The Making of an Action Classic

The next publish comprises some minor spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4.

John Wick: Chapter 4 is the fruits of an nearly nine-hour story concerning the very unhappy and really violent lifetime of its title character, a former hitman who simply wished to dwell a humble life along with his pet dammit, however can’t appear to flee his previous as a killer for rent. And most of these 9 hours have concerned motion scenes of each possible type: Hand-to-hand fight, shootouts, sword battles, knife fights, together with chases on bikes, automobiles, and even horseback. How do you convey all of that to a detailed and high what you’ve executed earlier than, suddenly?

By strolling up a flight of stairs, after all.

Ah, however that is no unusual stroll up some steps. John Wick: Chapter 4 concludes with a blinding sequence the place John (the seemingly indefatigable Keanu Reeves) should arrive at a Parisian church by daybreak with a purpose to take part in a duel along with his sworn enemy. If he doesn’t make it in time, he shall be executed. And so mentioned enemy sends what looks like half of Paris after John to delay his arrival.

After making his method by means of town, pursued on foot and by automobile, he finds himself on the backside of an unlimited set of stairs. There are lots of of steps and dozens of enemies, and he’s bought solely a handful of minutes to make it to the highest. And as soon as he will get to the highest … he will get knocked your entire method again to the underside and should make a second climb at an excellent quicker tempo.

I’ve solely seen John Wick: Chapter 4 as soon as (thus far), however I am completely sure this stairwell sequence — and particularly that second the place John Wick tumbles down dozens upon dozens of stairs solely to stand up and begin to climb once more — will go down in historical past as one of many best motion sequences of the twenty first century. Once I had the possibility to interview the film’s director, Chad Stahelski, I made a decision to deal with simply this scene: How he conceived it, what impressed it, how he shot it, and how this sure-to-be legendary scene suits into the movie as an entire.

The Idea

Stahelski, who directed or co-directed all 4 John Wick films and has spent a long time in Hollywood working as a stuntman, stunt coordinator, and battle choreographer, says that there are basically two approaches to the creation of an motion sequence: Inside out or outdoors in.

“Once you choreograph martial arts, we name it ‘the maze,’” Stahelski explains. “Image Jackie Chan. He’s all the time working and combating; that’s the way you droop disbelief when he’s combating a number of attackers. You don’t simply stand a spot and allow them to come to you. That was extra like a Bruce Lee mentality. Jackie does the working battle scene. And if he’s combating a tall man, he’ll go right into a cellphone sales space. There’s an environmental factor to it, a set piece factor to it. That’s extra the varsity of thought I’m from.”

That method is throughout John Wick: Chapter 4, notably within the jaw-dropping sequence that precedes the stairwell battle the place John fends off enemies across the Arc de Triomphe. “We had this concept,” Stahelski says, “that we wished a movable set the place you’re combating the atmosphere in addition to you’re combating individuals … an ever-changing set piece. We’re like ‘Effectively, how do I get the set to maneuver?’

From that preliminary impulse, Stahelski and his staff progressively settled on a battle involving transferring automobiles. “However simply an intersection can be boring,” he observes. “So we’re simply gonna make a roundabout and we’re gonna have 200 automobiles maintain circling. So the partitions are all the time altering, and we’re simply gonna battle in the midst of that, and the automobiles aren’t going to care, they’re simply gonna maintain transferring. So now it’s important to fear concerning the set piece and it’s important to fear concerning the opponent. That’s an instance of inside out; that was an idea that we needed to construct outward and work out how you can do it.”

The staircase sequence was an instance of the alternative method; the surface in technique. Moderately than desirous to shoot a scene on a staircase, Stahelski and his staff discovered the stairwell first and that in flip impressed the battle that they created.

Influences

The all-important French church that John Wick should attain is Sacré-Cœur, considered one of Paris’ most iconic landmarks. Stahelski’s want to shoot Chapter 4’s climax there got here from a considerably stunning place.

“I’m a giant fan of Amélie, imagine it or not,” Stahelski says. “And that movie’s third act begins at Sacré-Cœur. So I placed on all my location scout lists; ‘I wish to see Sacré-Cœur!’ And on the second day, we noticed Sacré-Cœur, and we walked up the principle steps, and I‘m like ‘Oh, that’s cool, we’ll determine one thing out right here.’”

Stahelski says the feverish race to the church additionally drew inspiration from Excessive Midday, the 1952 Gary Cooper Western a few lone sheriff who should resolve whether or not to flee his publish or stand and battle when he learns that an outlaw he despatched to jail is coming to kill him. (Cooper’s Excessive Midday character is known as Kane, whereas Donnie Yen’s character in John Wick: Chapter 4 simply occurs to be named Caine.) Stahelski claims he additionally thought lots about Buster Keaton, the sensible silent comic and filmmaker who, like most of Stahelski’s actors, did his personal stuntwork.

