FMC 062: John Wick Directed by Chad Stahelski and David Leitch

Full Episode Transcript
This episode breaks down the film "John Wick" from a filmmaking perspective, analysing its directing, visual style, and themes, alongside insights from the directors' commentary and discussion of current industry news.

Opening and Recent Media Consumption
Reginald Titus Jr.: Filmmaker Commentary, Episode 62. Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary, where we give you insights from our favorite filmmaker commentaries. These commentaries can be heard on your DVD and Blu-rays of your favorite movies. We'll show you how you can use these commentaries and apply them to improve your video production and filmmaking techniques. All of this here on Filmmaker Commentary. I'm your host, Reginald Titus Jr.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary. I'm Reginald Titus Jr. I am joined with...
Casey G. Smith: Casey G. Smith.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Welcome back, sir.
Casey G. Smith: Good to be back, sir.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And today we are going to be covering John Wick, 2014, directed by Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. Hopefully I'm saying your names right, guys. Written by Derek Kolstad. So, we have a budget of 20 million, and a box office totally total of 88 million, 43 million domestically, 45.7 internationally. That's a win.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, that'll probably guarantee you get another one. Indeed.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Indeed. Before we dive further into John Wick, we're going to talk about news and movies watched.
Reginald Titus Jr.: News and movies watched. What do you got for news?
Casey G. Smith: So just uh, one quick story. So, uh, as of the recording of this episode, Toy Story 4 is getting set to launch worldwide. Um, the fourth installment of the Toy Story series is, uh, being forecasted to score approximately 230 million plus during its global debut, uh, according to Screen Daily. Uh, it will be opening in markets, obviously here in the US, as well as, uh, in the UK, Mexico and China as well. So, uh, it's expected to open up big.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.
Casey G. Smith: And it's getting, uh, some good reviews. I'll be honest, I had no interest in watching Toy Story 4 from the trailers I had seen. But I'll probably end up, end up going to see it. I mean, it is Pixar, and they, they don't, they don't stumble often.
Reginald Titus Jr.: No, they don't. No. So they spend a lot of time with their stories before they animate.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. Are you checking this one out?
Reginald Titus Jr.: No. No. Now, with my daughter, when she gets a little bit older, I'll probably start watching more animation, especially kind of like the this would be like rated G, right?
Casey G. Smith: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So like, yeah, especially when it comes like the rated G stuff, I'll probably start to be taking her to all this stuff. Yeah, so nah, wasn't even on my radar. I was just kind of surprised like, no, okay, another one. This thing just follows me throughout my life.
Casey G. Smith: Have you seen any of the Toy Stories?
Reginald Titus Jr.: One and two.
Casey G. Smith: Yo, three is good. Three is, uh, yeah, three is really good. People thought three was the end.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: They thought it was, it was done. So a lot of people were surprised when they, 'cause like, it's like a, you know, it's like a trilogy, it's like, boom, all right, we're good.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, exactly.
Casey G. Smith: And then when they announced four, people were like, what? And I saw the trailers, I was like, nah, uh, no, thank you. But it's getting real good, real good buzz.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Really? I mean, I would I expect it to be a good story, period, but yeah. 'Cause yeah, like you said, it's Pixar, they have a they definitely have a brand. I think the only thing I've seen was like on TV when they were talking about the the character that looks like a spork, a spo a sporky or something like that. That I was like, ah, that looks stupid.
Casey G. Smith.: Pre-judged it, didn't I didn't like how it looked. That I don't
Reginald Titus Jr.: You sound like me pre-Aquaman.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I have a thing, like, something looks too silly and I realize that it, you know, the the the market may not be for me but sometimes things that look too silly turn it turns me it can turn me off so quickly like that that just looks dumb. And I you know it happens. I'm sorry if you're a fan of that, that just happens. And I I probably still gonna go and see it and you know Forky might be wonderfully endearing but yeah initial glance I'm like, meh, get off my lawn.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, man. I I I kind of catch myself now that I I'm producing more content. I I'm not ingesting as much outside of what we're doing here. You know, I'm not ingesting as much because, you know, you you look at things from a technical standpoint and sometimes I just want to just just take me within the story. I want to get I just want to get swept up into the story, but sometimes it's just not possible. So, like Cause it's not up to up to your standards.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Not even that, it's just I just tend to study the craft more now. So I'm looking at it from different eyes. You know, I think when I go to the theater, I get a chance to do that. Or like if it's a scary movie, like we were watching it I was showing you about, uh, what's that movie we saw? Hereditary. Yeah, hellbound, yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Now that blasted thing has since you watched Hereditary, here's some more twisted recommendations. Thank you, Reginald.
Reginald Titus Jr.: What was the other thing we were watching? Insidious. Yeah, we were watching Insidious. So we kind of got accepted. So it was like, I see myself going to other genres for that kind of newness because I'm just, you know, I'm, you know, I watch scary movies here and there, but I just wasn't going out of my way to watch them.
Casey G. Smith: Sure.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And so I was like, okay, I'm going to go to this genre where I don't really know that much about and it's refreshing.
Casey G. Smith: That makes sense.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, Toy Story light work.
Casey G. Smith: Light work. Someone take hold my beer. Hold my beer.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, movies watched. Have you watched any movies this past week?
Casey G. Smith: Man, not not particularly. I did watch, um, I've seen three episodes of DC Universe's Swamp Thing. Uh, which, speaking of horror movies, James Wan is a producer on.
Reginald Titus Jr.: James is getting that paper. James Wan, if you're listening, some money.
Casey G. Smith: Let me let me hold let let let me hold
Reginald Titus Jr.: I ain't going to ask you for money, but we got some good ideas though. Hey.
Casey G. Smith: We just want your ear, sir. There you go.
Casey G. Smith: Uh, but yeah, I mean, he's one of the producers on, uh, the Swamp Thing series and it's such a shame that, um, they announced that it was canceled, uh, because so far, three episodes in, I'm because it's great, man. It is great. The production value is, is there, the performances, the writing, it's I've seen multiple iterations of Swamp Thing. They are doing, they are doing it just as it's, it's, it's creepy, it's violent, it's they're not holding back and it it feels like it's like a horror procedural. It feels like, uh, True Blood meets some, some other kind of medical kind of procedural because it's like it's this this weird combination, but it's it's really well done. So, yeah, if you have the DC Universe app, recommend Swamp Thing.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Swamp Thing. How about you, man?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, movies watched this past week, I had it, you know, I was creating some stuff and, uh, I got a chance to do a music video, so that was fun. Um, we just launched that a day ago.
