<\/p>\n
Derek Kolstad was dog sitting with a Chihuahua and Corgi mix in his lap when a nightmarish scenario popped into his head: \u201cWhat would I do if someone tried to kill this f\u2014ing dog?\u201d <\/p>\n
The delivered the inspiration for what would turn out to be considered one of Hollywood\u2019s most successful motion franchises as Kolstad put pen to paper and wrote the primary installment of John Wick<\/em>. Introduced with Chad Stahelski on the helm in 2014, the film follows its title character, a former hitman, as he sets out to exact revenge after his house is broken into and his dog is killed. Kolstad originally envisioned Wick as an older hitman until he got a call that may change the face of the franchise.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was written for a man like [Robert De Niro] in his early 70s where the dog was 14 years old. It was a present from his wife and same thing happens, but it surely was an old dog,\u201d Kolstad recalled during a panel conversation titled \u201cThe Character is the Plot\u201d at Malta\u2019s Mediterrane Film Festival last week in Valletta. Throughout the chat, Kolstad was joined by author and filmmaker Stephen Poliakoff and moderator James Mottram. \u201cI believe the body count on the primary screenplay was like 11 people. After which I got a call from Keanu Reeves\u2019 people asking, \u2018Hey, do you wish to meet Keanu?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yes.\u2019 And Keanu and I met for 2 nights a weekend for about three or 4 months. I remember he said, \u2018I\u2019m going to play him as 35.\u2019 As soon as he said that, I spotted we couldn\u2019t have a 15-year-old dog. It became a puppy and from there, you simply type of should roll with it and are available to the top of it with the perfect idea wins. The very best idea won.\u201d<\/p>\n Kolstad, who went on to put in writing two sequels with John Wick: Chapter 2<\/em> and John Wick: Chapter 3 \u2014\u00a0Parabellum<\/em>, also noted how the primary version of his script was titled Scorn<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019m shit at titles,\u201d he quipped, \u201cand the explanation it was called John Wick<\/em> was because Keanu was so enthusiastic about it that when people asked him in regards to the movie, he just began referring to it as John Wick<\/em>. The studio said, \u2018We\u2019ve got a bunch of press on the market already. Let\u2019s change the name.\u2019 It\u2019s an enduring legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking of legacy, Kolstad also noted how he honored his grandparents with the film, specifically his grandfather who was named John Finlayson Wick. \u201cHe was a really tender, nice, encouraging man and my grandmother\u2019s name was Helen and she or he died a few months before the movie opened,\u201d he said, recalling how he wrote her name right into a hospital scene. \u201cI got all these offended texts from cousins going, \u2018For fuck\u2019s sake, you had John Wick say goodbye to Helen within the hospital \u2014 it was method to process grief \u2014\u00a0but it surely was just giving a shout to my grandpa. My favorite story with that’s he took me aside at one point and he\u2019s like, \u2018I\u2019m so happy with you. You\u2019ve been wanting to do that because you were 7, but I\u2019m not going to look at a movie since it\u2019s rated-R.\u2019 And the last rated-R movie I saw along with your grandmother was The Piano <\/em>and I used to be like, \u2018Holy lord, Harvey Keitel showed nearly all the things and more.\u201d<\/p>\n Kolstad is coming off a busy 2025, which saw the discharge of his TV series Splinter Cell: Deathwatch<\/em> and the Bob Odenkirk-starrers Normal<\/em> and No one 2.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Derek Kolstad was dog sitting with a Chihuahua and Corgi mix in his lap when a nightmarish scenario popped into his head: \u201cWhat would I do if someone tried to kill this f\u2014ing dog?\u201d The delivered the inspiration for what would turn out to be considered one of Hollywood\u2019s most successful motion franchises as Kolstad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":359472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20669],"tags":[3354,5663,2591,17808,3413,15905,53406,15906,28557],"class_list":["post-359471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hollywood","tag-days","tag-derek","tag-early","tag-input","tag-john","tag-keanu","tag-kolstad","tag-reeves","tag-wick"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t