“All I may take into consideration was Buster Keaton,” Stahelski reveals, “How would Buster Keaton do it? Buster would stroll all the best way up, he’d battle his method up, he’d journey on the high step, he’d fall all the best way again down, then look again up and go “F—.” I all the time take a look at it from a silent movie perspective. And that’s the way it all happened.”

The Location

READ MORE: Chad Stahelski Confirms a John Wick Fan Idea

Initially on that fateful location scout in Paris, Stahelski and his staff walked up Sacré-Cœur’s entrance steps. However then they started wandering across the web site in search of potential spots to shoot. That’s once they made the invention that sparked all the pieces you see on display screen.

“We walked round, and we got here to those different steps,” Stahelski continues, “and all I may consider was William Friedkin’s The Exorcist. That stair fall in that movie. And I’m trying down — it was at nighttime — and I noticed the fog, and I’m like ‘Oh no, dude. John Wick’s taking place this.’”

“My stunt coordinator, Scott Rogers, says ‘That’d be a bitching stair fall.’ I’m like ‘No, no, no, we gotta run him up it. As a result of Keanu, he hates stairs. Simply to make him undergo, we’re going to make him stroll all the best way up. And earlier than he will get to the highest step, I’m going to knock him again down and we’re going to do the largest stair fall you’ve ever seen. And I’m going to make him climb it up once more with Donnie Yen.”

Longtime John Wick followers will recall that this isn’t the primary time the character has taken a tumble down some stairs. In the course of a battle between John and Cassian (Widespread) in John Wick: Chapter 2, the pair threw one another down a lot smaller set of steps, then bought up and stored combating. It’s considered one of a number of callbacks and homages to earlier John Wick films sprinkled all through Chapter 4, which make the entire movie a little bit of a curtain name for the franchise, one thing Stahelski confirms was very a lot intentional.

“We’re very conscious of that,” he says. “And that’s the silent film gag of all of it; repetition, making enjoyable of ourselves, letting you understand we’re in on the joke. I believe that’s essential, as a result of you’ll be able to have some fairly severe thematics and emotional content material, however on the finish of the day, we’re viewers members, too. And that makes us chortle.”

Capturing the Greatest Stair Fall Ever

Stahelski scheduled 5 days to shoot the stairwell sequence outdoors Sacré-Cœur. It ended up taking seven, partly as a result of Stahelski prefers to shoot motion scenes so as, which takes longer.

“I’m certain each different director you speak to, all of them say we shoot out of order. I’m extremely anal about taking pictures in order as a lot as I can,” he explains. “Clearly, there’s lighting, there’s atmosphere, or it begins to rain, it’s important to bail, the actor’s unavailable. However as a lot as I can, I don’t attempt to abide by any schedule apart from making an attempt to make nice photographs occur. And if it makes individuals sit round for somewhat bit, or if. it makes the crew relight somewhat extra … I believe what f—s up motion sequences generally is one unit’s doing this, one other unit’s doing that. There must be an natural circulate.”

Stahelski additionally notes there’s something of a false impression about how battle scenes are achieved, at the very least on John Wick films. There is intricate choreography that should be rehearsed and memorized, however that doesn‘t imply when Stahelski arrives on set he is aware of precisely what he’s going to do, or shoots issues precisely in response to the preliminary plan.

“Persons are all the time shocked once I inform them Keanu doesn’t know all of the fights. He is aware of all of the items,” Stahelski continues, “He can carry out something. However he involves set going ‘Okay, what’s Chad going to vary immediately?’ And by the second day in a battle scene, it’s flipped on its head and everyone’s like ‘What the…?’ and we’re choreographing on the spot. You may ask my choreographers, I drive them bats— loopy.”

For Stahelski, fights, like every other concept, “ought to evolve … I believed the [stairwell] battle was going to prove a technique, after which realized that I used to be unsuitable. We had a plan, however that plan lasted two days and went out the f—ing window after we noticed how cool the steps had been. So yeah, you attempt to keep so as and also you create as you go so that you don’t backend your self. I’m a giant fan of that.”

The Man Who Fell to Earth

The last word second on this bravura sequence comes when John Wick lastly, after minutes of taking pictures and working and punching, makes it to the highest of the Sacré-Cœur stairs solely to instantly go tumbling all the best way again down in a sequence of lengthy takes. It’s brutal, painful — and sort of hilarious. So I needed to know: Who took that fall?

“Vincent. We’re speaking about Vincent [Bouillon], the French stuntman who was doubling Keanu more often than not,” Staheski reveals. “We had two major doubles for him. Vincent is the one which did the stair fall you see within the film.”