Casey G. Smith: Looks great, by the way.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Appreciate it, sir. Yes, sir. If y'all want to look at that, just type into YouTube, uh, Lamar Straight Tonight.
Casey G. Smith: S T R A I T. There you go. Appreciate that. Gotcha.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And I've been watching that thousands of times 'cause editing and all that. So that took up most of the week. Um, but outside of that, um, Cyberpunk 2070 2077?
Casey G. Smith: Yes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: With Keanu Reeves.
Casey G. Smith: Yes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I saw the trailer and I was like, whoa, what is this?
Casey G. Smith: So if you go ahead. No, if you thought that was great, there's a whole like demo. This this came out before that a couple weeks back. No.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And I it was a walk-through, right? So so I sat there and just watched the whole walk-through. While the the commentators like, uh, in this game, this is not finished, but um, you will be able to do this, this. I was like, I'm in. Like, I was like, when this movie drops it felt like a movie. Interactive movie, but when it drops, what, early next year, right? So, I forgot the name.
Casey G. Smith: I don't know the exact. Seems like this is a I think it's first quarter, first quarter 2020. Really? I think it's when it comes out.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Seems like a a game that keeps moving. Timeline, that's a timeline. Moving timeline.
Casey G. Smith: They've been working on it for a while. This was announced, I want to say, maybe two, three years prior. And then at whatever event it was that they, not yeah, they dropped they well, not E3. I they they they they dropped the trailer, you know, this year, maybe beginning of the year, whatever it was and did that the whole walk through trailers and I was like, I it wasn't on my radar. I was like, wow, I'm not usually really big in the first person stuff, but I I can't lie. It looks amazing. And then, of course, E3.
Reginald Titus Jr.: E3.
Casey G. Smith: Keanu, you know, coming out on stage and just mesmerizing the crowd. And when people saw that cameo, that that was well played by Microsoft because they showed that trailer and then all of a sudden, you know, the stage door opens with the smoke and the light and it's the silhouette of Keanu. You talk about working your brand. He's working his brand this month.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, indeed.
Casey G. Smith: Working the brand. I mean, you got Wick 3 that came out this month, then you've got, you know, Always My Maybe, his cameo in there, which he's hilarious in.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.
Casey G. Smith: And then, bam, he shows up at E3 and he's in this game.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I don't really get excited too much about video games anymore, too much. You know, I do have a Steam account and when I get some time, you know, every now and then I'll play or whatever, but I had to put that on the back burner for like the last five months, maybe, whenever we you were telling me about this shoot 'em up game. What was it?
Casey G. Smith: Broforce.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Broforce. So they had like an Expendables version of that, so played that, but I needed something where it was quick that I can get through quickly. And so because, you know, I was doing the editing thing, so I can't get caught up in something that's going to sweep me away. That's why I don't watch certain like Game of Thrones. Like, I can't get sucked into something because I will probably start watching.
Casey G. Smith: Can't commit.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I'll probably get I'll get sucked in. So I got to be careful. Uh, but I saw this and I was like, uh oh, this is right in my alley. Sci-fi, I like the cyberpunk stuff, the dystopian future. My God.
Casey G. Smith: Have you seen did you see the trailer they they dropped for, uh, Watch Dogs? Watch Dogs is, um,
Reginald Titus Jr.: The martial arts?
Casey G. Smith: It's the hacker. Like you you you play like these like hackers. I've got like Watch Dogs, Watch Dogs 2.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I'm going to stay away from it.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, first one was set in Chicago. Second one was set in San Francisco, but you're part of this like this group called Deadsec. It's like this counter culture group of people that they they hack and it's very, you know, hipster S. But this new one that's set, this new one that's that's there.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Watch Dogs.
Casey G. Smith: The new one that they that they announced at E3, it before you had a set cast of characters. First game was one character. Second game it was one main character, but he kind of had a group supporting him. This one you literally can play as the way they are pitching it, you can play as anybody. Like in the game world. And so they had they had a guy who was trying to recruit somebody new. And that new person got attacked by the police and it's set in London. And so the guy you were playing, you went to go protect the guy who was being attacked by the police because you're like in a police state pretty much. Slightly in the future, maybe a couple years in the future. And you go to help him and you help him get away, but in the midst of the scuffle, you get like gunned down. You get killed by the cops.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Lovely.
Casey G. Smith: And it says permadeath on the screen. Your character, that guy died. He's dead. He's done. So then you cut to the guy you helped get away. He's now with other members of Deadsec and they're like, and he's like, what happened to the guy who saved me? Like, oh, he's he's dead, he didn't make it. And so now you play the role of somebody else. And it's it's the concept is pretty crazy. But yeah, and they've got, I mean, from an old, you you might be an old lady who's a former, you know,
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's crazy.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Games are getting out of control. Now I can understand why it takes so many years to develop these different timelines, voiceover, animation, environmental design, that looks good too. I like, uh, the playing in the game looks kind of almost real. I was about to say. I can kind of see myself like, you know, further in my career, kind of dipping and seeing what's going on in video game world.
Casey G. Smith: Hey.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Just for like story development and things like that.
Casey G. Smith: It's an entertainment as agency, you know?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Um, like from idea to story to, okay, we're we good? 'Cause that seems like that's a long it seems like a long process.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, man. There's so many moving parts to it, you know, I've been reading up on game development and how you implement stories and and the difference between somebody who writes say, writes a script for a movie versus writing for a a game. It's there it is a different process because there's so many people that have to be involved. You change one element of a story.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, you're screwed.
Casey G. Smith: That changes everything. It changes it can change a whole lot in the game.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Like when you when someone says he will remember that.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, in the Telltale games.
Reginald Titus Jr.: All right, let me get out of here. Um, was that it for the news and movies watched?
Casey G. Smith: It for news and movies watched. Let's jump back into the show.

