In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, John Wick co-director David Leitch revealed something shocking. Before Keanu Reeves was attached to the action film, Bruce Willis was slated to star. Leitch revealed more on the early days of the John Wick series to celebrate the franchise’s 10th anniversary.
Leitch and his directing partner, Chad Stahelski wanted to level up in their career directing a feature length film. They were originally second-unit directors, stunt choreographers, and coordinators. The original John Wick script by Derek Kolstad had come to Leitch and Stahelski while Willis was attached to the project.
“We were first exposed to the script by our manager at the time, Kelly McCormick, who’s now my wife and producer. She had introduced us to Basil Iwanyk and Peter Lawson at Basil’s company [Thunder Road] to maybe do second unit work on that script. So that was the first time we read it, and I think Bruce Willis might’ve been attached at that time,” Leitch told The Hollywood Reporter.
After Reeves signed on to the project, he approached the pair to direct second unit as they had worked together on The Matrix. The pair already considered the offer previously and asked if they could be the main directors instead. With Reeves’ support the rest is history and Leitch and Stahelski became action movie legends.
Okay imagine if Bruce Willis was John Wick though. The entire vibe of the move would be different. For some reason I feel like Keanu Reeves going on a revenge-fueled rampage because of his puppy’s death just makes sense. Thinking of Bruce Willis in the same role is hard to visualize, although he is an amazing action actor in his own right. Die Hard is the best Christmas movie of all time and I’ll die on that hill.
Regardless of who John Wick is, the film made it to the big screen, and we love it. Don’t worry if you can’t get enough of the John Wick universe there is an upcoming spinoff film, Ballerina. Ana de Armas is John Wick’s character, Eve Macarro, as she learns the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma.
In addition to Ballerina, there is also another spinoff film in the works right now about Donnie Yen’s assassin character, as well as a new series, John Wick: Under the High Table. Additionally, a John Wick experience is opening in Las Vegas later this year.
