Tag: Ian McShane

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

‘John Wick 4’: Ian McShane Officially Returns

Winston is officially back!

We all assumed that Ian McShane would be back for John Wick: Chapter 4, given the cliffhanger of the third movie. But, it’s now official as Deadline has confirmed with Liongate that McShane has closed his deal.

Production is taking place in Berlin with plans to shoot in Paris and Japan.

Shay Hatten and Michael Finch wrote the fourth installment with Chad Stahelski back to direct.

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 newest additions to the cast consists of Japanese action star Horiyuki Sanada as Watanabe, Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen playing Wick’s old pal, British martial artist Scott Adkins (The Expendables 2, Doctor Strange), Marko Zaror (Machete Kills, Alita: Battle Angel), Atomic Blonde’s Bill Skarsgard, Stowaway’s Shamier Anderson, and the film’s female lead played by Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama. 

Other returning actors are Lance Reddick as Charon and Laurence Fishburne back as the Bowery King. Meanwhile, we’re still in the dark about established characters played by Halle Berry, Asia Kate Dillion, John Leguizamo, Peter Stormare, Common, Jason Mantzoukas, Anjelica Huston, Said Taghmaoui, Yayan Ruhian, and Cecept Arif Rahamn making an appearance in John Wick 4.

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.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘John Wick 4’: Ian McShane Believes Sequel Will Begin Shooting This Year

Collider was able to speak with John Wick franchise actor Ian McShane and he revealed the fourth installment is still expected to begin filming this year. You might remember there had been production delays on John Wick: Chapter 4 because the extended shoot for The Matrix 4 with Keanu Reeves reprising the Neo role.

MCSHANE: “Keanu [Reeves] and I exchanged New Year’s greetings and said, ‘Hope to see you this year.’ I know the script is being written and they’re hoping to do it this year. I know they announced they were gonna do [John Wick 4] and [John Wick 5] together, but who knows. The studios announce all sorts of things. No doubt, at some point this year, we’re gonna do John Wick 4.”

Ian McShane plays Winston, who in the last film seemingly turned on John shooting him off the roof of The Continental, only for him to survive the fall and brought to the hideout of the Bowery King agreeing to go to war with The High Table. It remains to be seen if Winston actually tried to kill him (didn’t look shocked when told Wick lived) or if he was trying to remove him from further pursuit from The High Table and the price on his head.

Lionsgate had set the film’s release for May 27th, 2022 but it could be moved depending on when production actually starts.

SOURCE: COLLIDER