Film Synopsis and Initial Reactions
Reginald Titus Jr.: Welcome back to Filmmaker Commentary, Episode 62. We're talking about John Wick, 2014. And let's jump into the synopsis.
Reginald Titus Jr.: When sadistic young thugs senselessly attack John Wick, a brilliant, lethal ex-assassin, they have no idea that they've just awakened the boogeyman. With New York City as his bullet-riddled playground, Wick embarks on a merciless rampage, hunting down his adversaries with the skill and ruthlessness that made him an underworld legend. John Wick. And if this is your first time listening to Filmmaker Commentary, we welcome you, but we also want you to know that there will be spoilers. You've been forewarned.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, indeed. So, how did you watch this film? How were you introduced to it? Did you like it?
Casey G. Smith: So, heard about the development of John Wick, um, years ago, and trailers popped up. Actually, no, I remember this one popped up really quick. It's like, the movie was was ready, the trailers dropped, and all of a sudden the movie was here. It was a, it was a really short window of time.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right.
Casey G. Smith: Trailers been like a month later, bam, the movie was here. It was super quick. People were were talking about it on some of the shows that I watched. Pretty good things they were saying about it, but it wasn't enough to get me to go into the theater to see it. I saw it, uh, first time on HBO years ago and was quite impressed. I I I I did not expect to like it as much as I did. And, and, you know, the story and how it built up and you're like, oh, wow. And then Keanu Reeves just giving everything. So, yes, thoroughly enjoyed it and I've seen the, um, other two sequels. How about you, Reginald?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, I heard about it, um, automatically when I saw it, I, uh, saw like the promotional for it, and it was 2014, 15, whatever. I just automatically thought like kind of like B action movie. That's what in my brain, that's what I thought. I was like, but when I looked at the poster, I was like, oh, that looks pretty good. You know, just from a marketing standpoint, it's like, hey, that look that looks interesting. And then it started people on the internet were talking about talking, you know, highly about the film. But not enough to convince me to go buy a ticket or rent it or anything like that. But then, you know, them coming out with part twos and now part three, I was like, okay, this thing is really something I need to look into. I am a fan of Keanu Reeves, but just it's just one of those situations I it's so happens to be these last couple years. I'm not ingesting a lot of material. You know, very careful now, because, you know, we're studying, we're researching, doing other things. So, I heard about it, but, uh, this time around, you know, just, you know, rented it at our movie trading company locally.
Casey G. Smith: Yes, sir.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And, uh, truly enjoyed it. Um, it reminds me this this, uh, duo, the directing duo reminds me of like the directors from Crank. Um, and they did the movie Gamer. Crank with Jason Statham. That's what these guys remind me of a little bit, but these guys are a little bit more seasoned in the stunt category.

Commentary, Special Features, and Visual Style
Casey G. Smith: Right. They were second unit. Do a lot of second unit stuff as well, second unit directing and, of course, pitching, um, often they would contact, they would do pre-visualizations of of different fight scenes and choreography. I have a lot of, um, stunt men and women, friends. And, um, yeah, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch or Leitch? Um, I don't know.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. But, uh, you know, for first-time first-time directors, they, uh, they, they brought it, man.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I don't see them as first-time directors, even though this is officially their their title, only because, like, second directors do a lot of work. You know, it it's a lot but, you know, you know, headlining, you know, they're basically headlining now.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, it's it's yeah, it's still going to be he's going to you can go to school, make a short film, all that kind of stuff, but it's different, you know, to have a to be the person that it all falls back on to be in charge. Not just doing the
Reginald Titus Jr.: I agree.
Casey G. Smith: work, but being in charge.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I agree, I agree. Um, but they got so many like so many years of second unit stuff, which I I don't think Dave, he was like uncredited for the directing. If I'm not mistaken.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. I on the Blu-ray, I noticed that as well and that probably was a a, you know, director's guild thing.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. So it was like, so he's kind of like the producer, but we all know like they're going to have they still got to get the stuff shot. So it was like, hey, I'm going to go shoot this stuff, which what a second director is responsible for shooting scenes when the other director isn't there. Sure. That's what they do. So it's like, it's a co-directing, but because of whatever, you're a second, you know, it's weird. But any rate, they have a very extensive background, like you were saying, in stunts and short coordination and they've been doing this for years. So, that that right there directly. You can you can see that directly in this film.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Influence. Yeah, even Keanu Reeves in the special feature stuff was just basically saying they're they you already been doing the job. You just need the was it take the helms and go ahead and do it.
Casey G. Smith: Make it official.
Reginald Titus Jr.: What did you think about the commentary?
Casey G. Smith: It was solid. They they do a a nice a nice mix of, you know, they're very personable, you know, they're they're funny and they're cracking cracking jokes, but they're they're, uh, you know, giving you good insight and and know-how and they, they know their their their cast and and crew. Uh, yeah, it was it was entertaining. It flowed. Um, yeah, I thought it was I thought it was really well done. How about you?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I enjoyed the commentary. It's not as technical, but, uh, them kind of bouncing off each other, great energy. They just go in and just start talking about, you know, different things. Even like saying things they probably shouldn't be saying about how they snuck shots or did this and then that. It's like, ah, they can probably be held up by the union or something like that. But I you can tell that they they still they have a love for it because while they're talking, it's it's new to them. Um, you know, they have like while during the like fight sequences, you can tell that they that's when they zone in. Like during the action sequence, they zone in and they're like, oh, got 'em in the real trip, you know, do this. Then you got the sound effects. They're doing sound effects where, you know, I was like, this is kind of hilarious. So it was enjoyable, it was enjoyable to watch the movie and the commentary back to back.
Casey G. Smith: What did you think of the special features?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Special features. So on the Blu-ray, they have what, we got the, about six of them. Yeah, the don't give a F. Wait, don't F with John Wick. Then another one called Calling in the Cavalry, Destiny of a Collective, Assassins Code, Red Circle, and then NYC Noir. Yes. I've seen a couple of them. I've seen the don't F with John Wick. I mean, I I saw like the first three. I didn't watch all of them, but the first three for sure and, uh, I'm going to go back and watch the other three, because I really did appreciate it. You can just definitely tell they put the time in to documenting this this event for them. And I definitely can appreciate that, but yeah.
