For nearly 30 years, Chad Stahelski has built his resume into one of the most expansive amongst Hollywood’s leading stuntmen. After serving as Keanu Reeves’ stunt double for The Matrix trilogy and dozens of other jobs, Stahelski got his big break with the Reeves-starring John Wick franchise. After directing the original Wick film with long-time collaborator David Leitch, Stahelski was the solo director on the franchise’s two sequels and in a matter of months, he hopes to start production on John Wick: Chapter 4.
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In recent years, Stahelski’s also helped out in a handful of cape features, serving as a second unit director on both Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Civil War and Warner’s Birds of Prey. If he ever got his chance to helm his own superhero flick, however, Stahelski tells ComicBook.com he’d love getting to sit in the director’s chair for the upcoming Blade reboot.
“As far as doing my own, I’m not a gigantic superhero guy, but I enjoy the movies,” tells us. “I love the Avengers. I loved Captain America. I like James Gunn’s take on Guardians. I really dig him as a director and what he’s done with that. Ragnarok, I felt was really funny. I thought that was clever. I’ve come around.”
He adds, “If the opportunity ever came, I would like to take a stab at…the one that really jumps out to me would be like Blade. If they were going to redo Blade or something like that, just because I feel that one, for some reason, the vampire martial art action vibe. That would be a cool one to stretch and try and reinvent.”
Outside of that, Stahelski says he’d have to think long and hard about boarding a tentpole project, especially after already having a handful of projects in development — both as a director and with his new production company 87Eleven Entertainment, a production-oriented spinoff of Stahelski and Leitch’s 87Eleven Action Design.
Longtime WME agent Jason Spitz currently oversees the development for the company, which has a first-look deal with Lionsgate, the production company behind the Wick franchise.
“Other than that, it’s like, look, I’ve got the John Wick stuff,” Stahelski concludes. “I’m really curious about what I can do with Highlander and how I reinvent the hero worship stuff. Those fascinate me a lot, a little also more than … I just like more of the original properties that you can grow from as opposed to step into a number five or a number six. That’s all. Just choice.”
John Wick: Chapter 4 and Blade have yet to receive release dates from their respective studios.
What Marvel characters would you like to see Stahelski direct? Think it over and let us know your thoughts either in the comments or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter!
