John Wick co-director David Leitch was ready to politely decline Keanu Reeves’ initial offer involving a script called Scorn.
In 2013, alongside Chad Stahelski, the second-unit directing duo and then-longtime business partners felt they were ready to take the next step in their directorial careers. They’d climbed the stunt ranks for two decades as performers, choreographers and coordinators, establishing a varied résumé that includes The Matrix trilogy, which introduced them both to Reeves at different points. Eventually, they became second-unit directors, fulfilling the action sequences for actioners and blockbuster films, all while utilizing the infrastructure they’d built through their action design company, 87eleven.
Founded in 1997, their company’s Los Angeles headquarters is where they would choreograph action sequences and train actors like Reeves to become believable action stars. (In 2019, Leitch and life/producing partner Kelly McCormick branched off with 87North, while Stahelski turned 87eleven into 87Eleven Entertainment.)
Furthermore, Derek Kolstad’s script about a grieving hitman named John Wick had already come their way prior to Reeves’ involvement, and Leitch recalls a different movie star being attached at that point.
“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 tells The Hollywood Reporter in support of John Wick’s 10th anniversary and return to theaters on Nov 6.
Once Reeves signed on, he, too, contacted his former collaborators about directing second unit. But Leitch and Stahelski, having already entertained the idea when Willis was potentially attached, instead asked if he’d back their play as full-fledged directors “and he was like, ‘Yes, please. Let’s do it. How do we make that happen?’”
The pair then assembled a pitch over the course of a weekend, turning the puppy-revenge tale’s 11 to 15 kills into 84 kills, as well as underscoring the mythological component of the assassin underworld. Coupled with Reeves’ support, the duo soon won over producer Basil Iwanyk (Thunder Road). Financing became the next hurdle ,as there were squabbles over the idea of having a bearded Keanu as the face of the movie. When that issue dissipated, Keanu still had to forgo a portion of his salary to make the numbers work, while Leitch and Stahelski had to split the DGA minimum. But the film wasn’t out of the financial woods just yet — Eva Longoria prevented the film from being shut down at the last minute by filling its $6 million-gap in financing.
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