‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Director Chad Stahelski Reveals Studio’s Reaction To Movie’s Shock Ending: ‘Are You F**king Insane?’
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Chad Stahelski, the director of “John Wick: Chapter 4”, faced some heavy studio opposition for his decision to end the story of Keanu Reeve’s beloved John Wick character in the fourth franchise film.
The Hollywood Reporter recently interviewed Stahelski, who explained that he and his team of writers, Shay Hatten and Michael Finch, realized the fourth film would end as the most successful if it wrapped up the franchise.
However, studio heads weren’t too pleased with Stahelski’s decision initially, especially since rumours were flourishing that “John Wick: Chapter 5” would begin filming shortly after the fourth film.
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“The response was, ‘What are you f–king thinking?’ The note was, ‘Are you f–king insane?’” Stahelski details to The Hollywood Reporter. “And Keanu and I just smiled and said, ‘Yeah.’ We decided we wanted to tie everything together, and we were like, ‘How do you give a proper goodbye?’ So that’s how we sold it to the studio because, at some point, this has gotta end, man.”
However, there was still some back-and-forth regarding the decision to end the franchise. Stahelski and his team conducted film photography to shoot a scene that implies John Wick’s survival during the film’s funeral scene.
However, after a test film screening, Stahelski and his crew learned the best route was to kill off Wick ultimately.