Casey G. Smith: I went through them all as well and likewise, they're they're they're they're good. None of them are are too long. I think the longest one might be the longest one might be like 20 minutes, maybe.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. I think the oldest one is the the longest one is the don't F with John Wick.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I think that is the longest one. The other ones are fairly short, but it's Yeah, good good information. So it's a it's a nice, uh, presentation.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Style. I saw with the style, I saw great titles, you know. Whenever, you know, whenever somebody was talking in a different language or whatever, it was in Russian, the titles, it's like, oh, man, this is It reminded me of was it, uh, Civil War? Was it Civil War, um, Marvel, whenever they'd have the location and the titles like real big across the screen. Was it Civil War?
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, Civil War did that. They also did that in Infinity War as well.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Infinity War. That, I can appreciate that because of grab attention. 'Cause usually you're used to seeing just generic subtitles go at the bottom of the screen. I was like, oh, man, what are we reading? But they force you to read the titles. And it's colored too.
Casey G. Smith: And that lends to an , uh, graphic novel feel that the the film has. There's a there's a suspension of disbelief, you're you're you know you're not exactly in the real world and some of the different rules and even some of the physics, uh, that that that take place. And so even with those subtitles, they have certain words that are in different colors, or made bold, or almost like something that would come out of a comic book or graphic novel and and almost like a word word bubble form or like a word art kind of look and feel to it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's true, because I when you're saying a different world, I was uh, the scene when they're shooting and, uh, in broad daylight, and he's got this military grade gun just shoot, I'm like, where are the cops?
Casey G. Smith: Oh, in the church?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Was it outside the church? It was outside. It was a hue about the vans. He was like, maybe it was like soon after the church.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think I guess he had found his. I'm like, where are the cops? Like, I thought about this before I listened to the commentary. I'm like, this something ain't right.
Casey G. Smith: It's almost like though these assassins almost like run the city because you even have the scene where where he's first being attacked, um, the second time he's being attacked in his home after he's going back and got his car. And the police officer knocks on the door. Right. He's like, hey, John, you working again? As he sees the the the dead body floor. I'm just, uh, just working through some things. You know, just trying to figure some things out. Oh, okay. You know, it just kind of leaves and like, what kind of like cop?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, what kind of grip?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, so that's how it's like. That's what it's like. As a brother that's looking, I was like, oh, okay, nah. What kind of connection does Wick have or do the assassins of this city have with the law enforcement because yeah, law enforcement aside from there they're non-existent in this in this film. Facts. I like how the from a style standpoint, I noticed before doing any research on the on the directors or anything, just watching the movie straight through. I was just like, this is all action, like minimal dialogue. Like the first 20 minutes is minimal dialogue. I was like, hey, man, this thing flows. They're telling the story through action.
Casey G. Smith: Visuals. A visual medium. How about that?
Reginald Titus Jr.: How about that?
Casey G. Smith: Agreed, man. And they and they made those decisions consciously, even with, you know, the scenes with with John's wife, uh, just through those quick little flashbacks of, you know, them together and then her collapsing and then the hospital him by her bedside and just a quick montage, it works.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And I could appreciate that. The reason I appreciate it is because nobody's telling us what happened to her because when she dies, you see her, well, she didn't die right then and there, but you see her like fall back into his arms. So I'm like, okay, this is an assassin movie. Did she get shot and fell into his arms? That's what I thought at first. And, uh, but then you see, you know, she's in a coma and I guess he decided to take her off the machine that gave her support.
Casey G. Smith: It's, uh, I don't know if you ever seen you ever seen the movie Up, Pixar's Up?
Reginald Titus Jr.: No. No, okay, never mind.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, you told me about this before. Yeah, that that opening the opening 10 minutes of that film.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Oof.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oof.
Casey G. Smith: But, uh, another from style-wise another thing about this film. I noticed that they go between scenes that are like really like seem like really desaturated and then other other other shots that are really warm. Yeah. Uh, they they go back and forth. Makes for a nice a nice contrast.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, indeed. And they're using it appropriately. I'm like, Blade, who's working at night. And it's flipped around. Like what what are we doing here? Reflections, I saw like a lot of reflections, I guess that was a DP that was kind of making sure that he was looking at his wife through a mirror or looking. Was he looking at his wife through the through the glass before he went?
Casey G. Smith: There was just the I think that's where the camera was outside, kind of voyeuristic, when he's by her bedside. Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, and then, uh, while he while he had the new dog, there's like a reflection pushing in shot. We see him in the reflection. It's a lot of reflection shots. They were shooting that glass and things like that. Um, that and highly stylized colors, you know, once he he's in John Wick mode, not just John. Uh, we're starting to see a lot of these like pinks and blues and yellows and very stylized coloring.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, yeah.

Favorite Scenes and Themes
Reginald Titus Jr.: Do you have a favorite scene?
Casey G. Smith: Uh, yes. Uh, uh, number one, um, speaking of scenes with reflections, when he's when he's first just, uh, connecting with the dog. Um, those are those are those are those are cute scenes. Those are those are precious scenes 'cause that's that's the most caring and vulnerable that you see him. Uh, so when he when he when he doesn't have, you know, any any dog food and gives us a little bowl of cereals and we'll get some, you know, kibbles, you know, later on. And then when he's when he's in the bed and, you know, the dog's on the floor and he's like, okay. And the dog, you know, jumps up there on on the bed with him. It reminded me when I was, you know, seeing a young lady and and I I dog sat it for her for a weekend. And, you know, I'd made a spot on the ground for the dog to to be at. 'Cause I just grew up in a household where number one, we didn't keep we used to keep dogs in the house and number two, definitely not in our bed. That's just nah, that's not something we we did. But this dog was used to sleeping, you know, in the same bed, you know, and so I gave him a spot on the ground outside my room, you know, and I went in my room, you know, and and closed the door. And then the next thing you hear the little scratching on the door. I'm like, what is it? You know, and all of a sudden he just runs in and jumps on the bed and I'm like, fine. You know, I knew there was nothing I could do. I was like, he's going to just scratch on the door. I was like, all right, fine. What can you do? But anyway, but seeing John Wick, you know, much nicer than I am. Uh, just saying, oh, come on. Fine. Yeah. Yeah, so, yeah, I thought that was precious. How about you?
