Keanu Reeves Sliced Open A Stuntman's Head On The Set Of A John Wick Movie
The "John Wick" movies are a whirring, modern carnival of spectacular stunt work. They're a hyped-up throwback to the old days of Hollywood action filmmaking when audiences were pinned to their seats as Hal Needham launched a car over a ravine or Dar Robinson plummeted 220 feet from a high-rise hotel. Along with the "Mission: Impossible" franchise, these films celebrate the human element of making a blockbuster. Stuntmen are precious cargo, but, my, we sure do love to watch them risk life and limb for the sake of an unforgettable set piece.
Keanu Reeves breathed muscular life into his flagging career when he played FBI Agent Johnny Utah in Kathryn Bigelow's absurdly entertaining, "Point Break." The role of action hero agreed with him, as he proved emphatically three years later in Jan De Bont's masterpiece "Speed." If you've watched these movies semi-closely, you can see Reeves performing a number of his own stunts, and performing them casually (e.g. watch him effortlessly walk off the police transport onto the speeding bus in one take).
It's no surprise that Reeves has become one of the industry's leading advocates for stunt people. When he can't physically do a stunt, they make him look indestructible. These people live to make movies, and Reeves loves mixing it up with them. But accidents will happen, and while making the "John Wick" movies, Reeves once made a very bloody mistake.
It's all fun and games until someone's bleeding from the head
In an interview with Comicbook.com for "John Wick: Chapter 4," Reeves shared one of his least proud moments. "In terms of accidents," he said, "I made a mistake once and I cut a gentleman's head open. [T]hat really f***ing sucked, excuse my language."
Reeves' polite reference to the stuntman as a "gentleman," and subsequent apology for dropping the f-bomb is absolutely adorable. What a sweetheart! Since he was unloading, he opened up a little more about on-set miscues.
"[B]ut other than that — well, one guy got hit by a car, was in the car, he had to go to the hospital but he was okay. I mean all of this to say, some of the things we're doing you do have to take care. But it's great that everyone is watching out for each other, so there's some bruising and aches and pains, but no humans were harmed in the filming of this motion picture."
Except for the humans who were harmed. But we get your point, Keanu.
Reeves returns to the role of the preternaturally lethal hitman in "John Wick: Chapter 4" on March 24, 2023.