Chad Stahelski on How He Knew Ana de Armas Was Perfect for 'Ballerina' | THR Video - video Dailymotion

The Hollywood Reporter

Chad Stahelski chats with THR at the 'Ballerina' premiere and explains that while this film is part of the 'John Wick' universe, it will put a new spin on things. Plus, he explains how his first zoom call with Ana de Armas made him realize she was perfect for her role and he discusses the upcoming spin-offs of 'John Wick.'

Transcript

00:00How would you say this movie compares to the John Wick films we've seen before?

00:04It's in the same world, but hopefully, like we tried to do with all the John Wicks and now with Ballerina,

00:10that they're comparable at the same world, but they're all their own thing.

00:14You know, this is a whole different, it's Anna's movie, she took it, made it hers.

00:19Len tried to put his own spin on things, so hopefully, just like Keanu and I took things we loved about Leonie

00:25and Kurosawa and Spielberg and Nolan and Tom Ford and Wong Kar-wai and all the things we love.

00:31Hopefully, Anna and Len took about what they love with the Wicks and they mashed it all together with the stuff they like

00:36and kicked out something special.

00:38How did you know Len was the right person to helm this movie?

00:42I'd actually worked with Len before.

00:44I was a stuntman on one of his Underworlds and on Die Hard, the Die Hard that he had done.

00:49So I've known Len for a long time, and our first meeting was all about what he loved about the originals.

00:54And, you know, I've loved a lot of Len's work, and he just came at it from a slightly different angle

01:01with heaps of enthusiasm, and that's the most important thing to me.

01:06And how did you know Anna was the right person to be the ballerina?

01:10Interesting story.

01:11I was prepping John Wick 4.

01:13We hadn't gone to shooting yet, and they asked me to do a Zoom with her, and we had never met.

01:19And I said how much of a fan I was of her earlier work, especially like Knock Knock,

01:23and I saw her in Bond, and it was really cool.

01:25And then we got on an odd topic about how we started in the business.

01:29And I thought I had a pretty good story, and she just crushed mine

01:32with how she came over from Cuba.

01:34She didn't speak English, what she had to do to get acting,

01:37and how she kind of had to fake her way through it a little bit and kind of get the roles.

01:42And I was like, oh, this is obviously somebody that enjoys the climb as much as the view,

01:47meaning she loves the work, she likes to work hard, she likes the endurance of it,

01:53she likes the pressure of it all.

01:54And then you're like, okay, this is a lot of what, if you know Keanu at all,

01:59it's a lot of the same DNA, and we're like, okay, we've got the right person.

02:03What are some other spinoffs you'd love to see in this universe?

02:06I think we're working on something with Donnie Yen right now.

02:09The Kane ancillary, we'll call it.

02:12I love modern-day kung fu movies, I like old John Woo and Wong Kar Wai and Zangy Mo,

02:18so I can't wait to see what Donnie's going to do with that.

02:22We're really excited about that.

02:23And then we have our John Wick anime feature coming out,

02:26and we have a John Wick TV show coming out.

02:28A lot of John Wicks.

02:29Hopefully no one gets tired of us anytime soon.

Chad Stahelski on How He Knew Ana de Armas Was Perfect for 'Ballerina' | THR Video

Category

Transcript

Recommended