For training Keanu Reeves in John Wick 4, director Chad Stahelski has revealed that his main inspiration was Gene Kelly’s performance in Singin’ in the Rain. Let’s see what he said.
Chad StahelskiDirector of the saga of John Wick, is an avid cinephile and it shows in the many influences his films have. Beyond the instantly recognizable tributes starring Keanu Reeveslike those of Sergio Leone or Sam Peckinpah, there is – perhaps completely unexpectedly – another cinematic genre on which the director bases his films: the musical.
John Wick 4, Keanu Reeves as Gene Kelly in Singin’ in the Rain
Interview with IndieWire, Stahelski revealed that for the fighting style of John Wick 4 – in cinemas from March 23 – also tried to be inspired by the Hollywood musicals of the golden age and in particular by sing in the rain (1952), main role Gene Kelly as Don Lockwood:
“Everyone laughs when I say that, but I love musicals. Bob Fosse is a huge inspiration, as is Gene Kelly on Singin’ in the Rain. We didn’t reinvent the action genre or anything with John Wick, we just spent our life savings and time preparing Keanu to be our Gene Kelly.”
In John Wick 4the director continued, le 14 action scenes serve the same purpose as the choreography in the MGM musicals, they let the story progress and show the character of the characters through the movements and the body. But this flu for Stahelski went even further and also flowed into the training reeves to the movie:
“We also try to train our actors with dance. Many stunt teams train actors to hit hard, in a mentality typical of martial arts. He punches a lot, is great, but if you don’t remember your stepping motions, it doesn’t matter how hard you punch or kick.”
And this statement is well supported by the exorbitant number of moves Keanu Reeves had to remember key combat and action sequences John Wick 4: more than 100! If he had forgotten even one of the moves, it would have meant starting the sequence over: “We trained Keanu in both martial arts and dance—which is similar to martial arts.” The influence of the musical with Gene Kelly it was also the basis of the editor’s work Nathan Orlofffor whom it was important to show the physical dexterity of Keanu Reeves and the stunt team as well as the director Stanley Donen did with the talent of Kelly, Debbie Reynolds And Donald O’Connor:
“We didn’t have to use cheats or anything to make the fights great, it was our different approach because we didn’t need to make the action more interesting.”