Chad, I want to finish with that. There is a bit in the film about the way in which Jason Statham’s film “Safe” could have been the introduction of the world to the type of Gun-Fu style that you ended up bringing to “Wick” films, and I think it is David who says in the documentary that, as soon as you have obtained a little to push from Statham on his preference for the part of the action, I think that you were the one. What do you remember the way it happened?
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Chad Stahelski: It’s not quite like that [laughs].
All right.
Chad Stahelski: We work a lot with Jason. He’s a very good friend, I love him, loves his films, our team made “beekeeper”, we are still working with him. As choreographers, whether we are on a job or not, we are always faced with the gymnasium trying to find other s ***. At the time, there were a lot of “taken” and it was a lot of “bourne”, it was a lot of camshadowing with the fast changes and all that, and I come from a fairly heavy martial art with a grappling in judo, jiu-jitsu, aikido, aiki-jitsu, all that. I really arrived in three firearms at the time. It was long before the “John Wicks”. We explored this whole world, and we thought it would be a bit … We just got the wrong when you see our precocious rehearsal tapes, but we really liked.
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And each time we make a film with Jason or Stallone – we made a lot of “Expendables” at the time – we were also trying to experiment as choreographers. So we were doing pretty eccentric stuff. It was just the Gun-Fu bands, you should have seen all the … It is not as if there was one or the other. We also had 10 other ideas that we present in Jason and all kinds of things. You know what I mean? And as I said, in a previous interview, it was like: “Okay, well, when you conceive a character …” – I don’t know if you have never seen “sure” or what it was –
I did it.
Chad Stahelski: He is a former special forces guy who is now a homeless, who is not allowed to speak or interact with the human race, and he must save a little girl. So, Boaz [Yakin]As a director, he conceived it in a certain way. So Jason is a homeless, he is a bit out of shape, but he has a [military] Context, and the grapplings at the time did not seem, if you live in the street and you do not eat properly and you are out of shape, you would say to yourself: “Well, why is this guy so good? He eats cheeseburgers, he sleeps in the street …” It did not correspond to the character. It was not like we hate him. Everyone was like, “Oh, it’s great, it just doesn’t match the character. Why is he getting guys [the face]? “This is not the number of bodies. It was a very specific, anchored and real emotional thing of someone who lost, trying to find a family, a little girl.
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I can choreographer a fight scene with you and me, and no one has to die, you are beaten – there are many variables. But do you make a firearm fight? Someone is dying. And that generally only takes one ball, especially the way we turn, right? Pow, Pow, Pow, Pow … F ***, you were killed four times in half a second. So he changes the air of the film. You cannot have a firearm film with only two bad guys. It would be very boring. You see the way we go through the number of bodies – it’s close, I have to throw the guy, then shoot him. It was not suitable.
Go back and make the number of bodies, it’s 350 people on “John Wick 4.” Do you know what budget I had for waterfalls in there? You could have made the film “Safe” from our cascade budget. It was crazy. And it becomes a bit ridiculous. It’s a bit of Wile E. Coyote, right? You have to be, with bulletproof combinations. It’s just, when you really go back and think about it, it’s not about saying that they don’t like Gun-Fu style. You must remember what Gun-Fu is, and in “John Wick”, it’s like “Oh, F ***, it’s great, it’s obvious. Super!” But put this in a film “Bourne”, or put it in a realistic film AF *** – Put it in “Heat” – or put it in “Mission: Impossible”, it will become ridiculous.
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Yeah.
Chad Stahelski: I spent 10 years building a franchise to be bugs bunny, to have a world where I can kill 300 – guy, say: 350 villains. It’s crazy Ing crazy! And you wonder why people haven’t done it … No one hated that, everyone looked at him and laughs. It’s great. But logistically, it would be so strange for this film. Tonally, logistically, financially, it would never work. We were the clumsy who launched him, knowing that there is no way a big choice of character for him. Part of the Aikido and the individual move, of course. But myself, Jason and Boaz the director, we said: “Yeah, it’s cool, but …”
And there is a little suspicion in there, when Jason disarms in the restaurant and all that. It was in there. And Jason could do everything, no problem, and F *** Ing de Jason, man. I love to look at his S ***. It’s just, it was not the right character, good tone and the right film for that. I use the example of, you saw “Matrix”, right? Okay, imagine Neo doing feet. The film changes radically, isn’t it?
This is the case.
Chad Stahelski: Very good. If I don’t change anything else, imagine “John Wick” with wire work. Changes the film, isn’t it?
This is the case.
Chad Stahelski: Do you hate the wired work?
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No.
Chad Stahelski: No. Do you hate Gun-Fu? No, do you hate black jackets? No. Do you hate running? No [like] Cabinet, it corresponds to the character. Sometimes it works, sometimes this is not the case. But you only hear this story, you don’t hear the other 50 things we had. We were excellent at the work of the sword. No one tells how: “They did not use saber fights in” Safe! “” We did not do Broadsword in “John Wick”. Again. But in “Highlander”, guess what I do a lot?
Oh, guy.
Chad Stahelski: So the style is part of the character. So again, it was not quite like that.
“Wick is Pain” is available on digital now.