John Wick: Chapter 4 Stunt Coordinators On Car Chases & Overhead Action (2024)

John Wick: Chapter 4 enraptured audiences, grossing over $431 million at the box office. In John Wick: Chapter 4, the titular anti-hero is taking the fight directly to the High Table. However, this puts a target on his back as well as the backs of everyone who has ever helped him when the High Table sends the dangerous Marquis Vincent de Gramont to end John Wick once and for all. As the Marquis targets his friends, either turning them into collateral damage or new foes for John Wick to fight, the Baba Yaga will make his final stand to protect his allies and free himself from the High Table's control once and for all.

Chad Stahelski, who has directed the previous three, returns to direct John Wick: Chapter 4 from a screenplay penned by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch. Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, and the late Lance Reddick return to reprise their roles in the latest John Wick adventure. Joining the John Wick family in John Wick: Chapter 4 is a star-studded cast that includes Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, and Clancy Brown.

Related: John Wick 4 Ending Explained

Screen Rant caught up with stunt coordinators Scott Rogers and Stephen Dunlevy in celebration of the movie's home release to talk about John Wick: Chapter 4 and experience stunt driving training. Dunlevy explained how the action in Ballerina is different from that in John Wick and what role ballet plays in this world. Rogers broke down the action preparation that Stahelski goes into and revealed that the studio wanted to cut the overhead action sequence multiple times.

Scott Rogers & Stephen Dunlevy on John Wick: Chapter 4

Screen Rant: Can you guys talk about the evolution of the action from John Wick to John Wick: Chapter 4?

Scott Rogers: Darren Prescott was the stunt coordinator, Second Unit Director on one, and he was a Second Unit Director on two and three. Then I came in on three as a stunt coordinator. Then Second Unit Director, Stunt Coordinator on four. So, Chad Stahelski, the director, Darren Prescott and myself all came up in the business together. So we've all known each other for 30 some odd years, and it all comes out of Chad. Chad originally, everyone knows used to double Keanu in Matrix, but they developed it [together].

Keanu's very integral in the development of it all. He's playing the character he wants and has some input. And then he and Chad develop it and then Darren also in the first two and three movies was heavy in developing the car sequences. Chad does all the fight stuff and then Darren and myself who don't have a fight background as much as we have cars, motorcycles, and horses. Chad wanted the franchise to grow from one which is a very limited, very small, intimate movie to grow to where they go to Italy and then now we've seen four goes all around the world.

What is it like working with a director that has a stunt background versus directors that don't? How is that different for you guys?

Stephen Dunlevy: You've gotta be on top of your game working with Chad. Chad is one of the best in the industry especially actualized. So you've gotta be at the top of your game all day every day. There's no like hiding stuff or being able to get away with things. Chad knows because he's been there and he's done it. He's come up like we have so you're always pushing the boundaries. Chad knows what's possible. What has and hasn't been done so you're constantly working with Chad [and it's] a lot of fun because you're constantly having to push those boundaries, develop new things, and come up with new concepts.

Scott Rogers: John Wick movies are built different than most movies. So the amount of prep that goes into say the top shot sequence with the dragon's breath. We ended up shooting three days in there. No movie spends five weeks developing a three day shoot, but we did at John Wick. We spent months developing the set itself and then the fight team that was doing most of the stuff, mostly the French, spent two or three weeks at least four week doing the choreography. Then we spent weeks with the camera developing. So the amount of effort and energy that goes into the action of a John Wick movie is just fundamentally more than any other movie.

Can you guys talk me through the big driving stunt scene where it was in the car first, then it became hand-to-hand, and then in the car again?

Scott Rogers: We started out with Keanu out here actually almost a year ahead of the movie and just got him in the car. He already had some skill set. He's driven, he's raced cars he's raced motorcycles. So he has a basic skill set. And you already know how much he's willing to do because having worked with him for a number of years and done John Wick 3, done Matrix, and these other things.

I worked with Chad and develop the sequence with Keanu and then based that around his existing skill set. Tanner Foust we brought in whose a world class and famous driver. Trained him in anything he didn't already have we went deeper and further in. Started given a few extra little skill sets like drifting the car, picking the gun up, and some things like that. You're just building one brick on top of the other until you have the full sequence.

