When he played the 75-year-old man in "John Wick," Keanu Reeves claims he "owned" the role

According to Variety, Keanu Reeves took the role of John Wick, who was originally planned to be played by an elderly man in his seventies like Harrison Ford or Clint Eastwood, modified it, acted it, and made it into one of cinema's most recognisable figures.

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They Shouldn't Have Killed His Dog: The Complete Uncensored Ass-Kicking Oral History of John Wick, Gun Fu, and the New Age of Action, a new book by franchise producer Basil Iwanyk, confirmed.

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Iwanyk in the book is quoted by Variety (through Entertainment Weekly) as saying: "One of my greatest friends is Charlie Ferraro at UTA, who sent me this script by Derek Kolstad called "Scorn."

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A 75-year-old guy who had been retired for 25 years played the lead

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Watching Clint Eastwood kick ass was entertaining. Okay, there are certainly one or two actors you could use for this: Clint Eastwood and Harrison Ford, I reasoned.

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Iwanyk continues, "My other best friend in the world, this Jimmy Darmody guy, was Keanu's agent at the time.

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"Do you have any action movies for Keanu Reeves?" he said.

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I distinctly recall asking myself, "What happened to Keanu? He was one of the great action stars of the past 25 years."

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What has he been up to?" He was also producing "47 Ronin" and directing "Man of Tai Chi." We hand him the script and remark, "Clearly, you're not 75," to him."

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Reeves claims in the book that he understood right away that working on "John Wick" would be "such a terrific partnership," according to Variety "On the project's potential, we all agreed.

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It has the John Wick character, but you also have the real world and this sort of underworld at the same time. This nest of thieves upholds a code and has honour.

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Swipe Up

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