Tag: John Wick

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‘Star Wars’ & ‘Game Of Thrones’ Actress Natalia Tena Joining ‘John Wick 4’?

John Wick 4 has been filming outside of Berlin, Germany with Keanu Reeves back as the big bad assassin John Wick and director Chad Stahelski assembling quite the cast for the latest action pic. Another actor might have been added to the main lineup.

Take the following with a grain of salt, but British actress Natalia Tena (Black Mirror, Wolfe) has been listed on IMDB (could be bogus) as being part of the cast. However, Tena is such a left-field name to falsely attach to the project and sort of makes sense given her recent projects including a new crime series Wolfe.

Tena has various franchise roles including being part of the Star Wars universe playing Xi’an in the first season of The Mandalorian, Osha in multiple seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones, and Nymphadora Tonks in four Harry Potter installments.

She wouldn’t be the only Game of Thrones alumni involved with the Wick franchise as Aflie Allen was the little brat that pulled Wick back into the life of hired killers and Ian McShane also had a brief role in the fantasy series.

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 rest of the cast consists of Ian McShane as Winston, Lance Reddick as Charon and Laurence Fishburne back as the Bowery King, Donnie Yen (Mulan, Ip Man, Blade II, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Hiroyuki Sanada (Shogun, Westworld, Sunshine, The Last Samurai) as Watanabe, Clancy Brown (Highlander, The Punisher, Billions), Scott Adkins (The Expendables 2, Doctor Strange), Marko Zaror (Machete Kills, Alita: Battle Angel), Bill Skarsgard (Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2), Shamier Anderson, and Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama. 

John Wick 4 is set for release on May 27, 2022.

SOURCE: IMDB

Posted on in Film News, News

Sterling K. Brown To Lead Amazon Action Pic ‘Coyote Blue’ Penned By ‘John Wick’ Creator Derek Kolstad

Amazon Studios and John Wick creator Derek Kolsad are teaming up for an original action film.

Variety reports that Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us) will lead the pic titled Blue Coyote, which will see Brown playing a man on the run from a group of ruthless criminals, but as seen in other Kolstad projects he has a certain set of lethal skills that will be begrudging be used at some point against his would-be killers.

The story revolves around an everyman (Brown) who’s hunted by a ruthless criminal syndicate for his mysterious cargo, and now must navigate the treacherous terrain of Route 66 while unleashing his lethal set of skills in a fight for survival.

Coyote Blue will be the feature film debut for television director Hanelle M. Culpepper, who has worked on Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Kung Fu, American Crime, Mayans M.C., Samuel L. Jackson’s Apple TV+ limited series The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, and the upcoming Amazon series adaptation of Neil Gaimen’s Ansani Boys.

Sterling K. Brown is no stranger to action projects with credits such as Hotel Artemis, The Predator, The Rhythm Section, and had a brief role in Marvel’s billion-dollar hit Black Panther playing the father of Michael B. Jordan’s Erik Killmonger.

Kolstad was recently behind the Bob Odenkirk actioner Nobody (sequel in early development) and worked with head writer Malcolm Spellman on Marvel’s hit streaming series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.

With Culpepper busy with Amazon’s Anasni Boys, it’s unknown when we can expect Blue Coyote to begin shooting.

Still, it’s interesting to see Sterling K. Brown make the big jump to action lead and should be a fun ride given how he’s grown as a solid actor over the years. We don’t normally see seasoned actors given these type of roles and Brown’s involvement should easily elevate the material, just like with Bob Odenkirk in Nobody.

SOURCE: VARIETY

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 Television News

‘John Wick’ Prequel Series ‘The Continental’ Lands ‘Dead Presidents’ Co-Director Albert Hughes

As John Wick 4 has already begun filming in Germany, Lionsgate is gearing up to finally shoot their spinoff series The Continental. The show on Starz will focus on a young Winston during the 1970s in New York City and will likely explore the character’s rise to power as the overseer of the hotel. There had been an original intention to have Keanu Reeves cameo, but given the period setting it wouldn’t make much sense.

We now have the name of the show’s main directors as The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Albert Hughes, one half of the sibling directing duo The Hughes Brothers, has been selected to direct two out of the three episodes.

Hughes’ credits include Dead Presidents, Book of Eli, the Alan Moore adaptation From Hell, and Menace II Society. The brothers were once enlisted by Warner Bros. to helm their live-action Akira adaptation, but like many others, they eventually exited to pursue other things.

The next big step will be casting the multiple roles for The Continental.

The cast of John Wick: Chapter 4 so far includes Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane,  Lance Reddick, Laurence Fishburne, Horiyuki Sanada, Donnie Yen, Scott Adkins, Marko Zaror, Bill Skarsgard, Shamier Anderson, and Rina Sawayama. Although, it’s unclear if Halle Berry, Asia Kate Dillion, John Leguizamo, Peter Stormare, Common, Jason Mantzoukas, Anjelica Huston, Said Taghmaoui, Yayan Ruhian, and Cecept Arif Rahamn will be reprising their roles from previous installments.  It’s releases on May 27, 2022 and John Wick: Chapter 5 is said to be the final installment of the main franchise.

