JOHN WICK 4 Director Chad Stahelski Discusses the Script and the Challenges of Upping the Action

The John Wick franchise has been a blast to watch, and the films just get crazier and crazier with each one. The action in these films just gets better and more spectacular, which has fans super excited for what the upcoming John Wick 4 will deliver.

During a recent interview with Collider, John Wick 4 director Chad Stahelski and producer David Leitch offer an update on the movie. They share some insights with how the upcoming sequel came to be, where they are currently at in the writing process, and the challenges raising the bar for the stunts and action sequences.

When talking about the growth of the franchise, Stahelski said:

“Dave [Leitch] will tell ya, like, we did John Wick [in isolation], like, ‘That’s it. That’s the movie.’ No one was more shocked than we were when [Lionsgate] asked us to do a second one — and that was done as a single. And then we did a third one, okay, and that was meant to be done. Now we’ve been asked to do a fourth one and we’re like, ‘Okay, they’re all standalone. There’s no…plan. We’re kinda making it up as we go. But we finished the third one and Keanu and I are like, ‘Okay, time to move on. Let’s go do a romantic comedy or something. We’re good.'”

Stahelski went on to share that Reeves wasn’t as ready to leave the character of John Wick and told them that he had one more left in him. They also latched onto an idea they weren’t about to fit into the third film, which they are building the story around for the fourth:

“Then we just kinda met each other when we were doing the publicity tour and I think we were in Japan, and Keanu goes, ‘I think I got one more left in me,’ and we had one idea we didn’t use which we really loved and we have to cut it out of number three [Parabellum], just didn’t have the space for it. So we’re like, ‘Okay, we’ll do a fourth. That’s gonna be awesome. We’ll make a plan.’ The studios […] went, ‘We totally get what you’re trying to do.’ We submitted an idea or thematic [plan] and it was really big. So, we’re talking about doing a little bit more than a [John Wick 4], or something like that, and trying to develop that. We’ll see how that goes.”

As for where the production currently stands, Stahelski says they are in the “scriptment” and pre-production process. They are now molding and shaping that “scriptment” foundation into what the film will end up being:

“We have, I wouldn’t call it a first draft but I’d call it a ‘scriptment’: A written-out story, part outline, part script, part thing. We know where we want to go, we know the thematics. We call it “the toy box.” It’s like a 100-and-something page document, but some of it’s written. It’s a good place to start. Then we start thinning it out, and then we work with the writers  to get the right scenes, and then we start working with Keanu’s dialogue. It’s a very outward-in process for us. Then, we’ll do the inward-outward process which is about character. So, to answer your question, I’m in a happy place where we are in development. We got, not quite a locked-in first draft, but we’re in a place where we know what we want do and where we want to do it.”

Then there are the stunts and action that they have to bring to the movie! They’ve raised the bar with each movie, so how are they going to top the awesomeness of the third film? They are certainly feeling the pressure of pulling something incredible and mind-blowing off. Stahelski said:

“Neither [Leitch or I] us hides from the the fact we were stuntmen. I’m pretty proud of it, like, cool. But we certainly don’t try to hide it. Like we’re just directing and we deal with that, like, ‘Yes, I want to make action movies.’ I think Dave and I were both good at what we did as stuntmen and as choreographers. So, we don’t want to lose that. I want to be cool with the action. I want to be a better director, but that doesn’t mean I want to do less action or have less to do with the action. I guess the third one just felt like I needed a place  to go after number two, and I had these ideas. It kind of became that wacky action movie. There’s been a couple days where I’ve decided to do number four and I’ve woken up in a cold sweat going, ‘Horses! How do I beat horses?!’ Like, I have no fuckin’ idea, to tell you the truth. […] I think I have a lot of really cool ideas for the next one that I think are different and shocking and fun and unique. How to do them, I have no fuckin’ idea right now. I’m still figuring it out.”

I have no doubt that they’ll figure out how to pull off the crazy stunts that they have in their heads. We’ve still got a while before we see this movie, but I’m pumped up to see what they throw at us!