Imagining a Different John Wick: Keanu Reeves’ Character Initially Planned as a 75-Year-Old – How Different Would It Have Been?

Reeves who plays the titular role in the franchise portrays an assassin who is on a killing spree of people who did wrong to him

Keanu Reeves Has Played John Wick For 4 Chapters By Now ( Photo Credit – A Still From John Wick )
While Keanu Reeves has a couple of IP roles in his kitty, none can beat the madness that surrounds his biggest action franchise, John Wick. The series of films that stars him as a man who avenges his dog has only multiplied its fanbase and the demand for the same has skyrocketed in the past few years.

The makers are already planning multiple instalments and also a few spin-offs to some key characters in the universe. But what if we tell you the initial script wasn’t like the one we finally got and it might have even made Keanu’s casting impossible?

Reeves who plays the titular role in the franchise portrays an assassin who is on a killing spree of people who did wrong to him.

The actor has showcased such calibre through the already released 4 films that he is worshipped by many action lovers across the globe. But the initial plan was not to have John Wick of Keanu’s age but much older.

Yes, you read that right. According to the latest report in We Got This Covered, Producer Basil Iwanyk in Edward Gross and Mark A.

Altman‘s They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog: The Complete Uncensored Oral History of John Wick, Gun Fu, and the New Age of Action has shared that the makers were first planning to have John Wick as a 75-year-old man. Read on to know that everything that you should about the same.

The excerpt from the book talking about John Wick and how he was supposed to be 75 according to the first draft, Basil Iwanyk says, “The lead was a 75-year-old man, 25 years after being retired. It was the fun of watching Clint Eastwood kick ass.

I thought, Okay, there’s probably one or two names you could do this with: Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford. Other than that, I’m not sure how I put this movie together. But the tone of the script for John Wick was subversive and really fun. It has a very clear emotional through line and a great premise for an action movie.”

Basil then went on to talk about how Keanu Reeves came into the equation and how he was pitched the movie. “I remember thinking to myself, Keanu is one of the great action stars of the last 25 years — what happened to him?

What’s he been doing? And he was directing his movie, Man of Tai Chi, and doing 47 Ronin. We give him the script, we tell him, ‘Clearly, you’re not 75.’”

Meanwhile, as we speak, the John Wick universe is only expanding. The last we heard, there are two spin-offs in the pipeline including The Continental and Ana de Armas spinoff Ballerina. Apart from these Keanu Reeves is also set to return for Chapters 4 & 5.