However, the show isn’t the only spinoff in the works. Lionsgate hired Underworld director Len Wiseman to tackle a female-led action film set within the world of John Wick titled Ballerina. An actress has yet to be officially announced and it will interesting to see where the project’s setting lands in the franchise’s timeline, as it allow Keanu Reeves to appear.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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’: Lance Reddick Officially Returns As The Soft-Spoken Badass Charon

Lance Reddick was assumed to be returning for John Wick: Chapter 4 and that has now been officially confirmed after Deadline reported the actor’s reprising the role of Charon, Reddick posted on Twitter reaffirming the news.

His soft-spoken character was mostly on the sidelines in the first two installments but in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Charon was given a bunch of action scenes when he alongside Keanu Reeves’ John Wick have to defend The Continental from the formidable forces of The High Table.

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. 

Filming began recently in Germany at Babelsberg Studio, the same stage facility used for Atomic Blonde and The Matrix 4.

The franchise’s newest additions joining for the fourth film include 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), Atomic Blonde’s Bill Skarsgard, Stowaway’s Shamier Anderson, and the film’s female lead played by Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama. Returning with Reddick are Ian McShane as Winston and Laurence Fishburne back as the Bowery King.

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.

Berry is currently busy shooting her sci-fi drama The Mothership for Netflix.

The Ronin first reveled and confirmed cinematographer Dan Laustsen would be back behind the camera.

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.

Reddick is also playing Resident Evil villain Albert Wesker in a new live-action series at Netflix.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Nobody 2’: Sequel To Bob Odenkirk Action Flick In The Works From ‘John Wick’ Screenwriter Derek Kolstad

While John Wick franchise creator Derek Kolstad has stated he won’t be involved with the writing of John Wick: Chapter 4 or John Wick: Chapter 5, he’s apparently going to be busy writing a sequel to the Bob Odenkirk action movie Nobody.

The development news comes from Nobody director Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore Henry) speaking with genre outlet Jo Blo, as he has confirmed that Derek Kolstad is already working on a script, hoping it will be greenlit.

“There’s plenty of stories that can be told in this world, with the character Hutch. I know that Derek (Kolstad – the writer) has begun work on the sequel,” Naishuller told the outlet.

Kolstad recently worked on Marvel’s hit Disney+ series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier among other high-profile IP projects.

While Nobody certainly felt like low-budget John Wick, it still seemed to find an audience and a lot of people enjoyed it. Considering the budget was only $16 million and earned $61.5 million globally during the pandemic, they could crank out a bunch of these R-rated movies and I’m sure Universal Pictures would be happy with the results.

With Bob Odenkirk’s series Better Call Saul wrapping-up, he’ll have a large opening in his filming schedule to accommodate sequels. I’m also curious if producer David Leitch will attempt to connect Nobody to his other action movies like Atomic Blonde, Kate, Bullet Train, or the John Wick franchise since crossovers could be the next big kick.

NOBODY – Hutch Mansell fails to defend himself or his family when two thieves break into his suburban home one night. The aftermath of the incident soon strikes a match to his long-simmering rage. In a barrage of fists, gunfire and squealing tires, Hutch must now save his wife and son from a dangerous adversary — and ensure that he will never be underestimated again.

SOURCE: JO BLO

Posted on in Film News

Brad Pitt Assassin Pic ‘Bullet Train’ Releases April 2022

Sony Pictures has finally given a release date for their Japanese-set action movie Bullet Train. The project stars Oscar-winner Brad Pitt (Killing Them Softly, Inglourious Basterds, Fight Club, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood) as an assassin named Ladybug, that is travelling on a bullet train in Japan, only to face a wave of murderous fellow assassins.

Bullet Train will hit theaters on April 8, 2022, as announced by the studio via Deadline.

It was helmed by stuntman-turned-director David Leitch and has been hyped-up for the amount of in-camera stunt work Brad Pitt did on the film, similar to how Keanu Reeves did a lot of his own stunt work on the John Wick films thanks to months of intense training and prep.

Leitch co-directed the original John Wick only to move on as a solo filmmaker with credits such as Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw, and his next project is the memory loss thriller Fast & Loose starring Oscar-winner Will Smith. He produced Bob Odenkirk’s Nobody and Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Kate at Netflix coming out in September.

The rest of the cast consists of Joey King (The Dark Knight Rises), Andrew Koji (G.I. Joe Origins: Snake Eyes), Michael Shannon (Knives Out, Man of Steel), Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock (Gravity, Speed), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven The Hunter, Godzilla, Kick-Ass, Avengers: Age of Ultron), Karen Fukuhara (The Boys, Suicide Squad), Brian Tyree Henry (Godzilla vs Kong, Widows, Joker, Eternals), Hiroyuki Sanada (The Wolverine, Avengers: Endgame, Sunshine, Westworld, The Last Samurai), Logan Lerman (Fury, Hunters), Lady Gaga (Gucci, A Star Is Born, Machete Kills), Masi Oka (Heroes), Zazie Beetz (Joker, Deadpool 2), and rapper Bad Bunny.

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

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