Tag: Donnie Yen

Posted on in Film News

EXCLUSIVE: Cinematographer Dan Laustsen Confirmed For ‘John Wick 4’

The Ronin can confirm that cinematographer Dan Laustsen is set to return for John Wick 4 and will reunite with director Chad Stahelski. He previously worked on John Wick: Chapter 2, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, The Shape of Water, and most recently tackled Guillermo del Toro’s Searchlight Pictures thriller Nightmare Alley that had been finishing up production in Toronto during the pandemic.

Laustsen’s return was assumed but it’s now set in stone as production is about to begin in Germany.

Casting has been underway for John Wick 4 with some impressive new additions joining Keanu Reeves such as Japanese action star Horiyuki Sanada as Watanabe, Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen playing Wick’s old pal, Atomic Blonde’s Bill Skarsgard, Stowaway’s Shamier Anderson, and the film’s female lead played by Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama. While it’s unknown if we’ll see Asia Kate Dillion, Common or Halle Berry return, franchise stars Laurence Fishburne and Ian McShane are set to reprise their roles.

Blade star Wesley Snipes bad been in discussions for a part in the fourth installment but it reportedly didn’t work out.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ended with John Wick surviving the fall from the roof of The Continental 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. 

The sequel will begin filming soon at Studio Babelsberg just outside Berlin, Germany, where franchise star Keanu Reeves shot The Matrix 4 last year with director Lana Wachowski. Other locations are said to include Paris, New York City, and Japan.

John Wick 4 will hit the big screen on May 27, 2022 and Lionsgate had confirmed plans to make John Wick: Chapter 5, but will no longer shoot back-to-back with the next installment. Franchise creator and architect, Derek Kolstad, stated that he won’t be involved in the next two films and suggested John Wick 5 could be the final pic.

Posted on in Film News

‘John Wick 4’: Hiroyuki Sanada Joins Keanu Reeves & Donnie Yen; Will He Play A High Table Member?

John Wick 4 is quickly becoming one of the most anticipated action films alongside The Matrix. Another big name in action films has joined the upcoming sequel, as Collider reports that veteran Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada has joined the growing cast and plays a mysterious character named Watanabe.

While Sanada better known to western audiences for his Hollywood parts in projects like The Wolverine, Westworld, The Last Samurai, and Avengers: Endgame, he started in Japanese cinema as an action star similar to Sonny Chiba and would likely be able to do action scenes with limited help from a stunt double. 

The cast already consists of Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Laurence Fishburne, Donnie Yen, Shamier Anderson, Bill Skarsgard, and British singer-turned-actress Rina Sawayama.

He previously worked with Keanu Reeves in the fantasy film 47 Ronin.

It wouldn’t be shocking if Sanada is playing a member of The High Table as there is a seat from the Japanese Yakuza. Hiroyuki Sanada had been linked for a villain role in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, but had to drop out over scheduling issues. That part was High Table assassin Zero, who was played by Mark Dacascos.

Japan is also a confirmed filming location.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ended with John surviving the fall from the roof of The Continental 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. 

Production will kick-off this month at Germany’s Babelsberg Film Studios and has a release date from Lionsgate for May 27, 2022.

Franchise director Chad Stahelski returns for the four installment as the studio is pursuing John Wick 5 and having Stahelski tackle a Highlander reboot that may star Henry Cavill.

SOURCE: COLLDIER

Posted on in Film News

‘John Wick 4’: Laurence Fishburne Finally Confirms His Return As The Bowery King

We’ve all been patiently waiting for confirmation that Laurence Fishburne would be reprising the Bowery King role in Chad Stahelski’s John Wick: Chapter 4 and we finally got it from the man himself while speaking with Collider.

“I should be going to Berlin within another couple of months or so,” Fishburne told Collider.

He continued to praise the sequel’s script, “I read the script. It’s really, really cool. As much as it’s the same world as the other three films, it’s just deeper. It’s much deeper in terms of the code of the assassin and the relationship that he has with one character in particular who I think Mr. Watanabe (Collider says is a character, not Ken Watanabe) is playing… is really the heart and soul of it.”

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ended with John surviving the fall from the roof of The Continental 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. 

The cast already consists of Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Donnie Yen, Shamier Anderson, Bill Skarsgard, and British singer-turned-actress Rina Sawayama. It’s unclear if Asia Kate Dillion, Halle Berry or Common will return.

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.

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: COLLIDER

Posted on in Film News

‘Atomic Blonde’ Actor Bill Skarsgard Reportedly Joins Keanu Reeves In ‘John Wick 4’

Bill Skarsgard is reportedly in talks with Lionsgate to join the cast of John Wick: Chapter 4. The Swedish actor previously worked with John Wick co-director David Leitch on his action flicks Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2. Bill is likely best known to audiences for playing the evil child-eating dimensional entity ,Pennywise The Dancing Clown, in New Line Cinema’s feature film adaptation of Stephen King’s It.

The casting news comes from the folks at Collider, who seem to have a close connection to director Chad Stahelski and have previous revealed location/production details on the new sequel.

Skarsgard joins a cast that already consists of Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick, Donnie Yen, Shamier Anderson, and British singer-turned-actress Rina Sawayama. It’s unclear if Halle Berry or Common will return.

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. 

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.

