Len Wiseman thinks the John Wick movies have "set the bar" for the action genre.
The 52-year-old director made his name in the blockbuster genre but after directing the female-centric film Ballerina - which is the latest installment in the franchise initially led by Keanu Reeves as the titular hitman - he has explained that the entire "tone" of the films is what sets them apart from others on the market.
He told The Hollywood Reporter: "When you really can see that it’s your actor doing the action, there’s truly a different kind of feeling. A lot of people talk about the longer takes, and then there are longer takes that add stitches to make them even longer. Personally, that feels more like the director showing off his long take, as opposed to the longer takes in Wick that I’m a fan of. You don’t give the audience a second to take a breath, and it becomes more of an investment, especially if it’s actor-driven action.
"So there’s many reasons why I think John Wick set the bar in terms of choreography, but its very specific tone of action is really important too. You never want to laugh in the face of the character action that’s happening because then the stakes are gone. It could be a really fun sequence and tone, but if the action doesn’t have stakes and danger to it — and the characters are cracking jokes within the danger — as an audience member, you go, 'If you’re not going to be afraid, then I’m not going to be afraid for you..."
Ballerina - which stars Ana de Armas in the leading role of dancer-turned-assassin Eve Macarro - takes place between the third and fourth John Wick films and Wiseman admitted that because of that, it was "definitely a challenge" to manage the continuity of the film.
He said: "It was definitely a challenge and an excitement. I love a challenge. It gives me fuel to be creative. So I had a really fun time taking a different perspective on certain elements of Chapter 3, and I was really into it. Early on, the moment that I thought would resonate and people would remember is when John comes to meet the Director [Anjelica Huston]. We’re now looking at it from Eve’s point of view before he mentions, “It wasn’t just a puppy.” It took a lot of time to recreate the sets exactly. I wanted to really recreate those moments from a different perspective so that we weren’t just using footage from the existing film."
