Keanu Reeves‘ beard was a prickly subject for “John Wick” financiers. Franchise directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch revealed there’s an unusual reason why the backers of their action classic were anti-facial hair.
During an interview with Business Insider discussing the 10th anniversary of the 2014 film, Stahelski recalled the “John Wick” team having “caught a lot of shit” for wanting Reeves’ character to have a beard.
“We felt you can’t fire us, so first day of shooting, we had Keanu in the beard, and later that week, when they watched the dailies, with cinematographer Jonathan Sela’s now-famous half-light shots, people fucking loved it,” Stahelski said.
So what was their objection? A tired one. Leitch said they were given the “classic studio line” that Reeves “needs to be clean-shaven for international” audiences.
“We wanted to do something cool with Keanu,” Stahelski said. “But the money people, they wanted to see Keanu fucking Reeves. ‘Point Break’ Keanu, ‘Speed’ Keanu. And I don’t know if this exists anymore, but at the time we were told by the powers that be you don’t cover up your leading man’s face with a beard.”
He added that the original film was “trying to do a modern-day Greek mythology fantasy movie” that was decidedly “not mainstream,” and the beard was part of that.
“I don’t want to get into it, but since then I have had contentious conversations about stars having facial hair,” Leitch said.
Reeves’ beard wasn’t the only onscreen accessory that caused “John Wick” financiers to balk. Leitch and Stahelski also said they weren’t allowed to kill off Wick’s dog.
“We were told, ‘It’s bad luck.’ ‘It’s bad juju.’ ‘It’s ‘Old Yeller,’ you can’t do this!’” Leitch said. “‘No one will want to see this on screen; you’re going to alienate the audience.’ And I’m like, ‘We’re going to execute people at close range; killing the dog is one thing, but what about the brutal massacre of all these human beings? Are they going to be able to accept that?’”
Leitch said there were people who just “didn’t understand” this was supposed to be a genre movie complete with memorable, hard-boiled moments, specifically John Wick getting revenge on the world because someone killed his dog.
What’s worse, it was strongly suggested that they do something even worse than shaving Reeves’ beard: shoot an alternate ending where the dog lives.
“For the next couple of weeks it was suggested that we shoot an alternative ending revealing that the puppy actually isn’t dead,” Stahelski said. “But Keanu stood up for us. Eventually, they just felt, ‘Fuck it, let’s see what these guys can do.’”
Stahelski and Leitch turned out to be right. The Wick films have been one of Lionsgate’s most lucrative recent franchises, with “John Wick 4” bringing in $440 million worldwide. Next summer, Reeves will return in the spinoff film “Ballerina” starring Ana de Armas, which takes place in between the events of the third and fourth films.
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