Tag: Chad Stahelski

Posted on in Film News, News

‘John Wick’ Actor Ian McShane Says ‘Ballerina’ Reshoots In Budapest Meant To Hit Chad Stahelski’s Standard & Protect The Franchise: “They Want To Make It Better”

This week it was announced by Lionsgate that their high-profile “John Wick” spinoff “Ballerina” would be getting a full-year delay as they hope to beef up the action sequences on the pic led by Oscar-nominee Ana De Armas (“Blade Runner 2049,” “No Time To Die”) and directed by Len Wiseman (“Underworld”). News came not too soon after the reveal that director Chad Stahelski would be the main overseer of both “Highlander” and “John Wick” franchises for Lionsgate moving forward.

The BBC chat show “The One Show” was able to speak with actor Ian McShane, who has been playing the character of Winston for four “John Wick” installments and will be reprising the part alongside Keanu Reeves and the late Lance Reddick in the spinoff. McShane gave some brief insight into the reshoots that will have Stahelski’s involvement, and they’re adding new scenes to, as he put it, “protect the franchise.”

“Then we go on to Budapest. It’s not reshoots it’s new shoots, new shooting for ‘Ballerina’ which is the spinoff with Ana de Armas of the ‘John Wick’ franchise. It’s like they’ve got to protect the franchise and…I did it a year ago, we did the movie, ‘Ballerina,’ and they’ve looked at it and Chad’s come in. The guy who directed all the ‘John Wick” movies and they want to make it better because…Keanu is in it as well and it takes place between ‘John Wick 3’ and ‘John Wick 4.'”

If you’re not aware of what the spinoff is about it will focus on the character of Rooney, who was briefly seen in “John Wick 3” but played by a different actress. Like John, she was adopted into the Ruska Roma, a criminal syndicate connected to Russian/Belarusian organized crime. They take in orphans and turn them into skilled assassins over decades, in the case of Rooney she was trained as a ballerina, hence the title. We’ll see Rooney navigating her own path in this world of assassins including the return of Anjelica Huston as The Director alongside new additions like Norman Reedus (“The Boondock Saints”) and Gabriel Bryne (“The Usual Suspects”).

When asked about the Starz spinoff prequel series “The Continental,” McShane had a surprise reveal about how little participation the film folks had on the show despite it focusing on a younger version of his character.

The Continental: From the World of John Wick (TV Mini Series 2023) - IMDb

“They never asked anyone about it, they just went and did it…they never asked us about it.”

“Ballerina” has been delayed a full year with the release date pushed to June 6, 2025. You can view that brief segment on The One Show with McShane below, thanks to Twitter user Adam Khan.

SOURCE: THE ONE SHOW VIA TWITTER

Posted on in Film News, News

Lionsgate Aims To Release Their Long-Gestating ‘Highlander’ Reboot In 2026

There can be only one! Lionsgate has spent over a decade trying to put together a modern reboot of the beloved 1986 film “Highlander,” which focused on a collective of immortals battling it out across time and the world to gain “the prize.” That prize is the final living immortal and being granted a natural death from old age. This latest incarnation of “Highlander” hails from “John Wick” franchise director Chad Stahelski and stars British actor Henry Cavill (“The Witcher”) in a leading role. We now have a release window for the reboot thanks to an update from the studio.

Lionsgate chairman Joe Drake on a recent earnings call (via IGN) has stated they hope that the pic will be part of the studios’ tentpole slate in 2026. There were some indications that filming on “Highlander” could begin early next year and given that the strikes are over, there could be some more casting announcements in the very near future.

Previous reporting suggested that the budget could be north of $100 million, which would be closer to what “John Wick 4” cost the studio and a potential indication of how large the action-packed film might end up. Screenwriter Mike Finch (“Predators,” “John Wick 4”) is said to have penned the latest draft of the script.

Cavill is an excellent casting choice for the swordplay franchise after cutting his teeth as it were on “The Witcher.” His extensive sword/stunt training on that Netflix fantasy series should help when the team at 87 Eleven Action Design put the actor through his paces in the action prep process which can be grueling.

