“Keanu Reeves’ Game-Changer: Early in John Wick, the Actor Alters Script, Declaring ‘I’m Going to Play Him 35′”

Once Keanu Reeves got the spot in John Wick, he wasted no time making a major change to the script.

At the age of 58, Keanu Reeves remains the biggest action star on the planet. That is evident thanks to his success with the John Wick franchise.

As we’re going to reveal in the following, a major reason for the franchise’s success has to do with Keanu himself, and his intense work ethic behind the scenes.

In truth, the script for John Wick looked completely different at the start, with a 75-year-old in the lead. We’ll take a look at who was considered for the role of John Wick and how Keanu Reeves entered the picture.

Once Keanu was confirmed for the part, the actor made a major change to the script. Looking at the success of the franchise, it is clear Keanu’s intuition was spot on.

Keanu Reeves Was Not The First Name Considered For The Role Of John Wick

It is hard to imagine anyone else in the role of John Wick. However, according to franchise producer Basil Iwanyk, the origin story was completely different with a 75-year-old actor in the lead. Among those considered for the role were Clint Eastwood and Harrison Ford.

Basil revealed with EW, “The lead was a seventy-five-year-old man, twenty-five 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.”

A big turning point to the film took place because of Keanu’s former agent, who had reached out to Iwanyk in search of an action film for Keanu.

The script was presented to Reeves, but with a 75-year-old in the leading role.

Despite the premise, Keanu Reeves had huge interest and his involvement caused a major change to the film.

Screenwriter Derek Kolstad Allowed Keanu Reeves To Make A Major Change To The John Wick Script

Derek Kolstad spent two months alongside Keanu Reeves working on the script for John Wick. For Kolstad, it was evident early on that Keanu was the perfect person for the role, given how deep into the process he was.

Kolstad recalled his experience alongside the actor, “I spent two months at Keanu’s house on the weekends working on the script.

I look in his office, I see he has three hundred screenplays stacked on his desk, because he reads everything that UTA, WME, William Morris sends out.

He reads them all. And so think that he read something on a Friday, in ninety minutes, and was like, ‘I want to do it.’ In that moment, before I met and really clicked with him, I was like, ‘Yeah, I really want to do it, too.”

Once Kolstad made the decision to get Keanu onboard, the actor made a major shift to the story.

“The first thing that Keanu said to me was, ‘Okay, Derek, I’m going to play him 35.’ And I’m like, ‘Fine.'”

Quite the turn of events as the film might’ve looked completely different had they stuck to the vision of a 75-year-old in the lead.

Director Chad Stahelski Admitted That He Asked Keanu Reeves For Lots Of Advice During The Making Of John Wick

It was quite the story for John Wick director Chad Stahelski, who first worked alongside Keanu Reeves as a stuntman in The Matrix films.

Speaking alongside Buzz Feed, the director revealed that his experience on The Matrix films helped shape his career.

“I was a stunt man on The Matrix films, and I learned a lot from The Wachowskis doing those movies. They were very inspirational and influential in my career.

The Matrix producer, Joel Silver, let me do a couple of second-unit shots, and I learned the craft from doing that really.

Chad got the call from Keanu to direct the John Wick film.

“I think it was four or five years on from those movies that Keanu got in touch with me about John Wick.

We bumped into each other, and he said “hey, I’ve been sent a script, do you wanna have a look at it?” We both took a look at it and thought it was really different and cool.

So we called up Derek [Kolstad] and he said, “would you like to direct it?”. I said, “yeah, that’d be pretty cool!”

Stahelski admitted that he used Keanu’s brain a ton during the making of the film. “We did ask a lot of questions. I guess I had this arrogance from my second-unit work, but I quickly realized I didn’t know what I was doing. So I was banging down Keanu’s door quite a bit.”

Clearly, the right decisions were made behind the scenes as the film turned into a huge franchise.