John Wick franchise director Chad Stahelski explains why two installments in the hit action franchise feature the doors being broken off of a vehicle that Keanu Reeves is driving. Released in 2014, the first John Wick became something of a surprise hit, starring Reeves as an aging assassin who’s brought out of retirement after mobsters kill his puppy. Each installment in the franchise features Reeves shooting his way through scores of enemies, but vehicle stunts have also been an important part of the action series from the beginning.
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In a recent video for Vanity Fair in which he breaks down the action sequences in John Wick: Chapter 4, Stahelski goes in depth regarding the film’s jaw-dropping Arc de Triomphe set piece. Both of the doors to Wick’s car are broken off fairly early in the sequence, mirroring a similar moment in John Wick: Chapter 2, and the director reveals that there’s an important reason for this. Check out Stahelski’s full comment or watch the video interview below (relevant section starts at 1:29):

“We spent about five months teaching Keanu how to drift and do the car stunts, including a reverse 180, or 360, what we call an in-out, and a 540 drift. So he’s actually spinning the tires and drifting around these guys one-handed as he’s firing a gun, which not a lot of cast members can do. In order to show off all the cool stuff that Mr. Reeves did and spent all this time doing, we wanted to see him doing it.
“So a trick we had done in John Wick 2 was knock one of the doors off. We did one better [in John Wick: Chapter 4] – we took both doors off. So no matter what side the camera was on, we saw that it’s really Keanu Reeves driving, number one, and number two, even as John Wick, you get to see him put his body language into it. So that helps accentuate the driving sequence.”

Keanu Reeves Is Crucial To John Wick’s Action

As a former stuntman, Stahelski has been key to the John Wick franchise’s balletic and breathtaking action set pieces. He not only knows how to choreograph these scenes and how to best capture them in camera, but he’s also different from other directors in the genre because of how much time he devotes to pre-production planning of these sequences. Part of this planning and preparation includes training Reeves to be able to do as much of the action as possible.

Related: How The John Wick Franchise’s Action Evolves Over 4 Movies

For John Wick: Chapter 4 and all previous installments, Reeves has undergone months of training ahead of time to learn how to fight, shoot, and drive just like his character. The actor is now so adept at handling weapons, for example, that if his prop gun on set doesn’t work properly for a scene, he can stay in character and clear the jam or whatever other issue he’s experiencing before getting back to the action. This level of expertise is evident on screen, and it’s part of what makes the films so effective.

While certain dangerous sequences, such as Wick’s stair fall in John Wick: Chapter 4, feature a stunt performer stepping in for Reeves, the actor does do a lot of his own stunts. This means that many action sequences can keep Reeves firmly in frame instead of cutting away or hiding his stunt double’s face, ultimately upping the immersion level significantly. While it, of course, takes a village to make the John Wick movies, Stahelski’s unique approach and Reeves’ dedication is a big part of why all four films have been such huge successes.

Source: Vanity Fair/ YouTube