This isn’t the only project on the horizon for Stahelski as he is attached to direct the feature film adaptation of the PlayStation samurai video game, “Ghost of Tsushima,” which recently got a development update with the filmmaker revealing they “have a script.” That project over at Sony Pictures is assumed to be the next thing Stahelski makes once he wraps on “Highlander.”

We’re hopeful that Lionsgate will be able to release the film released around the spring/summer of 2026, but we’ll have to wait for a concrete date.

SOURCE: LIONSGATE

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Ghost Of Tsushima’ Director Chad Stahelski Shares Promising Update On His Samurai Action Flick: “We Have A Script”

A recent report alluded to movement on Lionsgate’s “Highlander” remake from director Chad Stahelski (“John Wick 1-4”) and starring Henry Cavill (“Mission: Impossible – Fallout”) is leading to a potential early 2024 production start. And it looks like Stahelski’s other big swordplay action flick is getting some traction as well. The filmmaker shared an update of sorts with the folks over at ScreenRant, about his live-action feature film incarnation of the PlayStation/Sucker Punch video game “Ghost of Tsushima.” A game that allows gamers to play as a samurai during a Mongol invasion of Tsushima Island in 1274.

Stahelski was quick to reveal they have a script (unknown if it is shooting ready) and indicates they’ve figured out what the picture will be.

“We have a script, we’re very close to getting our shit together on that, as well. Development is always tricky, it’s studios, it’s strikes, and availabilities, and scouting. You have to will things into existence. I think the two things that I am closest and most interested in are ‘Highlander’ and ‘Ghost of Tsushima.’ Both amazing, amazing properties, the story of Ghost is, also, one of my favorite properties of all time,” Stahelski told ScreenRant of the current status of the samurai flick’s script.

Depending on his schedule for “Highlander” there is a strong possibility that “Ghost of Tsushima” could be ready to go in front of cameras by 2025-2026.

Here is the game’s official logline via PlayStation:

Tsushima is on the brink of destruction. In the wake of a crushing defeat at the hands of ruthless Mongol invaders, noble samurai Jin Sakai must sacrifice everything to protect what’s left of his home and people. As he embarks on an epic adventure for the freedom of Tsushima, he must set aside samurai traditions, embrace unconventional methods, and forge a new path—the path of the Ghost.

In the past, the director has given the impression they’ll try to do a version with subtitles and actors speaking Japanese, which likely means they’ll be casting mostly authentic actors for the key roles and could give a huge boost to the career of whoever lands the lead role of Jin Sakai. That role had been previously played by Japanese-American actor Daisuke Tsuji (“Invasion”) for the video game and we wouldn’t be all that shocked if he ended up getting an offer to reprise the part.

SOURCE: SCREEN RANT

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Highlander’: Lionsgate & Director Chad Stahelski’s Reboot Starring Henry Cavill To Start Filming In Early 2024

Lionsgate is officially moving forward with its reboot of the “Highlander” franchise after multiple years in development and is aiming to begin shooting in early 2024, one of the more concrete updates we’ve seen yet on the project. A report from Deadline has revealed that the film is now heading to the American Film Market to find partners as the budget is said to be over $100 million. Which is sort of on par with what Lionsgate spent on Stahelski’s recent hit “John Wick 4.” As previously reported, British actor Henry Cavill is attached for a leading role, and screenwriter Mike Finch (“Predators,” “John Wick 4”) is said to have penned the latest draft of the script.

This comes after Stahelski has been mulling over what feature film he’d tackle next after making four straight installments of the increasingly popular “John Wick” franchise starring Keanu Reeves. “Highlander” would, of course, be an excellent excuse for Stahelski to explore different kinds of action scenes as the characters who inhabit this universe are immortals and can only be killed once their heads are severed from their bodies, usually by swords. Meaning that we’ll get plenty of swordplay in the “Highlander” reboot, something that Cavill is seemingly primed and ready for after his tenure as the lead in Netflix’s fantasy series “The Witcher.”

