Before Keanu Reeves grew out his hair and beard to become the action movie icon we now know as John Wick, another beloved action star was in-line to play the role of the dog-loving assassin. And he would definitely not have had the same luscious locks. In an interview with THR for the 10th anniversary of the first John Wick movie, co-director and producer David Leitch revealed that none other than Die Hard star and Hollywood icon Bruce Willis was on board as the titular assassin.
Leitch, who has since gone on to helm such action movie fare as Deadpool 2, Bullet Train, and The Fall Guy, offered some intriguing insight into how the first movie was developed, with Willis being attached early on.
“We were first exposed to the script by our manager at the time, Kelly McCormick, who’s now my wife and producer. She had introduced us to Basil Iwanyk and Peter Lawson at Basil’s company [Thunder Road] to maybe do second unit work on that script. So that was the first time we read it, and I think Bruce Willis might’ve been attached at that time.”
Initially, John Wick was actually titled Scorn (Keanu Reeves put an end to that after constantly calling the movie John Wick while doing the press circuit) and was about an older assassin who finds himself embarking on a bloody and brutal revenge mission. Willis is nearly 10 years older than Reeves, with The Matrix star famously cutting a much younger figure than his 60 years, with this casting revelation conjuring a slightly different image of both the titular action hero and the movie around him.
John Wick Led by Bruce Willis Would Have Been a Different Beast
Rather than being about an aged assassin past his prime, John Wick instead became about a former hitman who is still very much a master of the art of killing. Something which is reflected in some of the other changes that were made to the movie once Keanu Reeves came aboard. As per THR, David Leitch and Chad Stahelski put together a pitch for John Wick following Reeves’ casting, “turning the puppy-revenge tale’s 11 to 15 kills into 84 kills, as well as underscoring the mythological component of the assassin underworld.”
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However, David Leitch and Erica Lee have other thoughts about the future of the John Wick franchise with Keanu Reeves.
It’s now pretty hard to imagine anyone other than Keanu Reeves playing John Wick but, if you squint, you should be able to see a solid action outing led by Bruce Willis as a quieter killer (think Willis in Rian Johnson’s 2012 sci-fi outing TheShockNews) in a more insular revenge outing titled Scorn. The collaboration of Leitch, Stahelski, and Willis would still have no doubt resulted in cinematic brilliance, giving the actor and his fans another thrilling action movie to look back on following Willis’ recent retirement.
Of course, Reeves is now synonymous with the character, and John Wick is now one of the most successful action franchises of all time. While the main storyline recently wrapped up with John Wick: Chapter 4, things are set to expand exponentially, with an anime series, a TV show, and several spin-offs now in the works. The first official spin-off, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, is coming next year, and finds Ana de Armas leading the fight as a fledgling assassin who embarks on her own quest for revenge.
- Release Date
- October 22, 2014
- Runtime
- 96
- Studio
- Summit Entertainment
- Tagline
- Don’t set him off.
- Franchise
- John Wick