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: COLLIDER

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

Posted on in Film News

‘John Wick 4’: Singer Rina Sawayama Joins Keanu Reeves & Donnie Yen

John Wick: Chapter 4 is easily going to be one of the most anticipated action films alongside Lana Wachowski’s Matrix 4, both films highlighting the twilight era of Keanu Reeves’ action star status even as he inches closer to his 60s. The John Wick franchise fancies itself as action films made by action guys as director Chad Stahelski went from stuntman to director having extremely close ties with the stunt team, building the action sequences from the ground up and having star Keanu Reeves in training for months behind filming begins. 

A huge nod to the franchise’s action roots was the recent hiring of Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen in a supporting role. Instead of playing another foe, Deadline reports that Yen will play a friend of John Wick with a similar history and could potentially help him take on The High Table. Yen is best known for a multitude of martial arts projects like his Ip Man films alongside Hollywood productions such as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Guillermo del Toro’s Blade II, and the Vin Diesel sequel xXx: The Return of Xander Cage.

Another interesting addition we missed was Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama taking a role in the film, as mentioned by Deadline last month.

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. 

Production on John Wick: Chapter 4 is said to start this month at Babelsberg Studios in Berlin, Germany with other locations such as Paris and Japan. 

Lionsgate had previously announced a release date of May 27, 2022, and their plans to make John Wick: Chapter 5 at some point. 

Posted on in Film News

Action Star Donnie Yen Joins ‘John Wick 4’ Cast

It looks like we have our first new casting addition to John Wick 4.

Action star Donnie Yen has landed a main role, according to Deadline.

Yen will play an old friend of Reeves’ super assassin John Wick, who shares his same history and many of the same enemies.

Donnie Yen has made for himself coming from the action star lineage, where he does a lot of his own fight and stunt work. Some of his film credits are Blade II, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Hero, IP Man movies, and Highlander: Endgame.

The fourth chapter is expected to see Keanu Reeves’ John Wick and Laurence Fishburne’s The Bowery King going to war with The High Table, the group of mysterious criminal syndicate leaders that control the world of assassins and seemingly most criminal operations as well. There is hope that we’ll see and learn more about The High Table in the next installment.

A portion of the filming of John Wick: Chapter 4 will take place at Germany’s studio facility Babelsberg Film Studio just outside of Berlin in Potsdam.

The iconic German facility where Fritz Lang’s sci-fi masterpiece Metropolis was shot has been used on multiple modern Hollywood productions such as Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, David Leitch’s Atomic Blonde, Duncan Jones’ Mute, The Girl In The Spider’s Web, A Cure For Wellness, Eddie The Eagle, Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, Speed Racer, Cloud Atlas, V For Vendetta, Ninja Assassin, Joe Wright’s Hanna, Michael B. Jordan’s Without Remorse, Lana Wachowski’s Matrix 4, and Tom Holland’s Uncharted.

Franchise star Keanu Reeves was at the European studio last year filming Matrix 4.

We previously mentioned they hired Uncharted stunt coordinator Stephen Dunlevy.

According to Collider, filming will begin this month with locations to include New York City, Paris, Berlin, and Japan. They added that Mike Finch (American Assassin, Predators) will be the main writer on the script after Derek Kolstad revealed he wouldn’t be writing the next two chapters.

John Wick: Chapter 4 director Chad Stahelski is also busy with other various projects but Lionsgate wants him to return for John Wick: Chapter 5 (potentially final installment) and has been attached to helm their Highlander reboot that might end up starring Henry Cavill (Mission: Impossible – Fallout, The Witcher, Man of Stell).

The studio plans to expand the John Wick universe with a Starz series, The Continental, focusing on a young version of Winston in New York City during the 1970s and previously hired Underworld director Len Wiseman to tackle their spinoff movie Ballerina written by Shay Hatten.

Lionsgate has given John Wick: Chapter 4 a release date of May 27, 2022.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Rogue One’s Donnie Yen To Lead South Boston Action Flick ‘The Father’ – Alec Baldwin and Frank Grillo Will Also Star

News coming of the Toronto International Film Festival via Deadline that martial arts star Donnie Yen (Mulan, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) will lead a new Boston-set action flick titled The Father from director Tommy Wirkola with production aiming to begin in early 2021.

Joining Yen in the film said to be an homage to action films of the 1980s will be Alec Baldwin (The Departed, Mission: Impossible – Fallout) and Frank Grillo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier).

The Father was written by Cut Throat City screenwriter P.G. Cuschieri.

Described as an ode to the revered action movies of the 1980s, The Father is set against the Irish-American gangland of South Boston and charts the struggle of middle-class Hong Kong immigrant John Chung (Yen) making the best of his family’s new American life while working as a modest fish broker in the city’s infamous docklands. When his wayward teenage boys stumble upon four kilos of heroin, they’re hunted by a local crime ring and a group of corrupt cops. Also starring are Alec Baldwin and Frank Grillo.

Arthur Sarkissian (Rush Hour), Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee of Thunder Road (John Wick), John Schramm and Yen will produce from a script by P.G. Cuschieri to be directed by Tommy Wirkola (Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters).

Yen has been mostly known for his Ip Man franchise but has shown up in various Hollywood films such as Guillermo del Toro’s Blade II, Shanghai Knights, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, and most recently with Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan.

Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola is known for his genre hybrid films Dead Snow and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.

SOURCE: DEADLINE