It’d seem to be a fragile matter to ask somebody to fall down lots of of stairs — or, even worse, to ask them to do it a second time so you may have multiple take to work with within the modifying room, however Stahelski says that doesn’t actually issue into the method.

“You’re with among the greatest stunt individuals on this planet and also you’re all standing a staircase. What do you assume goes by means of their heads?” he laughs. “They’re not considering ‘What’s the simplest method down there?’ They’re considering “F— me, we’re about to create a legend!”

The Artwork of a Stunt Fall

A part of what makes Stahelski such an excellent director of stunts is that he’s been a performer of stunts himself. (He famously doubled Keanu Reeves on the unique Matrix films.) So I requested him: How do you’re taking an enormous fall just like the one in John Wick: Chapter 4? Is there an artwork to falling so it appears to be like good however you don’t kill your self? The key, he informed me, is one thing known as “kinesthetic sense” or “air consciousness,” together with a complete lack of concern about one’s personal welfare.

“You may’t maintain again,” he provides. “It’s important to not fear about getting harm. It’s a mindset greater than physicality. Granted, our stunt staff, our battle guys or stunt doubles, they’re among the greatest within the sport. As a lot as I spend time on casting, I’ll spend as a lot time casting the stunt individuals as a result of I do know what I’m gonna put them by means of. There’s bought to be a real we-want-to-do-better-than-the-people-before-us sort of factor. So we get these sorts of mindsets. It’s good to have the bodily capability and the mindset of ‘No, I’m going to do that. We’re going to make one thing particular.’”

That very same mindset is useful when issues don’t fairly work out as deliberate on the primary take. As Stahelski notes, on Vincent Bouillon’s first try on the stair fall, he didn’t get very far.

“Take one: [Bouillon] did the massive kick, landed, however he bought hung up in the railing actually within the first ten steps. So it was a minimize. He took a beat, and I’m like ‘F— dude, that was superior. You all proper?’ He’s like ‘Yeah, I’m able to go once more.’ The second take is what you see within the film. That’s legit. He goes and he goes. That’s 100 one thing steps. So far as we all know, it’s the longest one we’ve seen. Multi function. There’s no stitching. It’s an sincere to god one-taker.”

However even after getting an ideal take, and presumably the longest stair fall within the historical past of film stunts, the crew wasn’t executed.

“It’s humorous,” Stahelski laughs, “I don’t know if I used to be being a jerk, however I used to be like [to Bouillon] ‘Look, it’s simply not sufficient.’ Prefer it was enjoyable, I get the gag, however the entire thing must be subversive. I need the viewers to clap and go ‘What the f—?’ However on the similar time, how do I get them once more? After which Vincent and this man Florian [Beaumont] who was doubling the [main villain] character, got here up and mentioned ‘We’ve bought an concept for you: I’m going to go down once more. And I’ll go all the best way down.’ And I’m like ‘Okay, let’s see it.’

This time they wished so as to add a “tabletop” to the autumn, the place earlier than Bouillon fell down the steps, he’d spin and hit a lightweight publish first.

“Dude, there’s no method,” Stahelski replied. “You’re not going to be aware.” However the stunt staff insisted they may pull it off.

“In order that they do that second one,” Stahelski informed me. “First take — it was a one-taker. They threw Vincent, he wrapped round and hit so laborious. If I performed you the true monitor, you’ll be able to hear half the crew groaning. Like, they turned away. After which he goes down three extra units of stairs. I by no means thought he’d make it previous the primary one. In order that’s what’s within the film. That’s individuals doing what they love.”

A Stairwell That Isn’t Only a Stairwell

John Wick: Chapter 4’s stairwell battle works as an ideal second of visible pleasure, pathos, and humor, but it surely’s greater than that. Ranging from the underside of this insurmountable impediment, filmed from an angle that makes it seem to be John Wick is thus far underground he may as properly be within the pits of hell, just for him to climb to the floor (the place, of all issues, a church awaits), lends your entire sequence some main non secular overtones.

The stairwell “simply match with the situation, the story, the theme. All of it simply got here collectively,” Stahelski concurs. It sequence additionally works, in his phrases, as “a metaphor for the film as an entire.”

It really works as a metaphor for filmmaking usually too; each film is a little bit of an unattainable journey in opposition to lengthy odds and limitless hurdles and hindrances. When you remedy one downside, two extra crop as much as knock you all the best way again down the proverbial staircase once more. Stahelski says the John Wick staff knew the sequence was good whereas they had been taking pictures it. And the response from audiences thus far has confirmed that intuition.

“We’ve been doing the tour right here,” he notes, “and I believe it’s eight occasions now that we’ve screened the film. There hasn’t been a single viewers that hasn’t both cheered or gone ‘What the f—!’ We knew on the day we had been gonna present individuals one thing particular. I believe that’s our obligation to leisure.”