Reginald Titus Jr.: I like the boogeyman sequence when, um, who's our Russian villain? I can't think of his name.
Casey G. Smith: His name.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Viggo, is it Viggo?
Casey G. Smith: Viggo Tarasov. Tarasov.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So, yeah, so during the boogeyman sequence we uh, villain Viggo is explaining to his son who the boogeyman is. And there we get the whole background of This is like 20 something minutes into the movie.
Casey G. Smith: Baba Yaga, something like that.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Probably. Just kind of giving us the background of like how badass this guy is and you really messed up. You messed up our money. You messed up everything and you don't even realize it.
Casey G. Smith: Your life. Yeah. Your life.
Reginald Titus Jr.: This guy pulled off the job of jobs. He deserves his retirement and you messed it up and you messed us up.
Casey G. Smith: And just when he when he punches his son in the stomach and he spits out that that that drink. I don't know why that just that seems just so like just impactful, like, wow. You punched your son in the stomach. Because you knew that this was all like probably over. Like, he just made again, the biggest mistake possible. You literally, he said like, John Wick, you know, wasn't isn't the boogeyman, he's the guy you send to kill the boogeyman. We got a problem. We got a problem.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's a big problem.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, I also dug the scene where, um, again the kitchen gunfight. I think that's my favorite fight scene in the whole movie.
Casey G. Smith: In in his in his house. Yes, that that was my that was my favorite one as well, the first fight sequence. Man, I just I I I dug the heck out of that. Particularly the one where Keanu jumps on the guy with like like jumps on the guy and like brings him down the ground, rolls through. Yeah, and just do the judo roll. Yeah, all the head shots man, the gun fu in this movie is is is is quite nice.
Reginald Titus Jr.: How Viggo how he's asking, um, what's our guy the older assassin? What's his name? Oh, when he when he has, um,
Reginald Titus Jr.: He's going over to his house. He said, well, you could have called. Uh, Willem Dafoe.
Casey G. Smith: Willem, yeah, Willem. Willem Dafoe.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Willem. Willem, Willem Dafoe.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, Willem. Willem. Whoa.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. For the longest, I used to say William, and then I was like, oh, it's Willem. Yeah, Willem Dafoe. Whoops. Don't know that many Williams. Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So, yeah, he, uh, Viggo is at his house and saying, hey, I want, I need you to kill, would you kill John Wick for two million dollars? And, uh, while he's while Viggo is explaining what he wants him to do, he's juicing these carrots. And he hands him the juice and how Viggo is looking at the like the juice, he looks at it and he's just like kind of puts it to the side. Like he was he was about to drink it and then he's just like. So, like the way he's like, he's a villain, but he he seems like real because there's a little bit of comedy there. And so he seems off a little bit and, uh, I don't know, I just like those little weird scenes like that.
Casey G. Smith: And then the directors talk about, uh, Michael, uh, Nyquist. Oh, man, I don't want to butcher your name. Nyquist? Nyquist. Um, sorry, I'm butchering your name. So Michael, uh, they talked about his his performance or what he brought to the role and just these little small, different nuances just to make him seem just yeah, more, more human. And yeah, I I I appreciated those touches to his performance. Uh, the last thing that I was one of my favorite scenes was, um, when John Wick is in the bathhouse and he has a clear bead on, uh, Alfie's character on, uh, on Yosef. Has a clear bead on him and and chooses not to. Like, I I I can get you anytime I want to.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, and shoots the guy in the head. Kind of like demonstrating. Yeah, and the execution.
Casey G. Smith: That's your future.
Reginald Titus Jr.: He dude takes off in that towel.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: The only other favorite scene is just it's always it's murder. Um, it's when John Wick runs he's hitting people one of the last sequences. He hits somebody, comes onto his roof and he's shooting him as the guy's floating on top of his roof. It hits him with his car and then the guy's on I'm like that won't happen, but this is awesome.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. And just man, uh, kudos to Keanu Reeves. That's one of the things that makes the all the films so special is that he is doing so many of his own stunts. He he went through, I mean, months of fight training, uh, you know, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, uh, what other what other forms?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, gun, arms training.
Casey G. Smith: Tactical training, mm-hm. Car, you know, learning to stunt driving.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Driving.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. And just, man, it it shows because they can have these wonderful shots that they don't have to cut away from. And you're like, oh, that's him, that's John Wick.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Lovely. Oh, I also like the, just some things that I did like or did not like. Um, I liked the like how the movie opened and you just see literally opens up and you see a car just hit the side of a wall. And it's John Wick. He falls out. He's bleeding. You're like, oh, what happened here? And then we start after that, it just kind of fades to black and then we see, um, the movie leading up to that point in the movie. Kind of working backwards in a way. Um, working up to the ending. It reminded me of the movie Running Scared. They did the same thing where we see Paul Walker.
Casey G. Smith: Paul Walker.
Reginald Titus Jr.: You know, he's driving. He's shot and it kind of fades to black. We think that he's dead. Fades to black. And then we see the movie build up to that point again.
Casey G. Smith: Do we think that he's dead or the kid that's shot?
Reginald Titus Jr.: We think that he shot at the very beginning. And then it fades to black. And then we build up to that sequence again. But then we discover there's a twist, it's actually the kid that's been shot.
Casey G. Smith: Gotcha. Yeah, it's been a while.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's been a while. It's been a while.
Casey G. Smith: It's been a long time.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And the only thing that I didn't like is just, uh, how they did the brothers in them film, man. What's up with that, guys? The guy the one guy that's the, um, concierge. Yeah. He got a concierge and then the other guy, you just shoot him in the face, like, okay, all right.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, both both brothers from The Wire.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, okay. Yeah. Major major roles in the HBO series The Wire, which, if you haven't seen The Wire, people often told is one of the greatest TV shows of all time. A lot of people came from that show. Oh, yeah. It earns its it earns its it's yeah, it earns its its title. It is one of the greatest shows of all time. Yeah. I didn't appreciate that.
Casey G. Smith: I didn't appreciate that. Um, I was like, what's this?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, writer, uh, uh, Derek.
Casey G. Smith: Okay.
Reginald Titus Jr.: How you feel. That's how you feel. 'Cause they went out of their way to make sure they had a woman assassin that was originally written as a man and kind of had her in a powerful position. Watch the watch the sequel. Watch the sequel.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I watched the first one.
