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John Wick director Chad Stahleski has slammed The Continental spin-off in an unflinching new interview.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Stahleski – who has directed all four John Wick movies – addressed why he was more hands-off with the limited series, which charted the rise of Winston into his position as head of the New York hotel branch.
“Keanu [Reeves] and I were – I wouldn’t say sidelined, but our opinion was heard and not really noted. [The studio] tried to convince me they knew what they were doing,” Stahleski said. “A group of individuals thought they had the magic sauce.”
The director, who served as executive producer on The Continental, took particular offence at unnamed behind-the-scenes figures trying to turn John Wick into a formula.
“But if you take out Basil Iwanyk’s producing intuitiveness, if you take out Keanu’s way of delivering quirky dialogue and if you take out all the visuals I have in my head from Wong Kar-wai, anime, Leone, Bernardo Bertucci or Andrei Tchaikovsky … then it’s not the same thing.”
Stahleski added, “They thought this was as easy as using anamorphic lenses, do a kooky hotel, put in weird dialogue, and insert crime drama.”
The Continental received mixed reviews upon release, garnering a tepid 63% rating on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
The new John Wick spin-off, Ballerina, appears to skew much closer to Stahleski’s way of doing things.
Not only is he heavily involved, reports also stated he even directed parts of the actioner (original director Len Wiseman recently told Film Stories, however, that health issues on his part necessitated Stahleski’s involvement behind the camera). Keanu Reeves is back, too, making an appearance in Ballerina, which is set between the events of John Wick 3 and John Wick 4.
Ballerina is now in theaters. For more, check out our Ballerina review and the rest of the upcoming movies coming to cinemas in 2025.