Keanu Reeves has become an action star. With have two current big action franchises at this time, The resurrection of the Matrix lead is dominating the genre right now. The John wick The franchise has great appeal to fans of the genre, and now franchise cinematographer Dan Laustsen has revealed why Reeves’ action scenes are often shot extensively.
The John wick The franchise has a ton of beautifully crafted, fast-paced action sequences packed with different kinds of fighting techniques. Keanu Reeves has actually learned many of these fighting techniques over the years, and performs many of his own stunts.
Apparently, the fact that Keanu Reeves is actually doing the stunts in these intense action sequences is a big reason why they shoot wide open. In an interview with Collider, Dan Laustsen, the cinematographer behind the John wick franchise since its second installment, says it shoots the scenes wide so Reeves can “do what he has to do.” Here he is in his own words:
But he wants to do that. He wants to shoot wide so Keanu can do what Keanu has to do. And then get into the close-ups for whatever reason, super fast, because Keanu is running out of speed, of course, because, you know, he’s not a stuntman.
The John wick franchise employs a ton of stunt talent, and actors who are known for heavy martial arts movies. While Keanu Reeves has definitely had experience with these types of movies, he has a much wider range. This means that he doesn’t eat, sleep, or breathe stunts or martial arts like some of the other people on set. It seems that for this reason, having a wider shot when filming your stunts and then capturing your close-ups quickly makes the filming much smoother.
If these wide shots affect the way you John wick Movies are perceived, it is definitely not for the worse. The franchise has become something of a cult classic that has stimulated an interesting movie from the same universe, the characters own roller coaster, Y now a tv series, all while not near its end.
John wick 5 has already been confirmed for some time, even though Chapter 4 has been just finished filming. While Keanu Reeves certainly won’t be able to get John Wick out for good (though, he could if certain immortal rumor proves to be true), we can expect her character to stick around and remain relevant for quite some time.
Although the filming ended fortunately, we will not be able to see John wick 4 for at least another year, having been recently rejected once again. However, once it’s made to the screens, it seems like we can expect some pretty impressive and expansive action sequences.