“There Can Be Only One,” is the main tagline and refers to the quest of immortals to be the last man standing in duels to the death, as once an immortal kills another their power/strength via the Quickening is adding to their own. However, it’s been signaled that they’re more or less going to be taking cues from both the films and the expanded television series mythology. Since they don’t want to start off the first film with all immortals dead, this was sort of retconned later in the TV adaptations to allow for great numbers of immortals both good and bad to populate the show. Watchers were introduced in the series as the mortal faction that documents and sometimes even mentors immortals as they navigate a dangerous landscape that even includes super-immortals, a few that have killed so many fellow immortals over the centuries their powers are more in the realm of super-human.

The reboot has seen different incarnations over the years from Ryan Reynolds once attached to the lead the project long before his “Deadpool” success and even had “Fast & Furious” franchise director Justin Lin involved before Stahelski was ultimately selected to helm. Cavill recently returned to feature films shooting two action films back-to-back with Guy Ritchie and seems primed to get “Highlander” in the can as well.

Another big what-if is going to be what actors they’ll be able to secure for “Highlander” as the ongoing strike between SAG-AFTRA (actors’ union) and the AMPTP (studios) has yet to be officially resolved. However, there are ongoing negotiations this week that could end up resulting in a positive outcome with a fair deal for actors.

One of the biggest aspects of the original film was the soundtrack/score handled by British rock group, Queen. It’ll be interesting to see if Lionsgate attempts to do a similar collaboration with an active metal/rock group to make sure the music is another character of the reboot.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News, News

Chad Stahelski Not Looking To Resurrect John Wick For A “Cash-Grab” But Has Notebooks Filled With Ideas For Another Five Movies

Sometimes franchises stall or simply end. The popular “John Wick” movies are certainly in a very odd place with “John Wick 4” seemingly killing off our skilled protagonist (that taking place off-screen) and while the head of Lionsgate keeps telling the public they’re working on “John Wick 5” it doesn’t seem like that is happening anytime soon, potentially at all.

Director Chad Stahelski, who tackled all four installments, recently spoke with Inverse detailing that the ambiguity of the death of John was done on purpose and ties back to the mythology/fairytale angle they had been aiming for with the franchise.

“We just rationalize that any Greek hero like Odysseus or anybody else over a long enough timeline, every story’s a tragedy. The hero always dies. You just don’t know when. And we also know if you’re a bad guy, you do bad things, bad things happen to you. That’s just the way it goes. So, we always had that hard, hardboiled sensibility. And we got done with 3, and we kind of knew when we were doing the press tour, we’re like, ‘Fuck. We didn’t really end it. We didn’t stick the landing.’ And we had a couple of ideas. And Keanu and I put some things together, and that’s how we built No. 4: ‘OK, this is the swan song.'”

Keanu Reeves ist John Wick: Alter schützt vor Kugeln nicht

Still, it’s not like Chad and Keanu are saying a fifth installment or more is completely off the table. Stahelski brings up Reeves being game for another one alongside having notebooks full of ideas for another five films (maybe an exaggeration) but waiting for the right “idea” that clicks to get the two of them back. Rather than simply doing another installment because they want to make money from it.

“I have notebooks and notebooks of shit behind me, John Wicks 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. We have ideas for days. We just don’t have the story locked. I have no interest in doing the cash grab of bringing John Wick back for something. Is he a character I like? Of course. And if I did a couple of John Wick movies, great. Keanu would do one again in a second if we had a good story. We leave that open-ended. I know that the studio would love us to say we have another one.”

I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if they had killed John Wick, the myth. Allowing John, the man, to potentially live a peaceful life somewhere else away from the grip of The High Table and retribution for all the killing he’s been doing. However, if they did another installment something would have to drag him back What exactly that could be is indeed a head-scratcher.

John Wick 4's Donnie Yen wants to spin-off Caine

The filmmaker also commented on Lionsgate’s interest in spinoffs like next summer’s “Ballerina” starring Ana de Armas as Rooney, taking place between the events of “John Wick 3” and “John Wick 4” with Reeves set to appear in the action pic. The end of the recent film indicated that they could do another untitled spinoff featuring Donnie Yen’s Caine and Rina Sawayama’s Akira, with the latter seeking revenge for the death of her father in Osaka.

