John Wick star Keanu Reeves is universally regarded as a pretty cool guy. Maybe it’s his infectious giggle, his flowing locks, or his handling of a litter of golden retriever puppies. His roles as a stoic hitman in John Wick, a stoic supernatural detective in Constantine, or a loveable asshole in Cyberpunk 2077 don’t do the man’s real-world likeability justice. And we keep getting more proof that Reeves is just as much of a delight behind the scenes as he is on-screen because the Canadian-born actor appears to have gifted the John Wick: Chapter 4 stunt team a bunch of awesome mementos.
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I was killed by John Wick and all I got was a lot of cool/expensive stuff, actually
According to the New York Times, Reeves endowed his stunt team t-shirts revealing the number of times they “died” while filming John Wick: Chapter 4 fight scenes. Stunt coordinator told the NYT some members of the stunt team, which consisted of 35 people, were unalived by Wick multiple times over the course of the nearly three-hour action film. Rogers estimated that one stunt actor in particular died a total of five or six times during Wick’s Myth of Sisyphus-esque staircase fight scene. In addition to gifting his stunt team shirts with their death counts on them, Reeves also appears to have given his stunt team $10,000 Rolexes with “The John Wick Five” engraved on them.
Reeves’ show of appreciation for his cast and crew went beyond gift-giving. Behind-the-scenes John Wick 4 footage on TikTok shows the action movie star helping his production team carry boxes of equipment up the Sacré Coeur staircase.
That staircase fall was 50% movie magic, 50% real-life bumps
For those curious about whether or not Reeves actually did that painful staircase bump, it was actually his stunt double, Vincent Bouillon, who was the one to take the plunge. While some of the steps had hidden padding that was digitally removed using visual effects, Bouillon and the rest of the stunt performers still had to take the brunt of the impact without softened landings. Falling down Sacré Coeur’s 300 steps is a small price to pay for a Keanu Reeves-gifted Rolex and Bouillon more than earned it.
“Outside of some bumps and bruises,” Rogers told the NYT that he was proud that none of the stunt team got concussions while filming this climactic fight scene. were “no concussions” among the stunt team. The film ended up using Bouillon’s second take falling down the stairs because he got stuck on a railing during his first attempt, according to director Chad Stahelski. To keep continuity, Stahelski told the NYT that he “still gotta throw Mr. Reeves down a couple of stairs.”
“That look John Wick gives when he looks at his watch and actually looks up the staircase, I think that’s maybe 50 percent John Wick and 50 percent Keanu Reeves going, ‘Ugh, Stahelski did it to me again,’” Stahelski said. “You got to suffer. That’s what’s fun about John Wick. He suffers and he keeps going.”
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I think I speak for everyone when I say I knock on wood every day praying that the only skeletons in Reeves’s closet are just a bunch of props he stole from a movie set. In terms of upcoming Reeves projects, the “breathtaking” actor is slated to star in Constantine 2, the John Wick spin-off Ballerina, and reprise his role as the braggadocious rockstar Johnny Silverhand in the forthcoming Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty expansion.