John Wick was already a fascinating dude, but now I want to see the scenes they cut showing his "hobby" and "vocation." Keanu Reeves is out promoting John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, and he revealed they actually did film a scene for the first 2014 movie showing his hobby.
The story came up when Keanu Reeves was asked about John Wick's hobbies. What did he do in his free time, or what would he be doing if they hadn't killed his beloved Beagle puppy, launching the drama of the three films so far?
In the first script they had John Wick described as working with old leather-bound books and book restoration. [...] Yeah, we filmed it. It’s not in the movie, but we filmed it.
Book restoration. I ... never would've guessed John Wick would retire from the hitman life just to go into book restoration. I need to see this.
John Wick starts with the title character grieving the death of his wife Helen to illness. She's the one who gave him little Daisy as a gift, knowing he'd need some help to cope after she was gone. So if the Russian gangsters hadn't shown up to steal his car and kill the puppy, John would quietly be doing book restoration right now instead of running for his life. As Keanu Reeves continued to Uproxx:
Yeah, he had a hobby and a vocation. That’s what he did. Best case, yes, his wife had passed, and that’s what he had decided to do once he got out after the impossible task, that was his vocation.
The "impossible task" was referenced in the first film. When John Wick wanted to retire, Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist) gave John an "impossible task" -- apparently a bunch of assassinations in a short time -- and John actually succeeded. John earned the legendary status of Baba Yaga (boogeyman).
Maybe when all of this is over -- even if it's 10 years from now -- John Wick will go back into book restoration. It would be easier on his body than all the stunt work he's had to do to stay alive through the past two movies.
David Leitch helped co-direct the first John Wick movie with Chad Stahelski, and in the directors' commentary, Leitch said the original cut was over two hours long. They cut over 39 minutes of footage, including a fight between John and Viggo. Leitch also said (via CBR) there were "a ton of great shots... that's just Keanu Reeves walking in cool environments" that had to be left on the cutting room floor.
Back when they were making the first movie, they had no idea the John Wick franchise would become so popular. Now that fans are eager for the third movie to open next week, it would be a great time to dig up all of the old deleted scenes and share them with the class.
John Wick 3 is meant to be a lot bigger than the past two movies, and that means a higher death count. Mr. Wick is on the run, with a global contract out for his life. Parabellum has gotten rave reviews so far, and it should do some healthy business at the box office.
Heck, maybe it could even top Avengers: Endgame at the May 17-19 weekend box office. If anyone can kill off Marvel's streak, it's John Wick.