“Keanu and I are always interested in that, but we leave it hanging out there a little bit to figure out if we have something that we’d want to watch. Second, we have a studio that’s very enthusiastic and not just financially motivated, but they’re just interested in seeing what we could do with it. So, they’ve been super cool of us this year about branching off. I know the term is ‘spin-offs’ or ‘ancillaries’ or whatever you want to call it. Keanu and I both went back, and we all said, ‘Look, we have ideas for the John Wick world, other characters that aren’t John Wick-centric. Would you guys be interested in exploring that?’ And they were super cool, and they said, ‘Yes, we’d be very interested in that.’ Characters that weren’t in any of the movies that had fallen to the sidelines because they just didn’t fit in our storylines, and some existing characters that we’d like to see other things.”

Giving everyone involved some breathing room is likely a good idea creatively. Keanu Reeves likely wants to do other things and Stahelski is attached to helm multiple other films such as Lionsgate’s reboot of “Highlander” that has Henry Cavill attached alongside his samurai pic “Ghost of Tsushima” (based on the video game) for Sony Pictures. Perhaps, they’ll reunite for more “John Wick” movies but it does sound like they’re also open to the idea of simply moving on as well.

SOURCE: INVERSE

Posted on in Features, Film News

Keanu Reeves Down To Make ‘John Wick 5’ According To Chad Stahelski But The Director Needs A Good Idea/Thread To Avoid Treating The Audience “Like Idiots”

**** WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ‘JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4’****

Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski have put together quite an entertaining group of action films with the four installments of the “John Wick” franchise. Earlier in the year, “John Wick 4” ended up becoming the highest-grossing film in the batch which is likely why it’s a bit puzzling why the team decided to end “Chapter 4” with the way they did. If you haven’t seen the film, there is a duel in Paris that is assumed to have left John dead from multiple gunshot wounds. While we do see Winston looking down at John’s grave, we don’t actually see the master assassin die on camera, or his body laid to rest for that matter. Potentially, this could have been a constructed way to both end the films there or leave a hypothetical window open for Wick’s “resurrection” in a couple of years by stating the coffin was empty with Wick going off to rest/recover in peace away from The High Table after settling his debt to them.

Despite earlier plans to shoot both “John Wick 4” and “John Wick 5” back-to-back in Germany, they ultimately only made one film and gave everyone involved an out if they truly wanted it. Stahelski recently spoke about the sequel to Josh Horowitz on his podcast (Horowitz suggests we follow Wick into the afterlife/purgatory), Happy Sad Confused, where it was explained that while Keanu Reeves would happily make another one, the director is a bit more apprehensive about it and says waiting for a good reason/idea before jumping into production is key. Citing his worry that it could be seen as treating the loyal audience like idiots for doing a death fake-out.

“If you asked [Keanu] right now, he’d say ‘fuck yeah.’ But, then he’d look and go ‘Well, what is it? I have no fucking clue.’ Look man, we’re going to do our other stuff for a little bit but if…an idea hit me within 30 seconds I’d be on the phone with Keanu and we’d be riffing. We have a lot of set pieces. We have a lot of ideas that didn’t go or we didn’t do. I have no doubt we’ve come up with a lot of great [action} pieces, its just what’s the main thread?…But if we found that moment and found that thread, yeah. I don’t think you’d find anyone invovled with ‘John Wick’ that wouldn’t want to do another one,” the director told Horowitz.

Stahelski still has his own concerns about rushing into it as he brings up the ambiguity of the western “Shane,” where the audience isn’t exactly sure if the hero actually has died, but it’s assumed he has. While also harping on the fact they haven’t cracked a great idea for that return and likely would hinge on that aspect before moving forward.

“I don’t think we bring John Wick back without a real reason. It can’t just be a hook, it’s got to draw people back in. Cause I think most of the audience would like to see Keanu back they just don’t want to be treated like they’re idiots. They don’t want to be treated like ‘Gimmie your fourteen bucks and we’ll bring back the dude to shoot people in the head.’ I’m part of the audience and I would feel ripped off if I did something like that. None of us are opposed to doing five but we just don’t know how to do it, we’re not that smart.”

