John Wick: Keanu Reeves Had Shirts Made for Stunt Performers That Died 20+ Times

John Wick: Chapter 4 was released last year, and it ended up having the best opening of the franchise in addition to earning an impressive 94% critics score and 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The action flick featured the return of Keanu Reeves, who is known for giving great gifts to the John Wick stunt team. Recently, director Chad Stahelski appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast and talked about Reeves giving each member of the John Wick: Chapter 4 stunt crew a t-shirt with the number of times they were killed in the movie. Many of the stunt people were re-used in the film, which means some died more than 20 times each. During the interview, Stahelski also talked up Reeves’ work ethic and explained why the actor is so good at what he does.

“Keanu went and got – a little tidbit – he had these shirts ‘the 20 and overs,’ ‘the 15 and overs,’ ‘the 10 and overs.’ So if you died at least 10 times, you got a special t-shirt, and if you died 15 times you another one,” Stahelski explained. “You know, there’s some really good people out there that we’ve worked with, Keanu is – I mean I’ve worked with him the most – and in my mind, mentally he’s superhuman. It’s not that he doesn’t feel the pain or the discomfort, he just somehow deals with it. When you yell ‘action’ he goes to a different space, he’s living for the project.”

Stahelski continued, “But you know, we’ve been very fortunate to work some very very very excellent actors who have that kind of commitment … You know what they say is, ‘It’s not so much what you want, it’s how much you’re willing to suffer to get what you want.’ The question is … with suffering for your art or your life or what you’re willing to go through to process, it’s like he loves the process.”

“‘If your dreams are mountainous, you better love to climb.’ That’s the quote I would say defines Keanu,” he added. “He loves the process. This guy is on set, he’s not back in his trailer, he’s on set right behind camera, practicing for the next setup. He loves the process, he loves being on set, he loves picking lenses, he loves designing the sets, he loves working and doing reads with other cast members. And I think that’s why he’s so successful. He likes the process. It’s not just being on set, getting the paycheck, and getting in the kudos, he likes building.”

What Happened To John Wick 5?

Now that John Wick is seemingly dead, it’s unclear how Reeves will return to the franchise despite talks of a fifth film. The fourth movie was originally supposed to open in 2021 before the pandemic set back production. Not only was the movie pushed back, but the folks behind the scenes also had to alter their original plan to film the fourth and fifth movies together. In an interview with Total Film (via CBR), Stahelski explained why they opted not to film John Wick 4 and John Wick 5 back to back.

“I didn’t feel good about doing 4 and 5 collectively,” Stahelski shared, explaining that it would require a 200-day production, which he felt would be too much for the cast and crew. However, Stahelski says a fifth movie is still incoming. “Keanu calls it the John Wick fever,” Stahelski joked. “You haven’t done John Wick for two years and you’re like, ‘We gotta go do something!’”

“In our minds, Keanu and I are done for the moment. We’re going to give John Wick a rest,” Stahelski shared with The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m sure the studio has a plan. If everyone loves it and it goes kooky, then we’ll take a quiet minute. Wicks always, for some weird reason, always get the latest release date in Japan. It’s always like, three months later. If it’s the same this time, we’ll do a Japanese tour and release the movie in September. Keanu and I will take the long trip to Tokyo, we’ll sit in the Imperial Hotel Scotch Bar and go, ‘What do you think?’ We’ll have a couple 20-year-old whiskies and write some ideas on napkins. If those ideas stick, maybe we’ll make a movie.”

Stay tuned for more updates about the John Wick franchise.