The John Wick 2 Death Scene That Studio Executives Wanted To Change

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Directors having to fight for creative decisions is nothing new. But there is perhaps a belief that if something works and a filmmaker is invited back to make a sequel, they will be left alone (or, at least, bothered less) to bring their vision to life. However, that wasn't exactly the case with "John Wick: Chapter 2." As director Chad Stahelski has revealed, Lionsgate executives badly wanted to change one of the film's key death scenes.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Staheski was speaking on behalf of the release of the documentary "Wick is Pain" when he mentioned that the studio wasn't happy about the death of Gianna (Claudia Gerini). The character, as you may recall, is the member of the High Table that Mr. Wick (Keanu Reeves) is tasked with killing to honor his marker in the second "John Wick" movie. Rather than allow herself to be taken out by Wick, she slashes her own wrists while John watches and does nothing to intervene. He then shoots her in the head so as to both ease her pain and fulfill his marker.

For what it's worth, this striking, bizarre death scene in "Chapter 2" was actually Reeves' idea in the first place. Be that as it may, when it came time to put the film together, Stahelski had to fight to keep the scene in the movie as they designed it. Here's what he had to say on the matter:

"On 'John Wick 2,' there was disagreement with someone very high up in the studio over John Wick doing euthanasia-assist to a character called Gianna (Claudia Gerini). It was, 'Oh my God, we can't have John Wick just kill her!' We're not killing her. She had already slit her wrists, and John Wick offers a way out that's more honorable. They wanted two versions. We came out of the test screening and the audience was way more on board with what's in the final film. The executive didn't miss a beat, they just went, 'You were right, I was wrong.'"

"John Wick" may be one of Lionsgate's crown jewel franchises now, but it wasn't always that way. The first "John Wick" was a relatively modest, low-budget hit. Each subsequent entry in the film series became a much bigger success than the last, but during production on "Chapter 2," the studio had no way of knowing that was going to be the case. The movie was far more risky than "John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum" or "Chapter 4" in that way. So, some creative squabbles were to be expected.

Still, Stahelski got his way. The director also made it clear though that convincing a studio that something is going to work is rarely easy. "If I said to you, for 'John Wick 3,' 'I'm not going to do anything that's worked before, I'm going to have a bunch of dogs that bite crotches, and I'm going to kill 186 people.' Are you going to give me $100 million for that?" Stahelski mused. He then explained how he's learned to handle such matters in practice:

"If I give you the script, believe me, it reads worse than that pitch sounds. But in my head it makes sense. It used to come down to me being a big enough a**hole but, sometimes, the a**hole route doesn't work. So, now I'm a lot more patient. I go, 'Listen, this idea could go south, it's super weird, just give me two weeks with my stunt team and then watch a video.' Later, they're like, 'Oh, that looks cool.' Then everybody takes credit for everything. But nobody thinks half our ideas are going to work."

Stahelski has undoubtedly proven himself at this point. "John Wick" is now a $1 billion franchise that encompasses multiple sequels along with the spin-off movie "Ballerina." Lionsgate also has several more spin-offs in the works, as well as a possible "John Wick 5." Stahelski and Reeves will be leading the way, perhaps with fewer fights over the creative direction. But when this much money is involved, people are always going to have opinions. The best any director can hope for is that the right idea wins.

You can grab the "John Wick: 4-Film Collection" from Amazon.