Interestingly enough, the upcoming spinoff film “Ballerina” starring Ana de Armas and helmed by Len Wiseman (“Underworld”) sidesteps this issue as it takes place between the end of “John Wick 3” and the start of “John Wick 4” allowing for characters like Charon and Wick to appear despite their on-screen deaths (many of us are still mourning Lance Riddick’s tragic off-screen death). There could be room to go back into John’s past with the Ruska Roma and explore those events, even if that means hiring a younger actor to fill Keanu’s shoes. What “John Wick 5” ends up looking like might depend heavily on how audiences receive things like “Ballerina” and potentially other spinoffs like the one teased with the end credit scene telegraphing an Akira-centric movie that possibly sees her attempt revenge against Caine for killing her father in Osaka.

It’s also worth pointing out that “other stuff” Stahelski mentions is an ever-growing number of unmade film projects he’s previously attached himself to over the years that he wants to make before tackling a “John Wick 5.” Some of those that standouts include a reboot of the “Highlander” franchise with British actor Henry Cavill still attached for a key role, the “Rainbow Six” movie at Paramount that would see Michael B. Jordan reprise the role of C.I.A. operator John Clark, and another ambitious project, a feature film adaptation of the samurai PlayStation video game, “Ghost of Tsushima.” The latter would see an all-Asian cast with the hopes that it could be done mainly in the Japanese language.

You can watch/listen to that full interview below.

SOURCE: HAPPY SAD CONFUSED PODCAST

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Highlander’ Reboot: Chad Stahelski Says Henry Cavill Still Attached & Aims To Build Up To The Gathering Of Immortals With World-Building

Director Chad Stahelski has been doing wonders for the action film community with a quadrilogy of superb films with the “John Wick” franchise starring Canadian action star Keanu Reeves. He’s coming off the massive success of “John Wick: Chapter 4” not only making coins at the box office but also being hailed as a great action film by audiences and critics alike. However, that’s not the only project brewing over at Lionsgate with the filmmaker.

While speaking with Josh Horowitz on his podcast, Happy Sad Confused (See below) he reveals that his long-in-development reboot of the “Highlander” franchise is not only still in the works at Lionsgate but actor Henry Cavill (“Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” “The Witcher”) is indeed still attached for an unnamed role in the sci-fi adventure pic.

“I think we have some very good elements now. The trick is when you have the tagline ‘there can only be one’, you can’t just kill everybody the first time. I’ll say it for you first, our story engages a lot of the same characters and stuff like that, but we’ve also brought in elements of all the TV shows, and we’re trying to do a bit of a prequel, a setup to The Gathering, so we have room to grow the property.”

If you’re not familiar with the “Highlander” films or shows, it focuses on a group of immortals that seek each other out to fight for “the prize” (being granted morality to live a regular life) and others are less interested in that by killing as many fellow immortals as they can to boost their powers/abilities with each encounter with The Quickening. When the power of a killed immortal is applied to another immortal via lightning strikes, making them more powerful and lengthening their immortality.

The director has previously talked up the idea of combining the film and television mythology, which they have done with the latter sequels. Taking a crack at focusing on world-building and then going into The Gathering, where immortals are steered towards each other to battle to the death until one. The main crux of the franchise line is: “There can be only one.” A troublesome aspect of the first film is that it ends with Connor winning the prize and leading to bizarre aspects to bring back other immortals from the past or other planets for subsequent sequels sort of shooting themselves in the foot isn’t something that Stahelski is interested in here with his incarnation.

Cavill, for his part, had recently exited the Netflix fantasy series “The Witcher” where you guessed it, he swung a sword for multiple seasons. It’s still unclear if Cavill would play hero or mentor in the reboot, but it’s starting to sound like we could be seeing both Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert’s role) and Duncan MacLeod (the main character from the first television series) in this reboot. Tapping into the duo of the “Scottish” cousins could be a good way to move past the alien stuff that was introduced in “Highlander II: The Quickening” and try to focus more on immortals simply happening among the human population, not to mention their human observers, The Watchers.

