John Wick‘s directors have revealed that the first movie almost had an alternate ending where the puppy survived.
READ MORE: ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ review: an all-action blockbuster that truly gives its all
Chad Stahelski and David Leitch spoke about the various battles they had with the studio on the 10th anniversary of their action movie.
One of them was the death of Wick’s (Keanu Reeves) dog, which sends the protagonist on his killing spree.
“We were told, ‘It’s bad luck.’ ‘It’s bad juju.’ ‘It’s ‘Old Yeller,’ you can’t do this!’ ‘No one will want to see this on screen; you’re going to alienate the audience,’” Leitch told The Business Insider.
“And I’m like, ‘We’re going to execute people at close range; killing the dog is one thing, but what about the brutal massacre of all these human beings? Are they going to be able to accept that?’ … They didn’t understand that we were making a genre movie. We are genre fans to the core, and we know those hard-boiled moments are what make memorable moments.”
Stahelski added: “For the next couple of weeks it was suggested that we shoot an alternative ending revealing that the puppy actually isn’t dead. But Keanu stood up for us. … Eventually, they just felt, ‘Fuck it, let’s see what these guys can do.’”
The pair also said they locked horns with the studio over the character’s beard.
“We were trying to do a modern-day Greek mythology fantasy movie. That’s not mainstream. So we wanted to do something cool with Keanu,” Stahelski said.
“But the money people, they wanted to see Keanu fucking Reeves. Point Break Keanu, Speed Keanu. And I don’t know if this exists anymore, but at the time we were told by the powers that be you don’t cover up your leading man’s face with a beard.”
He continued: “We felt you can’t fire us, so first day of shooting, we had Keanu in the beard, and later that week, when they watched the dailies, with cinematographer Jonathan Sela’s now famous half-light shots, people fucking loved it.”
Elsewhere, the first trailer for Ballerina, a John Wick spin-off film, was recently shared. The upcoming film stars Ana de Armas as Eve Macarro, a ballerina who is trained to be an assassin in hopes of avenging the death of her family. It is due to hit cinemas in the UK on June 6, 2025.
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