The story really is built around the action. How involved is the stunt team in that planning process during the pre-production scripting? Do you guys come in after, and ae you working directly with Chad?

Scott Rogers: Chad builds this the movie differently than most people were normally a writer will write a screne or write the script. Then a director will have his input, and then the second unit director or the stunt team will come in and change it up a littler bit. Chad sort of builds them on top of each other. He knows, "I want to do this, this, and this." Then he goes to the location and the scouts well before most directors would because the locations inform the action. So it's like the action calls for this type of location. Well, in that you may find some other cool things. So then that's going to change the action.

It's all molded, so the final product is what you end up with, but that's not where you started. It's not like the script is, this is what's written and you gotta go find that. It's like, well we know we want to do a car sequence and then you go and say, Oh, well, we had the Arc de Triomphe. We had this other thing right outside the Lourve which is this big oval. We had a couple other things. And then you pick, you see what's developing, then you pick one. Then you go okay, now we have the Arc de Triomphe. Now we want this. We want the motorcycle.

Now we want to do the car hits. How are we going to crash the car? If Keanu is in the car how does it crash? How does he get out? What happens then? You let the story guide you. That's why people like John Wick because it's grounded. He doesn't just all of a sudden take off flying. Yes he does get hit by a car and we'r trying to make it hyper action. Where it's, is that possible? But once you think it's not possible, you're out of the John Wick world.

Very cool. Are you guys working on some of the spin-offs like The Continental and Ballerina?

Stephen Dunlevy: Yeah, I coordinated Ballerina.

I'm very excited for that one. Can you talk to me about how stunts are different in that versus John Wick movies because we have a new character that doesn't have as much experience as John Wick?

Stephen Dunlevy: So with Ballerina we're starting with a younger assassin. When we meet John Wick he's retired he's lived through that, obviously older. So stylistically what we're bringing in is a rawer energy with her. Which very much suits her character. What we do with the actors is assess what they're good at and build up on those like we do with the driving and everything like that same with the fighting. See what she was good at and then what energies come out, and then we start building on those. We'll see a younger, rawer energy coming from Ballerina, but it's still within that world that we've establishment with the John Wick world.

Did you guys look to ballet specifically for any inspiration for the fight scenes because it has that vibe to it?

Stephen Dunlevy: One thing we wanted to stay away from was like, "Oh, it's a ballerina," having her pirouette into a kick and everything like that. TIn the world of John Wick they learn ballet because it's the determination and grit to be able to create that physicality being able to stick through ballet. That's where we're going with that world. It's the grit and determination to keep going even when your toenails are falling off, they're bleeding, you've got a damaged ankle. You've got to wrap it up and keep going. And that's more where we're focused with that.

Oh, I love that! And then how did you guys pull off that overhead shot because that was insane in the best way as were the stairs! The stairs were so cool!

Scott Rogers: Again it's months of training and you're taking an elite fight team. Laurent Demianoff was the French stunt coordinator and fight choreographer brought in his team. We put boxes up and that worked with Kevin Kavanaugh the production designer to develop the set. Then you have to work with the rigging teams to fly the camera...

Stephen Dunlevy: Sound team's very important as well.

Scott Rogers: You just keep building the thing until you get ready. You have VFX and all the departments go into that, but it doesn't happen quickly. Most studios, most people don't have the stomach for that much prep for a sequence. The studio wanted to cut that scene repeatedly.

Really?

Scott Rogers: Yeah, because if you've never seen it before you have to have a visionary person to develop it. So most studio executives are not visionary and that's why they do their job and Chad Stahelski does his job. So to try to describe it to them you're like, "No it'll be really cool." And they're lie, "This doesn't make any sense to me."

About John Wick: Chapter 4

Following the events of Parabellum, John Wick has found a new path to defeating the High Table and is taking the fight to them. But before he can try to earn his freedom, a powerful new enemy will turn even more people against Wick, including one of his oldest and most dangerous friends.

Check out our other John Wick: Chapter 4 interviews here:

• Keanu Reeves
• Laurence Fishburne
• Chad Stahelski
• Scott Adkins
• Natalia Tena

John Wick: Chapter 4 is available now on Digital, 4K Ultra HD™ Combo Pack, Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, DVD, and On Demand.