Harrison Ford, Clint Eastwood Rejected $881M Franchise Role, Forcing Studio to Hire Keanu Reeves: “Clearly, you’re not 75”
Before John Wick, there was Neo. The savior, the protector, the fighter, and the legend who operates between the boundaries of good, evil, and the impossible. In both, Keanu Reeves wasn’t the first choice. In both, he made the characters immortal. In both, there can be no other the fans can envision as the lead other than the unreal and timeless actor. And yet, there was a plan mapped out for the John Wick franchise that did not have a place for Reeves in it.
Keanu Reeves Bests Harrison Ford & Clint Eastwood
The original script for the John Wick movies was not meant for a 50-something actor in the lead. The story revolved around a 75-year-old assassin who, if all things went according to plan, would have enacted a much different version of the story than the one that we now know and love. In a new book titled, They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog: The Complete Uncensored Oral History of John Wick, Gun Fu, and the New Age of Action, penned by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, the tale of how Keanu Reeves, Harrison Ford, and Clint Eastwood were all intertwined in this journey comes to light.
A still from John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
After reading Derek Kolstad’s script for the first film, producer Basil Iwanyk recalls how the events unfolded and Reeves was eventually brought on board:
“One of my best friends is Charlie Ferraro at UTA, who sent me this script from Derek Kolstad called ‘Scorn’. The lead was a 75-year-old man, 25 years after being retired. It was the fun of watching Clint Eastwood kick ass. I thought, ‘Okay, there’s probably one or two names you could do this with: Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford. Other than that, I’m not sure how I put this movie together.’
My other best friend in the world, this guy Jimmy Darmody, is an agent at CAA, who at the time represented Keanu. And he said, ‘Do you have any action movies for Keanu Reeves?’ I remember thinking to myself, ‘Keanu is one of the great action stars of the last 25 years — what happened to him? What’s he been doing?’ […] We give him the script, we tell him, ‘Clearly, you’re not 75.’”
John Wick (2014) – where it all began
But Reeves, by the time he read the script, was so fascinated by and drawn to the character that he immediately took charge. Kolstad reflects:
“I spent two months at Keanu’s house on the weekends working on the script. When I first went and met with [Reeves] and walked into his house, and as he rounded the corner to say hello to me – it’s a nice house, it’s not ostentatious for a guy who’s worth, I dunno, billions […] The first thing that Keanu said to me was, ‘Okay, Derek, I’m going to play him 35.’ And I’m like, ‘Fine.’”
Eventually, the script was revisited by Kolstad with a heavy influence from Keanu Reeves. Parts of the narrative were rearranged to make it more seamless for a 35-year-old assassin, and Reeves, as Kolstad remembers, was the one who “got his talons into [the script] and made it his own.”
Baba Yaga Returns For One Final Night of Kills & Thrills
We have all heard the tale: you do not wake up the Boogeyman from his retirement slumber, you do not touch, steal, or kill that which he loves, or you shall incur Baba Yaga’s wrath. The part that Keanu Reeves portrayed so perfectly, with grit, mettle, consistency, and honor is finally coming to a worthy end. With John Wick: Chapter 4, Keanu Reeve’s term and tenure as the titular assassin now comes to a close. John Wick: Chapter 4
As for the plot of the grand finale, Chapter 4 will be an extension of the events of Parabellum which found Reeves’ antihero going up against countless assassins in the streets of New York after being declared Excommunicado. Chapter 4 will see him take the fight to the High Table in an all-out war and a bid to win back his freedom from the clutches of the shadowy guild and its relentless assassins.
Clint Eastwood Fans Get the Western Icon Trending on Twitter With Epic Throwback Pics
For those people who saw Clint Eastwood trending on Twitter on Sunday morning, then just know that he’s doing just fine. The onslaught of attention, though, did bring some epic throwback pictures to the platform. Fans were sharing many different shots from his iconic career. We picked out a few of them for you to get a peek at and enjoy. Our man Clint loves to keep working and even getting a round of golf in here and there. When he’s on the movie set or in some other setting, it’s always a good time to get some photos.
Those photos and even a video definitely liven up a Father’s Day filled with fun for many. Yep, even Eastwood probably had some fun and well wishes coming his way from his children. Daughter Alison Eastwood is a solid actress in her own right, having starred in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. As for papa Clint, well, where do you start with his movie career? Of course, there’s his time as the “Man with No Name.”
Clint Eastwood Did Find Success In Movies Thanks To ‘Spaghetti Westerns’
The work with Sergio Leone helped him get that movie career up and running. Meanwhile, he made Harry Callahan a major character thanks to Dirty Harry. Yet those Westerns do make him look that much better, right? Think about the “Spaghetti Westerns” that we alluded to just now.
Go beyond that to Unforgiven, a movie he not only acted in but had a role in getting the film made. Heck, Clint Eastwood wanted veteran actor Gene Hackman on board from the get-go. As the story goes, though, Hackman had reservations about joining up. When you play “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection, that becomes an iconic role for him. But the movie had its fair share of violence and that kind of turned him off at the outset.
