The Flu Couldn't Stop Keanu Reeves From Filming John Wick's Most Brutal Scene
Before Keanu Reeves established himself as the action hero powerhouse we all know, the actor had to be convinced to do his own stunts for 1994's "Speed." Director Jan de Bont told The Huffington Post that Reeves thought a stunt involving his character jumping from a moving car to a bus was "way too dangerous," and only agreed to do it after de Bont told him it was "basically like stepping onto an escalator."
The director said that having actors perform stunts was "more realistic" and allowed the audience to "understand why the actor or the character reacts in a certain way." By the time Reeves came to star in 1999's "The Matrix," not only did he not require any convincing to do his own stunts, but he'd basically adopted the view of his "Speed" director as his own guiding principle. Suddenly, he was throwing himself in harm's way, telling Wired that when directors The Wachowskis told him they wanted him to train for four months prior to filming, "I got a big grin on my face and said, 'Yes.'"
"The Matrix" helped form the foundation for Reeves' now well-established reputation as a sci-fi actor who does his own stunts. But he wasn't quite his own stunt double back in 1999, despite performing many of the films' most dangerous feats. His actual stunt double at the time was Chad Stahelski, who along with fellow stunt choreographer and performer David Leitch would co-direct 2014's Reeves-starring "John Wick." By that point, the actor had evolved into basically being his own stuntman, fulfilling Jan de Bont's vision of actors throwing themselves into perilous situations in the name of realism. But even Stahelski and Leitch, who'd worked with Reeves prior to the first "John Wick" were shocked by the actor's commitment during filming.
'Best guy in the business'
These days, Keanu Reeves could easily claim to be one of the most committed action stars, thanks in large part to the "John Wick" franchise. The man has battled his way across the globe as the beleaguered assassin, performing almost all the gun-fu combat himself. He did, however, stop short of throwing himself down the Sacré-Cœr staircase in Paris for "John Wick: Chapter 4" (that treat was left for John Wick double Vincent Bouillon, who fell down the giant set of steps an incredible four times).
But since the series kicked off in 2014, Reeves has been unusually driven. His committed performance as Baba Yaga revitalized his career and cemented his standing as one of the great action heroes. But it wasn't just that Reeves was performing most of the action and combat himself. The actor was so committed he even fought his way through the flu to keep production rolling.
In the director's commentary for the film, David Leitch and Chad Stahelski recalled how Reeves shot the nightclub scene, in which John Wick fights his way through a club to get to Alfie Allen's Iosef, while sick. Stahelski said, "We were pretty dialed in that it was gonna be Keanu [performing the action]. He actually had the flu and about a 103-degree fever. He had it rough, all the days to be ill."
Leitch added that Reeves was "really sick during this whole sequence," but apparently, you'd never have known it even if you were on the set. As Stahelski said, "You couldn't even get him to sit down. He just did take after take," adding: "You can't film sequences like this unless you've got a cast member that goes through so much training, and that's Keanu. Best guy in the business for that."
Keanu Reeves basically is John Wick
Fighting hordes of thugs with a 103-degree fever was probably the most committed thing Keanu Reeves did filming "John Wick." But much like when he so quickly agreed to train for four months ahead of filming "The Matrix," he was all-in from the beginning. Reeves even went full method for even the sledgehammer scene, in which Wick unearths his buried trove of hitman gear. The actor has talked about wanting to play a "full-bloodied" character with "John Wick," and clearly felt passionate about the role to the extent he wanted to be the one swinging the sledgehammer as well as the guy meting out the finely-choreographed punishment.
But by that point, he'd already established himself as a committed action star. "John Wick" and its sequels became symbolic of that aspect of his approach to filmmaking. With the "John Wick" franchise, Reeves clearly pushed himself to go beyond anything he'd done before in terms of performing his own action scenes and stunts. By the third movie, he was basically doing (almost) everything himself. During the press run for "John Wick: Chapter 3," Reeves claimed he did about 90% of the action.
Unfortunately, the actor's zealousness has occasionally led to some on-set accidents, such as the time Reeves sliced open a stuntman's head on the set of "John Wick: Chapter 4." But then, that movie sounds like it was a real ordeal to shoot in general, what with stuntmen throwing themselves down giant staircases and getting hit by actual cars. It's a good thing the star is just as much of a daredevil as his crew, then.