An Action Movie Legend Almost Played John Wick Before Keanu Reeves

Has it really been 10 years since "John Wick" debuted in theaters? Time flies when you're having fun righteously knocking off a ludicrous number of bad guys for killing your puppy. Aside from the sheer entertainment value of the franchise, we can also thank the team of screenwriter Derek Kolstad and the director tandem of Chad Stahelski and David Leitch for upping the Hollywood game when it comes to stunt-heavy action set pieces. These gentlemen are consummate craftsmen who know action movies work best when they're staged and shot as practically as possible, so they gleefully (yet carefully) put their stunt crew through their paces for our enhanced enjoyment.

Yes, the "John Wick" franchise is gun fetishism at its most knuckleheaded, but the bone-crunching, bullet-whizzing kineticism trumps my moral objections every time. I don't know what that says about me personally, but, darn it, these movies are just flat-out irresistible (clearly, given that they've made over $1 billion at the global box office).

While there'd be no "John Wick" without the aforementioned trio, the series likely wouldn't have become the high-octane box office sensation that it is today without Keanu Reeves. The star's expert facility for believable hand-to-hand combat and firearm discharging gives these movies a high-octane thrill you wouldn't get with a star who farms out most of his brawling to his stuntman. This being said, it's fair to wonder how these movies might've played had the first "John Wick" gone forward with one of the biggest action stars on the planet in the title role.

In a 10th anniversary chat with The Hollywood Reporter, David Leitch revealed that when he was first approached to do second unit work on the film, none other than Bruce Willis "might've been attached at the time." It's noteworthy that the Thunder Road production team of Basil Iwanyk and Peter Lawson were considering a then fifty-something Willis instead of the nine-years-younger Reeves.

What would that have looked like? Again, it would've been a little less fluid visually what with all of the doubling for Willis – who was physically game in 2012's "Looper," but not ready to go toe-to-toe with the likes of the 87Eleven stunt team. It would've been a very different film, one that Stahelski and Leitch likely would've never made.

According to Leitch, Reeves was the perfect fit for the duo, who were ready to step forward from second-unit directing to make their own movie. Thanks to the insistence of their manager Kelly McCormick (who is now Leitch's producing partner and wife), they got their shot and made the most of it. The next chapter in the "John Wick" series, "From the World of John Wick: Ballerina" (starring Ana de Armas), hits theaters June 6, 2025.