what it's worth, Stahelski did provide a slightly ominous explanation by claiming that "they wouldn't let us give laxatives to the puppy." The use of the phrase "let us" implies the pair intended to feed the poor pup medicine to get the shot they wanted before they were told not to.
Maybe at least try some prop poop?
Even more worrying than the money they spent or their apparent intentions to feed laxatives to a puppy is the fact that, as David Leitch states in the commentary, he and Chad Stahelski "turned that shot back in about 25 times," suggesting they not only spent five grand on dog defecation but then spent an inordinate amount of time tailoring the final version to their liking.
Is this the most ridiculous usage of CGI in history? It's certainly a strong contender. In terms of the "John Wick" franchise, it wouldn't be the first CGI debacle, however. In "John Wick: Chapter 4," the VFX team had to spend time removing Keanu Reeve's finger throughout the film's three hours, due to the fact his character chopped it off in "John Wick: Chapter 3" to show his loyalty to the High Table. As visual effects supervisors Jonathan Rothbart and Janelle Croshaw Ralla explained, the star was forced to don a special black finger or "chef condom" in order to make its digital removal easier. But while that might seem like some overly meticulous work for very little payoff, even the finger CGI doesn't compare to a $5,000 shot of CGI dog poop.
Could prop poop have been used for this super-quick shot of the dog doing his thing? Yes. Yes, it could.