Casey G. Smith: I'm saying it gets better. Progress. We shall overcome. We shall overcome. Remember that?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. It gets better.
Casey G. Smith: So I travel to this great nation of ours. Yep. This country. Yep. I've seen men working behind desks. Counters. Shot in the face. With other assassins. Women. We need more black men shooting people. No, wait a minute, wait a minute, that does not. That does not. Pause it. Pause it. Pause it. Pause it. Pause it. Pause it. There's nothing I can do here, guys. Forward. It's good. I'm out. I'm retired.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh. But no, man, watch the sequel. There's yeah, there's there's some more brothers doing some things. Oh yeah. There's maybe a nice little reunion that, uh, okay. Yes, yes. I'm just saying though. I'm just saying, Derek. Watch it. Just just don't even put us in there if it's, you know. Don't don't just bring us in and shoot us in the face. All right? Just leave us out of it. Yeah, man. I didn't sign up for this. Oh, man. He's like super nice. He's like, I mean, you know, you're not a lady.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I was like, oh.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And his job was to do the job of what our main character is. Like, here's this little side job for a piece of gold. Got some gold.
Casey G. Smith: But yeah, anyway.
Reginald Titus Jr.: But yeah. Anyhow.
Casey G. Smith: Should've should've stayed head on the swivel. Yeah. Any rate.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. There there you have it.
Casey G. Smith: That's the only thing that I didn't like. Outside of that it was fabulous, everybody, it was fabulous, you know, it was a good movie.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It was a good movie.
Casey G. Smith: How just out of curiosity from a sound a sound design standpoint. Do you ever have did you have any issues with any part of like some of the dialogue sounding a little bit low at any point in time? 'Cause I was watching on my surround sound and and I don't know, a couple parts like I I'd like to turn up. I was like, yeah, it's just on a couple of parts, but that that normally like never happens.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It was a lower budget.
Casey G. Smith: It's just a couple lines of dialogue where I just felt like it it it was like a little bit low. And I had my I had my sound up, other parts were fine, but we spent that money on stunts.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, fair enough.
Casey G. Smith: But I mean, , I mean, there were some some really good sound design different parts of nice meaty.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Did you remember the sequence that happened in?
Casey G. Smith: I was just on dialogue stuff.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I mean, at least it was
Casey G. Smith: I think maybe when he's, uh, been captured and he's tied to the to the to the chair. Maybe when he started doing some of his dialogue there when he was responding to Viggo. Maybe. But, uh, that's also one of my my scenes that I dug is when he's tied to that chair and he starts telling him what, you know, Viggo took from him and and he's kind of letting the rage build. I dug that too. But, yeah, I was just I was just curious if you had experienced any weird.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Nah. No, all right. Yeah, that, uh, in the commentary it kind of jumped around. And I think that just might have been something that issue with the disc. Like it was like jump like, what's going on here? It was only a couple times. That was also that was a tricky sequence too, because it's too much dialogue here. Like these guys are assassins. I expected, you know, like you were saying tied up the chairs. I expected them to get shot right away. You got them captured. But I think But they made villain makes that you know written that way. So they can draw it out. So they can get more information out or whatever.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, my God, you got me monologuing.
Reginald Titus Jr.: What was that from?
Casey G. Smith: That was Incredibles.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, it was Incredibles. You. Oh, man. You got any quotes?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Quotes. The only quote I got is, um, when John Leguizamo, that's how you last name correct?
Casey G. Smith: Leguizamo.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Leguizamo, when he makes his appearance and he discovers that that, uh, the vehicle has been stolen from John. He's like, where'd you get this? And he was like, we killed his dog and like kind of bragging about, uh, punches Yousef in the face, calls, um, no Viggo calls him. Viggo calls him and he's like, not too happy about the whole situation. And then John Leguizamo's character goes on to tell him that, hey, you know, he stole John Wick's stuff and killed his dog. Oh.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, he says, oh, that's funny. You you know it's bad. Yeah. When the when the big bad bossman all he can say is oh, well, damn. Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And he's just he's just, yeah. Yeah, there's nothing else to say. There's nothing else to say.
Casey G. Smith: Uh, so speaking of that, when when Yosef is is is talking to John and and starts, you know, in Russian says, you know, everything has a has a has a price. And then John responds in Russian, you know, not everything, beep, you know, like, yo, tell him what's up, John. Tell him all you, man, son.
Reginald Titus Jr.: One more quote that I have is when you were talking about that sequence when the cop's coming in, checking, uh, there was a disturbance at, um, in the neighborhood that John Wick lives in. And, you know, he sees a body in the background and then so, whoa, later John. And then, Keanu's later, Jimmy. Like it's just just casual, but it was kind of funny too, like the end of delivery.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, yeah. So, but that's all I have for quotes. All right.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I have one more quote, just at the very, um, well again, I already mentioned the one about, you know, he's the one you you send to kill the boogeyman. And then at the very end when he finally gets yourself in in the little warehouse space and Yosef is is is yelling at him. It was just a Yeah. Trying to tell him it was just a car. It was just a dog. He doesn't even get to finish the line. Just we're done talking. Yeah. You're done talking. We drew. This is done. We're over.

Trivia and Filmmaking Tips
Reginald Titus Jr.: Trivia, you got any trivia there?
Casey G. Smith: The fight scene towards the end, uh, in the rain with with John Wick and Viggo when they're going at it, that was in like 38 degree weather.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, the last fight sequence.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. And, uh, those guys just were just being hardcore and, you know, you don't see obviously in between takes them shivering and freezing. And that was how many like three days worth of shooting?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Four days.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Well, you know, I don't know for the fight sequence, but I know they had like four days, I think for the car sequence. So I don't know for the fight sequence. Yeah. But that's that's the trick about shooting in New York. You know, it's you have a community where you have access to great actors. You have you have everything you need there, camaraderie, all that stuff. Um, but that weather is a beast. Like we like in New York in New Jack City, you know, uh, Melvin Van Peeples Mario Van Peebles, uh, talking about how Wesley Snipes and what's his name? Ice-T were in that water and it was cold too. It's like, there's just something you just got to you got to suck it up.
