In 2014, David Leitch and Chad Stahelski delivered the now-legendary action thriller, John Wick, starring Keanu Reeves. The movie kicked off with a mafia punk killing John Wick’s dog, dragging him out of retirement and straight into revenge mode. While the movie blew away studio expectations, scoring big with critics and a box office splash, it was revealed that another big-name action star was almost cast before Keanu Reeves snagged the iconic role.
Bruce Willis Almost Cast As John Wick
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Leitch revealed that when he boarded the project, Die Hard star Bruce Willis was potentially chosen to play John Wick. He said, “We were first exposed to the script by our manager at the time, Kelly McCormick, who’s now my wife and producer. She had introduced us to Basil Iwanyk and Peter Lawson at Basil’s company [Thunder Road] to maybe do second unit work on that script. So that was the first time we read it, and I think Bruce Willis might’ve been attached at that time.”
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However, Keanu Reeves approached Stahelski and Leitch, as the latter explained that the casting was a lengthy process. He shared, “When Keanu eventually became attached, he then brought us the script and said, “Hey, guys, would you be interested in this?” But, because we’d already laid all the groundwork with Basil, we knew the movie was too small for us to just do a second unit based on where our careers were.
In the background, Kelly was always championing us as first-unit directors, so we knew this was the perfect opportunity for us to reach out and ask Keanu to direct. So we went back to Keanu and said, “Hey, man, it’s a little small for us, but what do you think about us doing the whole thing?” And he was like, “Yes, please. Let’s do it. How do we make that happen?”
He continued, “It was then a mad rush to get a pitch together to take to Thunder Road, and we did it over a weekend. We put together our vision of what Derek Kolstad’s script could be. As a second-unit director, you don’t get to do that stuff, but in the two years prior, we’d pitched on some other projects and began to understand that process of selling yourself. So, if preparation plus opportunity equals miracles, then that’s how we got it. All the stars aligned.”
Bruce Willis As John Wick: What Would It Mean?
It’s tough to picture anyone but Keanu Reeves as John Wick. But Willis’ career makes a solid case for him. Of course, he wasn’t quite the right age for the role initially pitched, but he was closer to Clint Eastwood or Harrison Ford, who were also considered for the role. Willis’ stoic vibe and intense screen presence could’ve nailed Wick’s deadly, no-nonsense demeanor.
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