Director Chad Stahelski, Keanu Reeves Had Been Waiting 12 Years To Cast Hiroyuki Sanada in John Wick 4: “I created the role for you”

Director Chad Stahelski, Keanu Reeves Had Been Waiting 12 Years To Cast Hiroyuki Sanada in John Wick 4: "I created the role for you"
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With the recently released John Wick: Chapter 4 making global headlines across the world, the little tidbits of information are making their way around the Internet. Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski had a blast making the fourth part of the pet-loving killers’ franchise.

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According to an interview with Keanu Reeves and the Japanese martial artist-turned-actor Hiroyuki Sanada, the Canadian actor had waited 12 years for his martial artist friend since Chad Stahelski specially made a role for Hiroyuki Sanada.

Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023).
Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023).

Keanu Reeves Waited 12 Years For His Friend in John Wick

Great movies often have a dedicated heartfelt team working behind the scenes to make them a masterpiece for the people to witness. Before their journey in John Wick: Chapter 4 began Keanu Reeves and his friend Hiroyuki Sanada were cast together in 47 Ronin. After their separation, Reeves promised Sanada that he was making a big movie with Chad Stahelski.

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Keanu Reeves and Hiroyuki Sanada in 47 Ronin (2013).
Keanu Reeves and Hiroyuki Sanada in 47 Ronin (2013).

Also read: Real Reason Keanu Reeves Agreed To Play John Wick in Iconic $880M Franchise for 4 Movies: “I enjoy playing characters who suffer”

The movie came out to be John Wick in 2014. After the massive success of the franchise, Keanu Reeves and Hiroyuki Sanada were reunited on the sets of John Wick: Chapter 4. The actors sat down for an interview wherein they talked about the good old days and how their friendship lasted all these years.

“I worked with him before on the movie called 47 Ronin, 12 years ago. That time he told me that I will make a big action movie with Chad. That was John Wick. So, I watched from the beginning, Chapters 1, 2, 3, and then finally Chad called me and said, “I created the role for you. It’s a long, long old friend of John Wick.” I was so excited, and I said yes, see you on set.”

Hiroyuki Sanada also praised Reeves for his on-set behavior and how the actor always would work the hardest and yet was still the humblest person on the sets of John Wick: Chapter 4. 

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“I decided to join immediately and I’m so happy to reunite with Keanu because he’s a great actor and a great person. He’s always humble and shy, always hardworking, very hard on himself, and very kind to others.”

This wasn’t all since Keanu Reeves also had a pretty good time preparing for the role of John Wick in the movie. According to the actor, he had to learn how to do 180s and 270s drifting in a car for the action scenes!

Suggested: “Everyone was… Rolling or flying down and running up”: Keanu Reeves Calls the Epic John Wick 4 222 Steps Fight Scene as “Traumatic”

Keanu Reeves Had A Great Time Shooting John Wick: Chapter 4

John Wick 4
A still from John Wick: Chapter 4.

Related: “That really f-cking sucked”: Keanu Reeves Accidentally Cut a Man’s Head Open on the Sets of ‘John Wick’, Reveals Other INSANE Mishaps

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With action scenes setting a benchmark for other films to follow, John Wick: Chapter 4 was praised for the unique and fast-paced action scenes that it featured. As is the legacy of John Wick, Keanu Reeves once again got into the habit of trying to do all the stunts himself. This time, however, he had to learn how to do 180s and 270s drifting in a car.

“I trained for about three, or four months and got to do some more trying to get to the next level, do movie judo and movie jiu-jitsu, and then some movie precision driving. Throwing 180s and 270s and doing some drifting was really fun. Got to try and learn some nunchucks, which was a little hectic, but enjoyable.”

The actor continued,

“I got back to the weapons, doing some manipulations, and some reloading. I love what I called John Wick boot camp and going to John Wick’s school because I get to meet so many great masters of what they do, try and learn. It was a great experience.”

With a whopping 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and 8.6/10 on IMDB, John Wick: Chapter 4 is screening in theaters across the world.

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Source: GMA

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Written by Visarg Acharya

Articles Published: 2018

Visarg Acharya, Associate Content Writer, has been heavily involved in movies, series, and history. Having an experience of 2 years in the field of content writing, Visarg is a seasoned writer. Having a degree in Physics, Visarg Acharya has published a dissertation alongside a plethora of poems and short stories along the way.