Casey G. Smith: You gotta deal, you know. Right. Right. You got any trivia?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, in the Brooklyn cemetery, uh, which was the beginning of the film when we first see Willem Dafoe. And, uh, they had the rain machines out there. And I thought to myself, I was like, I wonder if this is green screen. 'Cause in the background, like, yeah. And then also, but I knew the rain that was falling on the umbrellas and all that stuff. I was like, man, I wonder how to myself, I'll tell you, I watched this stuff technically. So I'm just like, I'm like, I wonder if they ADR this. You know, I was like, how how they record this with the with the rain hitting it? And sure enough, you know, they ADR the whole sequence. Yeah. 'Cause that rain had to be tearing. I bet the machine's are loud, then when it hits the umbrella, that's loud too. So it's like, you know what, we're just going to record this clean.
Casey G. Smith: Even the scene between, uh, Keanu and Willem Dafoe at the the bridge. Uh, that also had to be ADR'd as well because there were trains that were going over the bridge and, uh, I think Willem even made a joke to the directors, you know, let's put me in a scene, you know, where you can actually hear my my original performance or something like that, but it's kind of comes to the territory.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Especially when you're shooting, you know, in real locations.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, yeah. Just another little trivia fact that these these directors they worked with the Wachowskis on The Matrix, Speed Racer and V for Vendetta.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Great work, all great work. Yes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, trivia, fight for the beard. So, the studios were giving them a hard time about John Wick have, you know, Keanu having a beard. And they were saying, you know, you have a distinct beard and it just adds to his ruggedness and things like that. Um, yeah, and I can definitely appreciate them fighting for the beard. Now, we see there's tons of guys that wear beard and like women are starting to like the beard more. It's like it's come back. Where the beard traditionally is associated with the bad guy or like some foreign person. Um, that's bad whenever you do that. So, I can appreciate the beard's coming back and that can be our protagonist instead of the antagonist.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. It ebbs ebbs and flows. Uh, one last bit of trivia I had was that, uh, Keanu was actually sick with the flu when he shot the the club fight scenes. That's saying something, man, because that's a that's a lot of people he had to fake kill. Um, and plus it's a long sequence. So it's not like it's being cut up by a stunt man. It's just like him doing the whole choreography. take you down, roll here. Make sure I hit my marks. Make sure my head shots look tactical and real. All the while, you know, I'm shivering and coughing. Oh, man, I man. Kudos to him, man. Keanu, you're the truth. He's a legend. Yes. One of the biggest conversation pieces was was whether or not to kill the dog. Are you kidding me? That was the biggest conversation piece. Not, you know, shooting somebody in the head and the piece of brain comes out on a bar stool. A dog. That was the biggest conversation piece. Whether or not to kill the dog.
Reginald Titus Jr.: These times.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And that dog was digital. Did you notice that? Like when he was like petting it, when it was right, you see the long streak of blood that leads to Keanu on the ground and his dog. He's about to he's like kind of petting it, it's a digital dog, but I don't think they really talked about it, but you can tell it's a digital dog.
Casey G. Smith: I didn't even realize that, man. Oh, man. Oh, man.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, one more trivia. Um, they use retro anamorphic lenses. And if y'all know anything about anamorphic lenses, I think we talked about this in the episode, the original Alien, and those will give you that, um, those lens, those nice little lens flares across the screen. So they use retro anamorphic lenses.
Casey G. Smith: They also use them in the movie with, uh, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis. Looper. In Looper. Yeah. Rian Johnson. Yeah, makes sense. He talked about it in that too. Filmmaker's filmmaker.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Themes. What you got for themes, sir?
Casey G. Smith: Karma.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, yeah, I got the same ones. I just added Karmic Death Destiny. Karmic Death Destiny. All right. I had, uh, Karma, Humanity of the Mercenary because again, John Wick is is a he's an evil guy. I'm sorry. The guy is evil.
Casey G. Smith: He's an anti-hero for sure. He's evil. The guy, like, lived his whole life killing people for money.
Reginald Titus Jr.: But we don't but it's fun but we don't it's you know that's kind of how life is too, you know. We don't see the guy that the life of the person that's in prison, but you know when they get out and they're trying to reestablish and things like that. It's like you get to see the retired version of this guy.
Casey G. Smith: Five five years retired. So however many years this guy literally was a gun for hire would kill people and kill to get out of the game so he could, you know, be with this be with this woman for quote unquote love. Yeah. But the guy was a pile of bodies. Yep. Yeah, but they do enough. Again, the whole thing with the dog. That's enough to make us connect. You know, showing him showing him lose his wife. That's we know nothing about him. We know absolutely nothing kind of leading up to it. You know, if you haven't been spoiled or anything. We see a guy who's been shot, gotten the car, Rick falls out or, you know, something's wrong with him, he's bleeding. Yeah. We see that he's married. We see that they kind of zoom into the the wedding ring. So, man, maybe maybe he's married. And then and then we do the montage with, you know, him seeing his wife pass away. We see. So we feel sorry for this guy.
Reginald Titus Jr.: We do. And we see the dog and the dog, yes.
Casey G. Smith: The dog is a killer. Save the cat. Read the book, save the cat. Yeah. And so this revenge tale, we're on we're again, we've been brought in to be on John's side, but then when you realize that, oh, this guy had like weapons. Nothing wrong with weapons, but this guy had a he had a killer kit. He had the killer kit. So underneath, you know, in in his in his killer room with a killer phone. Like, yo, this is the this is he's a little Merc little Merc headquarters there. Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, and it's like sophisticated too. You see the book, I can't even I don't remember the name of the book that's on his, um, that's, um, in his, uh, living room, on the little comfy, not coffee, is it a coffee table? What's the little table that sits in the front of your front room? Yeah, coffee table. Um, I looked the book up and it's about architecture. So you, oh, okay, you know, you Yeah. So he's got taste. He's a tasty murderer, is what he is. He's a classy killer. Uh, so you may but we but again, to to both of our points, we were brought in to see the humanity of the mercenary. That's why we connect. That's why we cheer for him. Again, I cheer for him in all the movies, but I'm like, man, you are you're pretty evil, dude. Yeah, you're pretty sure. You have no qualms with just just taking life. Reminds me of the the the series Dexter. Like, you should not be rooting for this character, but you find yourself doing it. That's an amazing thing. Honestly, again, you can see the psychology of of getting people to to cheer and boo somebody. Again, professional wrestling does it better than any form of entertainment. You literally can change people's perspective in one match. Somebody you've booed for years, one match or even a couple of matches. You you put them in the underdog situation. You have somebody who you may dislike more, beat them up a couple times and people will start to cheer. It's It's ring psychology. Psycho. And then we see, uh, him getting beat up, you know, they come into his house. Man, yeah. Just because he wouldn't sell them something, they come to his house and gets beat beat with a metal bat. Not a fair fight. So, um, so we really are rooting for this guy. He's like, you know what, we should kill people now. Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: I'll tell you what. Also, with that, I see a theme of of of trying to bury your past.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Um, because that's that's quite figuratively. You know, I don't know if you remember, but
Reginald Titus Jr.: I wrote that down too, dude. Yeah. He tried to he tried to bury his past.
