Chad Stahelski Reveals Which Famous Anime Inspired the Ending of John Wick 4
The director of John Wick has revealed that a certain scene from an anime directly influenced the finale of John Wick 4.
Warning: news contains spoilers from John Wick 4 and Cowboy Bebop from 1998.
The fourth installment of John Wick, which debuted on movie screens in March 2023, achieved major box office success. Overall, the production by Chad Stahelski earned nearly $430 million, which is about 100 million more than John Wick 3. Now Chad Stahelski has admitted that the way Chapter 4 ends was inspired by an anime classic from the 1990s.
In an interview with Comic Book Movie Stahelski said that the title character could not meet an ordinary end. The death of Wick (Keanu Reeves) had to serve as the culmination of his entire story and the climax for the other characters.
(...) You just don't want him to die in a fight scene or so suddenly. We wanted to recreate the act that ties the whole movie together and connects him to all these people. [...] The only way to win was to sacrifice John Wick."
This led Stahelski to look for a scene that would capture the finale for Wick, Caine (Donnie Yen), Tracker (Shamier Anderson), Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgard) and Winston (Ian McShane). The director managed to find inspiration in Cowboy Bebop, an iconic 1998 anime.
"We liked the image of the church, which of course meant walking up the stairs. I have this favorite anime of mine, called Cowboy Bebop, in which Spike Spiegel dies on stairs, and Hajime Yatate [a pseudonym used for collective contributions at studio Sunrise, which made the anime - ed. note] is a huge influence on me. (...) So when I saw the location, everything came together.
In the anime's ending, the main character was walking down the stairs after facing his nemesis ex-partner, recalling the past. Moments later he collapses and dies with a smile on his lips. Thus, years later Cowboy Bebop, one of the best anime ever made, became the inspiration for the ending of John Wick 4, which you can watch on Amazon Prime Video.
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Author: Mateusz Libera
He began his writing adventure by creating stories, later he followed the humanities path, choosing studies in journalism and social communication. He published his first texts on his personal blog and for contests. At the beginning of 2023, he joined the film department of GRYOnline.pl, where he started working as an author of articles about movies. He is interested in fantasy, history, RPG games, and strategies. He is also a long-time player of League of Legends - he has been playing since the second season. Additionally, he writes adventure and fantasy books, but in this field he is still a novice. Currently, he has published one collection of stories.
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