With every new entry, the John Wick franchise has to find new and exciting ways to make the action even more impressive. One of the things that John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum did, was put John Wick on the back of a horse. While simply riding a horse is something that takes proper training, Keanu Reeves is, well, Keanu Reeves, and so things had to be taken to another level. Director Chad Stahelski said they taught Reeves how to trick ride, because anything less was too simple...
Riding a horse was too easy for Keanu Reeves, so we had him do trick riding.
Trick riding the horse means not simply riding fast, but also hanging off the side of the horse at high speed. In John Wick: Chapter 3, Wick jumps on a horse early in the film as he attempts to escape every assassin in New York City, who is trying to cash in on the massive price on Wick's head. He finds himself surrounded by a group of motorcycle riders who he has to fend off while on horseback.
At this point, considering the hard work that we've seen Keanu Reeves put in for the John Wick films, it's not a shock that horseback riding came easy to him. The action of the John Wick films has a stylized flow to it which only works if the people doing the work are well trained. We've seen clips of Reeves working with firearms in order to make those sequences work, of course he would do the same thing on the back of a horse.
The John Wick films have let Keanu Reeves do all sorts of things that look like fun. He's certainly having fun doing them as well, as Reeves explains in the same behind-the-scenes clip that he was excited to be able to train on a horse.
There was a lot more action, different sequences, different kinds of action. Having had the dogs, now I had the horse training. Chad [Stahelski] was like, time to train on a horse. And I was like, ‘YES.’
Who knows what's next for John Wick: Chapter 4 is on the way but the filmmakers have their work cut out for them if they want to outdo the previous entries. Maybe John Wick will ride an elephant like Hannibal crossing the Alps.
You can check out the horse training clip from Lionsgate below. It also includes what might be the single greatest bad guy death in the entire series. Where John Wick gets a horse to kick with its hind legs and break a dude's neck.
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum is now available in Digital HD and will be on Blu-ray September 10.
