The Original John Wick Had A Surprisingly Shocking Number Of Kills

Since there have been action movies there have been icons of the genre, from the adventurers of the 1950s serials on which Indiana Jones was based to the ultra-macho action heroes of the 1980s. In the 2020s, arguably the epitome of the modern action hero is John Wick. That's not to say we're not inundated with similarly tough, seemingly unkillable examples of the archetype. From Alan Ritchson's "Reacher" to pretty much any role played by Jason Statham, we're surrounded by invulnerable badasses whose punching and shooting skills are unmatched. Interestingly enough, Ritchson himself has commented on what modern action heroes get wrong, highlighting this sense that these characters just can't be defeated as a major flaw that lowers the stakes.

The John Wick franchise itself is arguably to blame for much of this. Since 2014's "John Wick," the character has simply become more and more overpowered, besting entire hordes of thugs to the point that /Film's Witney Seibold summed up 2023's "John Wick: Chapter 4" as proof that an action movie can have too much action.

But that doesn't mean the first installment was any sort of tame action outing. The film introduced Reeves' hitman as an unstoppable force feared by criminals the world over. In fact, John Wick kills a total of 77 people in the first movie as opposed to 51 in the sequel (by the fourth installment he was up to 140). The body count of a "John Wick" movie has since become a defining element of the saga, which is why it's particularly surprising to hear that the script for the first film was originally a much different movie in that regard.

When "John Wick" first debuted in 2014, the film seemed destined for B-movie status rather than becoming the defining action franchise of the 2010s and 2020s. Keanu Reeves was experiencing a career lull having starred in the massive bomb that was 2013's "47 Ronin" and eventual distributors Lionsgate proved to be a hard sell when it came to "John Wick." Happily, the sleekly-shot and finely-choreographed action spearheaded by co-directors and former stuntmen Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, made "John Wick" a solid hit, and enthusiasm for the movies has only increased since.

But had Stahelski not pushed for changes to the original script, it's likely none of that would have happened. The director, who had previously served as Reeves' stunt double on "The Matrix," spoke about the very first screenplay in an interview with Comicbook.com, revealing that it contained just three kills as opposed to the 77 that made it into the final cut. "I think [Keanu Reeves] sent [the script] to me on a Friday and I read it maybe that day and thought about it over the weekend," he explained. "It was much more contained. I think only three people died in the original script, two were in a car crash. It was very, very minimal, and it was slightly different."

Stahelski had some thoughts on the story, explaining how he'd "always had this idea about Greek mythology and how to tell more a fablestic kind of story." The director then pushed to make "John Wick" more of "a surreal action movie" and was ultimately influenced by Reeves' own fighting style. As Stahelski put it, "Every time Keanu moves, he does two half circles. He's killed five guys. So I got to keep using more and more stunt guys [...] Just by its very nature, because the scene grows, the body count grows."

It was Keanu Reeves who initially got Chad Stahelski and David Leitch onboard for "John Wick." After reading the script, he sent it to his stunt performer friends and they agreed it would make a good project to help them transition to directing. It was arguably at that point that the franchise was destined to become what it ultimately represents today — one long excuse to showcase some of the finest action choreography in Hollywood.

As Stahelski has since revealed, the comically long fight scenes in "John Wick" movies are intentionally that way in order to make fun of the action genre. The director told RogerEbert.com that this was essentially the "whole gag" and that the "theme of this John Wick mythology" was "excess." As such, the original "John Wick" was never going to be a muted affair in terms of on-screen kills. It's genuinely difficult to think of the movie working without the hitman leaving a trail of bodies in his wake, both in terms of what Stahelski said about excess being so integral to the series and the fact that the bad guys kill John Wick's puppy, which surely required an absolute bloodbath in order to satisfy both John and the audience's desire for revenge.

With that in mind, I'd like to see exactly what the original script contained. What was the point of the film if not to showcase Keanu Reeves' laying waste to entire gangs? Was he more of a Batman-type figure, maiming and injuring his enemies without finishing the job? If so, I think it's fair to say the series might not have lasted as long as it has, though the box office opening for spin-off "Ballerina" suggests the whole "excess" thing has worn thin by this point.