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Summary
John Wickcan save anyone, but only Keanu Reeves could save John Wick himself. The Canadian icon somehow manages to be right even when he’s wrong, and one of his so-called mistakes turned out to be the key that saved the hitman franchise in more ways than one.
As the 2014 film gears up for its 10th anniversary re-release, theJohn Wickuniverse has expanded with three sequels, a spinoff TV series, andthe upcomingBallerinaproject. But this success was truly unprecedented and would have been impossible without Keanu’s influence – including a supposed error that ended up giving theiconic action franchiseits name.
How Keanu Reeves GaveJohn WickIts Title
Hard as it may be to believe,John Wickwasn’t always calledJohn Wick. While the now-legendary character’s name was always in place, it wasn’t the original title of the film. Writer Derek Kolstad initially referred to his spec script asScorn, a name that clearly lacks the same intensity. In a2012 interview withThe Action Elite, Kolstad revealed this early title, which existed even beforeKeanu Reeveswas on board. Once he joined the project, he breathed new life into the film as he even worked with Kolstad to further develop the screenplay and story.
One of Keanu’s many off-screen contributions to the franchise was accidental, when he discussed the film in interviews and public conversations. Rather than using its nearly-final working title,Scorn, Reeves kept calling itJohn Wick, after the main character. This unintentional mix-up stuck and gave the film and the franchise its title. Kolstad confirmed this trivia was indeed true in a2020 interview withComicbook.comwhile talking aboutJohn Wick: Chapter 4.
The only reason it’s called John Wick is that Keanu kept referring to it as John Wick.
Keanu’s Slip Made John Wick More Popular
The impact of Keanu’s slip of the tongue didn’t just stop at an aesthetic level.John Wickmight be a globe-trottinghitman franchisetoday with massive set pieces, but the first film had a hard time even finding buyers, making every dollar count during production. So, whenever Keanu mentioned the film asJohn Wickin interviews, it gave the project free promotion thanks to his star power and saved the team from the effort and cost of figuring out a marketing strategy. Kolstad commented on this in the same 2020 interview:
Marketing was like, ‘Dude, that’s four to five million dollars in free advertising so far, so it’s John Wick instead of Scorn.’ I can’t imagine it being Scorn now.
Keanu’s influence onJohn Wick’sproduction goes far beyond the accidental title change. It was the actor who sent the script toChad Stahelski, who ultimately directed all four films, and toDavid Leitch, who co-directed the firstand later contributed as a writer on the sequels. He knew the duo from their time as stunt coordinators inThe Matrixtrilogy. It’s safe to say that modern action cinema’s style andstunt choreographymight look very different today if Keanu hadn’t ensured the script landed in the right hands.
Looking back, it’s hard to imagine theJohn Wicklegacy under any other name, especially something as generic asScorn.Scornisn’t necessarily a terrible title, especially for a film about an ex-assassin forced out of retirement to avenge his dog’s death. But perhaps it’s bias talking, because it certainly doesn’t have the ring of a billion-dollar franchise that would go on to redefine the action genre. In fact, the label“John Wick-esque”is now often used to describe contemporary stunt-heavy films orintense fight scenes, which makes it impossible to consider any other name.
The title change fromScorntoJohn Wickis similar to what Samuel L. Jackson did with the working titlePacific Air Flight 121, which he casually renamed to eventually become thecult classicSnakes on a Plane.Scornsounds like a thematic title which doesn’t capture who or what the movie is really about – the deadly black-suited assassin. Alternative titles likeBoogeymanorBaba Yagawould also work, but they serve the film better as aliases or nicknames for the hitman. Moreover,Scornis reminiscent of a cheap B-movie version of Liam Neeson’sTaken, or even Michael Scarn, the unintentionally comedic secret agent created by Steve Carell’s Michael Scott inThe Office.
While manyJohn Wickfans enjoy this interesting tidbit about the title, some believe it wasn’t any slip-up, but a deliberate choice by Keanu Reeves, who had no problem remembering the title and instead did this to save the movie’s title from aging terribly. While any other might have thrown a fit, Hollywood’s favorite Mr. Nice Guy took a different approach and changed things for the better. Ultimately, the beauty ofJohn Wicklies in its simplicity, and it deserved a name that was slick and cool, just like Reeves' character, who doesn’t speak much, and lets his hands, guns or pencils do the talking.