In fact, Hackman, at first, said he didn’t want to be involved in another violent movie. That would be because of his daughters, Elizabeth and Leslie, who had some say in the matter. The actor did read the script but said no at first. Eastwood did tell Hackman that there was a chance to make a statement against violence in Unforgiven. When looking at the script again through those eyes, Hackman would agree to do it. Good thing he did. Hackman would win an Oscar for his role. “It’s all in the execution, you gotta execute it right, or else nothing means anything,” Eastwood said in an interview about the film. “He [Hackman] re-read it and came back and said, ‘Yeah, okay, I’ll do this.’”
Clint Eastwood’s Daughter Reveals Her Favorite Advice He Gave Her
Alison Eastwood is an actress as well one of the daughters of the famed actor and director Clint Eastwood. Getting any type of advice from dear old Dad is a good thing. When it comes to her favorite piece that he gave her, you might think it was acting. She did get the acting bug, too, and did star in the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. This advice must be about her career, right? Nope. It had to do with the always tough task of living life.
“I guess just not to take [life] too seriously,” Alison Eastwood tells Closer Weekly in an interview from 2019. “He never seemed to take anything too seriously. Maybe that’s not a good thing … I don’t know.” Yet she also would offer up a little more insight which she’s picked up from being around him. “He makes me laugh, I make him laugh,” Alison said. “That’s my favorite part about it. I think just having a lot of laughter, especially in our family, amongst ourselves. We’re all getting older.”
Clint Eastwood Isn’t A Big Fan Of His Birthday, Daughter Alison Says
She also says that Dad isn’t a big fan of his birthday. He would rather be doing something else, like working or playing golf, than celebrating his big day. Still, Clint Eastwood keeps on providing fans with film work as an actor and director. He’s achieved great success and to think he also has a classic TV connection. Of course, Clint does from his days playing Rowdy Yates on Rawhide.
Yet it is in the movies of Eastwood that has really made him a household name. Working in Europe would provide some foundational success thanks to the “Spaghetti Westerns” directed by Sergio Leone. He would play the “Man with No Name” in films like A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. They all would lead Eastwood to then become an iconic police officer as Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry. One time, he talked about A Fistful of Dollars possibly becoming an “absolute disaster.” What in the world does he mean by this? Eastwood told Roger Ebert years ago that the movie’s producers were arguing among themselves. The issue at hand was who would pay the bills to get the movie done. This leads him to say, “It could have been an absolute disaster. But, we got lucky with it. And it turned out Sergio Leone was for real.”
While his record of success and achievement is solid, sometimes Eastwood has to pick and choose between projects. When it came to playing Bruce Willis’ role John McClane in Die Hard, Eastwood did turn it down. Screenwriter Jeb Stuart would say that Eastwood said that he didn’t get the humor in the movie.
Clint Eastwood’s Daughter Posts Rare Selfie, And Her Fans Are Absolutely Loving It
Earlier this week, Clint Eastwood’s daughter, Francesca Eastwood, took to her Instagram account to share a rare selfie.
The actress, who didn’t write a caption for the post, is seen with a pair of pink lens sunglasses while sitting near a plant. Follows of Clint Eastwood’s daughter gushed over the simple snapshot. “Extraordinarily Beautiful,” one follower declared. “You look gorgeous, so much like your mom,” another added.
Francesca is preparing to film her upcoming action-packed movie, “Live Fast, Die Laughing.” The film follows a broke taxi driver in Vietnam who thinks it is his lucky day when a mysterious offers him a fortune to drive her 1,000 miles from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. While on the road, the duo is pursued by mobsters and an assassin. Written by Timothy Linh Bui and Tim Tori and directed by Bui, Eastwood will star in the film alongside Harvey Keitel.
Clint Eastwood’s Daughter Francesca Talks Starring in a Western Genre Film
While promoting her 2016 film “Outlaws and Angels,” Francesca revealed to the Observer that she didn’t speak to her father, Clint Eastwood, about starring in the western genre film.
“I didn’t ask my parents for advice on this one,” Francesca stated about the role. But she did admit that she usually asks her parents but she wanted to do her own thing this time. “So I just ran and did it and talked with them about it later. I wanted to do one on my own, and it felt great.”
Frances Fisher, Francesca’s mother, was also part of the film. However, the duo did not appear in any scenes together. “This is the first time that I was on a film and then she came on after, rather than her being in a film and I join as her baby. I was probably the least experienced actor, and everyone was just so welcoming and really nurturing to that.”
While speaking about working in a desert, Francesca recalled, “It was pretty intense with the heat and the costumes, and we couldn’t wash them because they were supposed to look aged, so after about 3 weeks of being in the same layers it was just gross. It was fun and part of the experience though. Normally if you’re uncomfortable or too hot you go get a water and sit in a trailer, but that was so not the case with this one.”
Francesa went on to note that she and the rest of the cast just dealt with the production’s conditions. “No one really went to the trailers. We just hung out – no texting, Tweeting, Instagramming. I think it made it really special. There were no distractions.”