JOHN WICK Director Chad Stahelski Says He Consulted With Marvel's Kevin Feige When Expanding the JOHN WICK Universe
The John Wick franchise has expanded from one humble, singular action flick to a four-chapter film series, and an expanding universe in the works including prequels, spinoffs, and a sequel all in various stages of development. But the path wasn’t plainly laid out before its director, Chad Stahelski. He had to build it from scratch, and while he’s done an incredible job, it doesn’t come easily.
Stahelski ended up reaching out to Marvel architect Kevin Feige about how he proceeded in building his Cinematic Universe, and asked for a few pointers. Stahelski explained to Looper:
"When I got to do John Wick, and we ended up trying to go the next step to John Wick 2 and John Wick 3, between 2 and 3 and then 3 and 4, I called his people and asked, 'Hey, I know Kevin's real busy. Would he mind a meeting?'. You could imagine how busy Kevin is, but both times, he sat me down and gave me a few hours of his time in both instances. He was like, 'Okay, how can I help?' I was like, 'Look, man, I got this John Wick thing. Give me some advice. What's the best way to handle this? Some people see this as a one-off. Some people see it as a cash grab.'"
He went on:
"To Kevin's credit, he goes, 'What do you think?" I told him what I thought, and he very graciously gave me his thoughts on world-building and franchises. I don't know if you've ever interviewed Kevin, but you're not talking to a businessman. You're not talking to an executive. You're talking to a fan. Whatever he's telling you, he can't help himself from smiling. Regardless of strategies or methodologies of building a franchise, the one thing that comes across is 'I love what I do. Follow your heart, follow your gut, be respectful to the fans. Do what you want to see, and you're going to be okay.'"
Although Stahelski admitted that Feige did make clear that the John Wick franchise is totally different from the MCU:
"As far as how to do that [build a franchise universe], he's like, 'I have 75 years of IP. You've got one movie, so it's going to be a little different.' He hits you with the reality. You got to earn it, man. But one of the bits of advice I got is make characters you love. Very similar to what the Wachowskis taught me ... [he was also] like, 'Make every frame, make every moment count.' There are no throwaway scenes, there's no throwaway performances, there are no background players, foreground players – everything in front of that camera, you got to make it count. John Wick 4 is a culmination of that, and that comes from the Russos, the Wachowskis, and Kevin driving that home for me."
It’s clear that whether or not Feige had anything to do with it, Stahelski has done a great job with his story and characters, and fans are still hungry for more John Wick.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is in theaters now.