Welcome to the Heavey Spoilers show, I'm our host Paul aka the biggest Wickhead on youtube
and this video we're gonna be talking about a number of the big things that we've learned
about John Wick Chapter 4 since it's release.
In this video we're gonna be talking about the alternate ending that they considered
using and also how the cast and crew reacted to Lance Reddicks passing.
I wanna get straight into it but as we're talking about the original ending we have
to give a spoiler alert up top before we get into it. This scene was shot as an add on
to what we saw at the end and it may ruin the film if you haven't checked it out yet.
With all that out the way, huge thank you for clicking this, now let's get into John
Wick Chapter 4.
Ok so the movie ends with John taking down the Marquis but in order to do that he has
to goade him into taking part in the duel itself. In his arrogance once he sees that
John is seeminly beaten he decides to take Caine's weapon and he goes to shoot Johh.
Wick didn't actually fire during the last shot of the duel and he uses this opportunity
to kill the Marquis and free not only himself but also Caine and his daughter.
However he's mortally wounded and he ends up dying on the steps of the church after
uttering his wifes name Helen.
Now many people were shocked to see this scene playing out as Wick was seen as this invincible
and unstoppable terminator that was the very personification of the boogeyman.
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Because of this many people have speculated over the last couple of days that Wick is
actually still alive and there's been a lot of wires getting crossed over whether he'll
return or not. There was a fifth John Wick film greenlit along with four and thus there's
been talk that they just haven't announced that so people go with the ending. Wick is
also due to appear in the Ana De Armas spin-off the Ballerina and you can see how rumours
can spread.
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No not like Baba Yaga. However, Chad Stahelski has been doing a lot of press over the last
couple of days and he's discussed an alternate ending they shot and cleared up a lot of things.
So originally Chapter 5 was in the works and they were going to shoot it back to back with
Chapter 4. However he said that they realised they'd rather do one movie they can put their
all into instead of making two concurrently. The Ballerina is also set between the events
of chapter 3 and 4 so it doesnt really retcon the ending either.
Now as for that ending, when the director and Keanue went to the studio to pitch the
idea they kicked off and said that they were insane for killing off their big cash cow.
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Chad said that the crew ended up having to
shoot an alternate ending for the film that left John alive.
When discussing it he said that they initially werte unsurue over whether to do a fourth
movie and they came up with the Why which would ultimately be Johns Death. They realised
that they'd kinda fallen into a formula with these movies where there were the same sorts
of beats and Chad even said that if he was a fan then he would've watched Chapter 3 thinking
'how is he going to get out of this, just give me an ending.'
So Chapter 4 was pitched as something that the franchise hadn't tackled before which
was consequences and a conclusion.
He said that they very much felt like this film should be a goodbye to John but they
wondered how to give a proper one. Thus they came up with the idea that's laced throughout
the movie which is that a good death only comes after a good life. He said that sums
up the movie and that the entire film is about an action packed thrill ride in which John
gets his redemption in the end.
Now Chad then went into the test screenings that they did and the times that they showed
the alternate ending to audiences.
According to the director the ending was almost identical all the way up to the funeral scene.
We even had that play out exactly the same however Johns Dog would longingly look over
and from here we'd get it confirmed that John was still alive. This is why we had that shot
in the movie and also Winston and The Bowery King discussing whether he was in heaven or
hell. Because they said neither that also implied that he was still alive and out there
somewhere which is something we pointed out in our breakdown of the movie.
However the fact that Chad is saying that all these ideas were eventually cut down means
that the intention was indeed to kill him. So put away your tin foil hats, John is intended
to be dead...but...with it being Hollywood you never know how they're gonna work stuff
in. I'm talking The Ballerina introducing cloning technology or something.
Now this ending didn't go down to well either and apparently after the test screening they
realised that it wasn't a good fit for how they'd made their movie. Everything about
it is centred around death and in bringing back John it somewhat cheapened the message.
They talked about how this film was about him realising that he'd ruined so many of
his friends lives and had killed hundreds and hundreds of people in order to avenge
his dog. Thus they wanted to give some finality and consequences to that so they had him saving
a friend before his death which acted somewhat as redemption.
In the end the studio told them that they could go with whatever ending they felt strongest
about. This is what we got in the final cut with John passing away and his death being
final....for now.
Anyway this film is of course filled with death, most notably Charons. Played by Lance
Reddick the actor sadly passed away whilst the creative team were promoting the film
and this has been a tragic conversation topic centred around the film. Lance died just as
the film was being sent out to the press for screenings and Chad talked about what the
creative team felt upon learning this. He said that both he and Keanu were massive fans
of the actor because of the Wire and that he was one of the first people they cast after
getting Keanu for the role.
He said that when they initially pitched the idea for the first film that it was difficult
getting people to show interest because they said it was about a man who's dog was killed
and he got revenge. It didn't really work in pitch meetings and thus many people turned
it down.
However they said to Lance:
“You’re going to be Charon the gatekeeper. John Wick is going to be like Greek mythology.
It’s a fantasy film like Lord of the Rings, but in modern day.” and he instantly got
it.
Now cut to Chapter 4 and he said that when they pitched the idea to Lance about his reaction
to his death, Chad told the Hollwyood Reporter.
“Look, I can’t tell you I love it. I can’t tell you I’m not upset, but I can tell you
that I don’t know another way to make this movie this good.”
Chad later went on to talk about how his characters death is the catalyst in the movie that really
kicks things off and it's a major driving force for Winston. The Marquis didn't want
to make Winston one as it would give people a reason to fight. However, in killing Charon
he very much made one for Winston who aided John throughout the film.
Now when talking about it Chad said:
Cut to last Friday, we had literally just got off the plane in Toronto, but it seemed
to be a very exciting and positive time. All the screenings had been going really well,
and we’d been so fortunate to have good responses. So we’d been talking to Lance
probably every other day, and we had just seen him during the L.A. press, We left him
with a high five, going, “Catch you later!” And then when we got off the plane, Derek
Kolstad, the original writer who’s very close with Lance and his family, called me
and said that Lance had passed. We hadn’t even put the bags in the room yet, and I made
one call to Keanu. He answered and I was like, “Hey, man. I gotta come see you in your
room.” And he was like, “Sure, come on up.”
So he opened the door, and I was like, “Look, I have some bad news. Lance just passed away.”
And after the initial “what the f***?” shock, everything went quiet. And then Keanu
looked at me and we were like, “This is for him.” We only had two or three hours
before we had to go on stage in Toronto and do the thing again, but that’s obviously
nothing compared to what his family and his close friends are going through. So, for the
next hour and a half before our screening, we just told Lance stories, and we realized
how lucky we were to have worked with him. It was one of the most fortunate times in
my life.
Now the movie had been sent out to cineams already and they said that it's extremely
difficult to recall the DCPs that get sent out to cinemas. However even before Chad asked
Lionsgate to add something to the end the Studio had been hard at work and they had
been making calls and getting it out there. They said that not every single screening
will have the dedication added onto the end but I saw it on mine and I know that others
did.
Chad did say that by the time it hits streaming and so on that the dedication will be in place
and that they can make sure that Lance is remembered for the great man that he is.
And that concludes the video, I hope you enjoyed learning this extra information on the movie
even if a lot of it is to do with tragedy both on and off screen.
Let me know your thoughts below and hopefully I'll see you on the next video.
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If you want something else to watch then make sure you check out our breakdown of perfect
scene in Spider-Man Homecoming. We break down the entire thing so it’s definitely worth
checking out if you wanna know more.
With that out the way thank you for sitting through the video, I’ve been Paul and I’ll
see you next time. Take care, Peace