John Leguizamo recently revealed that he had some reservations about John Wick even after filming the movie. Keanu Reeves leading the John Wick franchise has become nothing less than a legacy at this point. However, the start was not that smooth. Reeves’ career was going through a rough patch back then.
John Leguizamo, an American actor
With directors refusing to recruit him due to back-to-back box office failures, the future of this movie, too, seemed grim. However, due to his phenomenal acting and Stahelski’s masterful direction, it not only pulled through but turned into Hollywood’s one of the most famous franchises. As Leguizamo said, he too was not expecting much, however, the premiere blew his mind.
John Leguizamo’s initial apprehension with John Wick
John Leguizamo recently claimed in an interview that while shooting John Wick, he was not very hopeful about its future. According to him, while he found it “interesting,” he thought it would turn out to be okay-ish at best. Recalling his character a little bit, he explained,
“Aurelio runs a car chop shop, where you break up cars and put them together and I’m an expert engine maker, that’s what John Wick gets. It’s interesting. When I got the John Wick script, it was okay, it wasn’t like, ‘Wow, I can’t wait to do this,’ it was like, ‘This is interesting.’”
John Leguizamo at his series The Power premiere
Critics, too, predicted the movie would result in a flop, due to Keanu Reeves‘ track of box office bombs just prior to the movie. Analysts, too, presumed the numbers to be in the $40-something-millions once it hits theaters. However, what would change their mind is having the whole experience of witnessing that masterpiece unfold before their eyes.
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John Wick‘s premiere stunned John Leguizamo
John Leguizamo recalled that even with his initial apprehension he had extreme fun working alongside Keanu Reeves and even Alfie Allen. According to him, he had, “so much fun knocking people out, better than being knocked out.” And so, it was an absolute blast for him. However, what really floored him is the movie’s premiere.
John Leguizamo in John Wick: Chapter 2
So much so, that he readily reprised his role as Aurelio in the second movie. He noted, “Then I go to the premiere and I’m like, ‘What?!’ It was so visceral, you didn’t see it on the page.” He further elaborated that Reeves and Chad Stahelski along with David Leitch did an amazing job. Especially as they had prior experience working together, things flowed smoothly between them. He added,
“David Leitch and Chad [Stahelski] were Keanu’s stunt coordinators for all the Matrix movies, 300, they did a lot of other stuff with him, so he trusted them and he gave them that opportunity to jump from being stunt coordinators to directors.”
And truly, the fantastic world-building using unique syndicates and interesting characters brought about a charm that was yet to be seen in Hollywood. Another major factor that went a long way to make the movie what it is is the minimal vengeance concept in a new wrapper. Combine that with Stahelski’s beautiful direction in depicting the intense close combats, and no wonder people were floored.
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It should also be mentioned that along with the critical praise, it also smashed the predictions of box office numbers, and ended up with a turnaround of almost twice as much at $86 million. And now with John Wick: Chapter 4, the franchise is well on its way to joining the billion-dollar club. Fans are now waiting to see what awaits them next in this journey with the spin-off movie Ballerina and the series The Continental being in production already.
Ballerina is expected to be released on June 7th, 2024.
Source: Screen Rant
