John Wick Was Supposed to be a 75-Year-Old Man

It’s hard to imagine John Wick as anyone other than The Matrix star Keanu Reeves, but as it turns out, the master assassin was originally intended to be portrayed as a 75-year-old man. The revelation came from the book They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog: The Complete Uncensored Ass-Kicking Oral History of John Wick, Gun Fu, and the New Age of Action, written by the movie franchise’s producer Basil Iwanyk. Recounting how the whole project started, Iwanyk said that he had originally received a script from Derek Kolstad called Scorn that featured a 75-year-old man as the lead character, 25 years after his retirement. The producer immediately thought of two actors who could fit the role: Clint Eastwood and Harrison Ford.

While mulling over the idea, Iwanyk received a call from his good friend Jimmy Darmody, who represented Reeves at the time. Darmody asked if there were any action movies for the actor. Iwanyk ultimately decided to show Reeves the script, and after spending two months with the actor in his home working on the movie, they ultimately decided he’d play John Wick.

“We all agreed on the potential of the project,” Reeves recounted. “It has this character of John Wick, but then you also have the real world, and at the same time this kind of underworld. This den of thieves that have this honor and a code. It has this emotional connection with John Wick, who’s grieving, who’s lost the love of his life and has this mythical dark past. And I loved the quest that he goes on to reclaim his life. And the world he moves through to do it.”

John Wick 4 is now scheduled to hit theaters March 24, 2023.

Elsewhere in entertainment, Marvel is releasing an extended cut for Spider-Man: No Way Home at theaters internationally.