Sadly, this isn’t the only film in the works for Stahelski as he is also looking to make a live-action film at Sony Pictures based on the hit samurai video game “Ghost of Tsushima,” a sequel in the John Clark franchise with “Rainbow Six” starring Michael B. Jordan in the follow-up to “Without Remorse,” a Netflix feature film based on the pulp novels “Black Samurai,” an urban fantasy film called “Arcana” from the writers of “Predators,” and is hypothetically open to the idea of returning for “John Wick 5” if they come up with the right idea for it.

We’ll have to continue to be patient about future updates concerning “Highlander.”

SOURCE: HAPPY SAD CONFUSED PODCAST

Posted on in News

Grounded ‘Highlander’ Reboot Starring Henry Cavill To Begin Shooting In 2022

With John Wick 4 all wrapped up, director Chad Stahelski can now prep his long-gestating reboot of the Highlander franchise for Lionsgate. The project has been in the works for ages with multiple directors coming and going, however, a new update suggests that filming is finally happening sooner than expected.

In a new interview piece from The Hollywood Reporter, Henry Cavill is indeed part of the cast netting $5million and the British actor calls the reboot “grounded-in-reality.” The original films eventually made the immortals aliens in the horribly panned sequel Highlander II: The Quickening and then backtracked from that rather quickly.

Next year he’ll shoot Highlander, a new version on the immortal swordsman action-fantasy (which sources say netted the actor at least a $5 million payday). Cavill says Stahelski’s vision is a more grounded-in-reality take than the original movies and show, and will likely play a bit more like a modern tragedy.

It’s still unclear what role Cavill is taking in the reboot and is currently shooting Matthew Vaughn’s ode to 80’s action movies with the spy flick Argylle.

HIGHLANDER – A Scottish clansman named Connor MacLeod discovers his true identity as a member of a legion of immortals. He then embarks on a legendary journey spanning continents and centuries, eventually landing in modern-day New York City. Connor faces his ultimate test when other immortals begin to appear in the city, leading to a titanic showdown where only one can claim victory.

Here is what Chad Stahelski had to say about the project back in the summer of 2020.

“As far as Highlander goes, it’s a project I’ve been working on for a little over three years now. It’s a project that’s not only near and dear to my heart but also the other creative people that are involved in it. It’s something that we feel we’ve got a good direction on. It’s just a tough nut to crack because the Highlander property is so involved and the mythology is so deep. But to try and make it our own, and be somewhat true to the original, yet do it in a way that makes it ours, is a little tricky. We don’t want to do a remake. We don’t want to do a reinvention. We want to do something that’s fresh, that utilizes the mythology of what everyone loves from the first movie. To make a good film is hard, to make a great film is even harder. We choose challenging projects in trying to be new and diverse — at least something that the audience hasn’t exactly seen our way yet. So, time is always a good thing, but I think I have a knack for picking projects that aren’t easy to develop. So, that’s good, I guess.“

“It’s a cool story about… I call it the burden of immortality problem. You’ve got a group of individuals that, for some cosmic reason, have been allocated to be immortal. They have to live through human times and experience the human experience over centuries. The caveat to that being everyone you love or anyone whom you can bond with, you’re going to outlive. And the only people you can relate to, other immortals, the one simple truth is that there can be only one of you at the end. So, that means the only people you can relate to or actually become friends with want to take your head. So, how do you live through life with that kind of loneliness or that kind of burden upon you, knowing that you have to push love aside and you have to push friendship aside? And still learn every fighting style in the world because at the end of it, it’s one big gladiatorial pit over centuries, that there can be only one. And your mission in life is to survive, learn as much as you can and sword fight to the death. Come on. If you can’t get behind that, done to some really cool music, I don’t know what you’re doing.“

Highlander is without a release date, but sometime in 2023 is looking like a good bet.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Shibumi’: Warner Bros. & ‘John Wick’ Franchise Director Chad Stahelski Team For Period Assassin Thriller

Director Chad Stahelski is currently in production on John Wick: Chapter 4 in Germany, but the action director isn’t slowing down as he’s attached to yet another project. Deadline reports that Warner Bros. and Stahhelski are teaming to develop a feature film adaptation of Trevanian’s 1979 novel Shibumi.

