John Wick Chapter 4: Keanu Reeves says the next level action in the upcoming entry was his hardest physical role

Last Updated on February 8, 2023

Welcome back, Mr. Wick. The John Wick franchise is an interesting one. All the movies in a franchise that has spanned nearly a decade have taken place within weeks of each other. This places an amount of expectations and pressure on the lead, Keanu Reeves, to not change in any extreme fashion and still be able to keep up with the physicality. According to GamesRadar, Keanu found this to be the hardest and most physically demanding role he’s ever had due to the sheer volume of action in this one.

“John Wick: Chapter 4 has the most action of any of the [John Wick] films, which is saying a lot. And it’s more by a good margin. It’s a big show,” the Bill & Ted actor told TotalFilm. “John Wick: Chapter 4 was the hardest physical role I’ve ever had in my career so far. They really trained me up to be able to have what we call the toolbox. We took the car-driving to the next level, which I really enjoy. There’s 180s, forward-into-reverse 180s, reverse into-forward 270s, drifting… So it was really fun to get a chance to learn those skills, and to play.”

Each entry in the franchise has up the ante of action and stunts. Not only adding bigger, more complicated elements but also bringing in the best talent in the martial arts world to face off against Keanu, who notably did his own fighting with the Hong Kong-inspired action sequences of The Matrix movies along with this series. Chapter 4 adds martial arts heavyweight Donnie Yen to the cast.

The stunt coordinator and second unit director, Scott Rogers, details what Yen contributes, saying he “brings ‘master level’ fighting abilities” and saying, “he is not an actor that you have to train for each specific fight. He is a great actor who is also a trained fighter. His ability to enhance the choreography through his own creativity is world class. When you add that to the many years of John Wick training that Keanu Reeves has invested, you end up with something very special.”

Reeves boasts about Chapter 4 being “our opus. Oh my god, it’s crazy, man! It’s banana cakes!”

The banana cakes chapter is set to release on March 24.