John Wick: Chapter 4 Nearly Cut Fan-Favorite Fight Sequence
Each entry into the John Wick franchise has delivered audiences high-octane action that takes fight choreography to new heights, with John Wick: Chapter 4 arguably amplifying the intensity to the franchise's peak. One notable scene featured Keanu Reeves' Wick wiping out thugs with a weapon discharging explosive rounds, making it one of the film's standout sequences, though director Chad Stahelski recently recalled how the sequence was nearly scrapped, as the scene without completed visual effects wasn't nearly as impressive. Luckily, Stahelski fought for the scene to be completed, with its inclusion making for one of the most talked-about action scenes of the year. John Wick: Chapter 4 is in theaters now.
"When you see the top shot without all the cool effects and you don't see any of the Dragon's Breath coming out with the muzzle flashes, what do you think is on the cutting table? Until pretty much the end, that was on the list that a lot of other people thought we should cut," Stahelski confirmed with Vulture. "It wasn't until we put in the temp visual effects that people go, 'Oh, f-ck. We didn't think it was going to be anything like that.' And I'm like, 'Good thing we didn't cut it.'"
While the entire series has seen stylized violence and visuals, the Dragon's Breath sequence took things to new heights, taking some liberties with reality to deliver the spectacular sequence. Stahelski himself detailed how the original approach to the sequence was reality underwhelming, until he earned some inspiration from an unlikely source.
"The staircase I knew I could own because it was a metaphor for Sisyphus rolling the boulder up the hill and being knocked down. We had that dialed in; we had the Arc de Triomphe dialed in," Stahelski confirmed. "The apartment fight wasn't clicking. It was just a fight in an apartment. And I'm like, 'How do we shift perspective?'"
After admitting that the 2019 video game Hong Kong Massacre provided the "special sauce" on how to bring the scene to life, Stahelski continued, "There was a visual there that shouldn't have made sense but did ... It was part video game, part anime, part cinematic experience."
John Wick: Chapter 4 is in theaters now.
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