“Nicholai Hel is the world’s most wanted man. Born in Shanghai during the chaos of World War I, he is the son of an aristocratic Russian mother and a mysterious German father and is the protégé of a Japanese Go master. Hel survived the destruction of Hiroshima to emerge as the world’s most artful lover and its most accomplished—and well-paid—assassin. Hel is a genius, a mystic, and a master of language and culture, and his secret is his determination to attain a rare kind of personal excellence, a state of effortless perfection known only as shibumi.”

“Now living in an isolated mountain fortress with his exquisite mistress, Hel is unwillingly drawn back into the life he’d tried to leave behind when a beautiful young stranger arrives at his door, seeking help and refuge. It soon becomes clear that Hel is being tracked by his most sinister enemy—a supermonolith of international espionage known only as the Mother Company. The battle lines are drawn: ruthless power and corruption on one side, and on the other . . . shibumi.”

The book made a brief cameo in the original John Wick as the airport security guard is spotted reading it, the story likely had a direct influence on the world of high-end assassins inhabited by John Wick and could be an excellent follow-up once Stahelski completes John Wick: Chapter 5, said to be the final installment.

A previous incarnation of Shibumi had Keanu Reeves attached, but no actors are currently involved with it. Its period setting could help separate it from the more modern John Wick films.

Interestingly enough, American author Don Winslow penned another Nicholai Hel book called Satori and could give Warner Bros. source material for another film leading to a new franchise.

“It is the fall of 1951, and the Korean War is raging. Twenty-six-year-old Nicholai Hel has spent the last three years in solitary confinement at the hands of the Americans. Hel is a master of hoda korosu, or “naked kill,” is fluent in seven languages, and has honed extraordinary “proximity sense”-an extra-awareness of the presence of danger. He has the skills to be the world’s most fearsome assassin and now the CIA needs him.”

“The Americans offer Hel freedom, money, and a neutral passport in exchange for one small service: to go to Beijing and kill the Soviet Union’s commissioner to China. It’s almost certainly a suicide mission, but Hel accepts. Now he must survive chaos, violence, suspicion, and betrayal while trying to achieve his ultimate goal of satori-the possibility of true understanding and harmony with the world.”

It might be a long time before we ultimately see Shibumi hit the big screen.

John Wick 5 isn’t the only project Stahelski is also involved with as Lionsgate’s Highlander reboot is one of them with Henry Cavill in talks for a lead role, Sony Pictures has assigned him to helm a feature adaptation of their popular samurai video game Ghost of Tsushima, and the New Line Cinema hybrid action movie Classified (called Die Hard meets Indiana Jones).

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘John Wick 4’ Cast Adds Canadian Actor Shamier Anderson From Netflix’s ‘Stowaway’

John Wick 4 is on the cusp of starting production at Babelsberg Film Studio in Berlin, Germany and another actor has joined the high-octane action sequel. Other filming locations are said to include Paris and Japan.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ended with John surviving the fall from the roof of The Continential hotel after Ian McShane’s Winston shot him, Winston’s motivations weren’t entirely clear as he didn’t seem shocked that Mr. Wick got away and could be giving The High Table a false sense of security. Wick eventually lands at the feet of Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King, who had his organization taken away from him by The High Table and convinces John to go to war with him against the mysterious group of criminal syndicate puppet masters. 

Canadian actor Shamier Anderson has reportedly joined the project, according to Deadline. Anderson was most recently seen in the Netflix sci-fi movie Stowaway.

He’ll be joining Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick, Donnie Yen, and Rina Sawayama in the next installment.

Lionsgate has set John Wick 4’s release date for May 27, 2022 and have announced plans to make John Wick: Chapter 5 at some point as well.

SOURCE: DEADLINE