Who says you can’t teach old (or immortal) dogs new tricks? Keanu Reeves is known for his intense action franchises, and even does a pretty substantial amount of his own stunts. After over 25 years in the action game, you’d think he’d know pretty much all there is to know, but that’s not quite accurate. The Matrix franchise star had to learn a totally new skill for John Wick 4, and I honestly can’t wait to see the results on screen in the film.
Apparently we can expect a little something different from John Wick 4, at least for a scene or two. In an interview for his cover issue with Esquire, Keanu Reeves revealed that we’ll be able to see how skilled of an equestrian he is because his character will be atop a horse in the desert, and it was his hope while preparing for the movie that he'd be able to gain some speed on the horse. Here’s what the Speed star says, exactly:
There’s a sequence—hopefully, knock on wood, in John Wick 4, the opening sequence. John Wick is back in the desert on a horse. I’m going to hopefully be able to fast-gallop and run.
Apparently all of his previous action experience did not prepare Keanu Reeves for riding a horse at such a speed, because in the same interview, he explained that he had to prepare for the scene ahead of time. This is what Reeves said when asked if he was familiar with how to gallop on a horse:
Ish. That’s why I’m going to training.
Let’s get one thing straight: I would absolutely watch Keanu Reeves while he is learning literally any skill. In fact, this is me officially pitching a TV show centered around Reeves learning new mundane skills like knitting and pasta making. A Netflix Top 10 hit for sure, but Keanu Reeves learning to ride a horse? Three generations of both women and men would break the internet over that.
Okay, so we won’t get to see Keanu Reeves learning to ride a horse at the speed needed for John Wick 4, but seeing the result of his hard work would be a decent consolation prize, especially if there’s some Indiana Jones-esque action scenes atop the horse, making use of the many fighting styles he is familiar with. It's possible that the training he underwent to learn how to gallop on a horse will be some of the easier in his extensive acting career. I mean, it’s not like he was stuck in a runaway bus with a bomb strapped to it.
Filming on John Wick 4 is all finished up, with John Wick 5 to get started not too long behind it. We can expect John Wick 4 to be ready for viewing and released to theaters next summer on May 27. Fans of Keanu Reeves don’t have to wait long at all to see him back in action, though, as he returns to The Matrix franchise in The Matrix Resurrections, which hits theaters and HBO Max in just a few weeks on December 22.