Casey G. Smith: He can't bury your past.
Reginald Titus Jr.: He can't bury your past. And this metaphorical metaphor with him literally breaking breaking and bringing his past back up. Yeah. Get that killer kit. Get it. You can only hide it for so long. Only for so long. You have any other themes?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, my last one was they literally say it, everything has a price. Yeah. Yeah, you know what? That's my that's my last one right here, man. We were on the same page for three points. How about that?
Casey G. Smith: Nice. That's sweet. That's that's pretty cool. Um, yeah, it does. I mean, the life the life that he lived before again, uh, Viggo even says it. He's like, you know, we are paying the price for the lives that we lived. All the bodies that John, he said, you know, you thought you could get out and, you know, yeah, that's why your wife was taken from you. You know, you know, that who who knows. But we've seen that trope. Like this movie is filled with just tropes. Like this is there's really nothing new here. Like, you've you've seen all this before. Like, you're doing you do something bad, but then you try to like redeem it by falling in love or whatever, and then that person gets taken away. There's a movie called, uh, City of Angels with Nicholas Nicholas Cage. Yeah. Nicholas Cage and, um, oh, man. Meg Ryan. Ah, there you go. Uh, he takes the fall from God in order to fall for love and then what happens? She dies. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. 20 years. Yeah. Yeah, it's like 20 years old. Hey. I'm pretty sure you know what's going to watch that one. Oh, man. But yeah. Anyhow. If you don't know, now you know. Now you know. Know your history, people. Uh, I think they took some stuff. Yeah. I think Doctor Strange took some things for that film. I got to go revisit. Ooh. 'Cause, you know, it was a theme of God. I'm like, I'm not going to do with the God, I'm better than God. I can do this. Yeah, some stuff there. Yeah, a lot of tropes here. You've you've seen all these before. There's nothing new here. We know this genre. They know the genre. They're just having fun with it. Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah, just some different, uh, some different dressing, some different, uh, results with how they again, focus on the action. Put it all comes together quite nicely though. Yeah, it's just, you know, the only difference is it's 2014. That's this movie. That's the difference. The year that it's made in. So, tips. Filmmaker tips. All right, keep it practical. Make it when you keep it practical, it makes it look real. So, things like being aware of the bullet count. So when we see Keanu Reeves at the first sequence, shoot, pow, pow, pow. Then he has to reload because anybody that's into guns and things, like, hey, man, you're not shooting that many times. You're going to have to reload. We see him reload and get back to it. True, true. Practical. Find places, like the house that he used, that's John Wick's house, that can give you the right kind of light. So, when they chose that location, all the windows that were there, all the windows that were there, helped with some of the different kinds of of of of setups, uh, that they had, um, and let let light come through in different kinds of ways.

Filmmaker Tips and Conclusion
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, yeah. The natural light coming in. Or if they did it stylized. To have those windows there. Yeah. And you said this earlier, but training your actor will allow them to perform in front of the camera more realistically. Um, that's the benefits of having that, but, you know, you need a uh, an actor who's dedicated. And there's not too many actors that were saying like Keanu Reeves, who's going to come in for four months and train. He's got that he wants to do that kind of stuff. He loves it. Some actors don't like that kind of punishment. You was like, hey, I got a double. Just let her him do it. Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: You know, a pretty, uh, cool thing that happened, uh, over the weekend, you know, the MTV Movie Awards took place and I I didn't I didn't see it, but I saw it. It's been a while since I've seen one of those. Yeah. I saw I saw a clip of, um, Brie Larson. She won, uh, an award for like best fighting, uh, sequence or something like that for Captain Marvel. And she brought, um, Miss Moneymaker. Oh, yeah. Brought her up and another and another woman that that that does that that was her stunt doubles. She brought them up and said, she goes, they are the real Captain Marvel. I couldn't have, you know, made the scenes without them. I thought that was so awesome. Yeah, so, so awesome. Even though Brie Larson literally, she trained for months for that role. Like, I mean, she got she got in shape. There's a video of her like pushing a Jeep like up a hill, you know, that's like, I guess, in neutral or whatever. But yeah, she got in shape for that. She worked real hard. But I love that she gave credit where credit was due.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, I like how you can create a world that you don't really have to explain too much. And I appreciate that they didn't like kind of patronize the audience like that. They were just like, hey, just catch up or just like assume this is just how it is and just enjoy the world. 'Cause I sometimes I don't like it when people are just like, and this is the reason we have gold coins. Or this is the reason we're going to this hotel. It's like, we don't need that plot explained. And so like creating like the their own currency and how they do things that kind of adds to this world. They they literally built a whole mythology. Again, this is very much so feels like it feels like a comic book or a graphic novel. Like you're just you've just you've been brought into this world. Yep. And there are rules and there are guidelines. There's a way that even these assassins, when they're at the Hotel Continental, there's a way you conduct yourselves. You don't conduct business. The business of killing inside the walls of the hotel. Like it's it's real. And a lot of people came out of the first movie saying, man, we want more. We want to know more about this hotel.
Casey G. Smith: And you know, there's a movie and you know, there's a movie with a a hotel where the assassins go to. And who's our lady? We said Meg Ryan, but it's not Meg Ryan. Uh, Jodie Foster is playing the the person that's kind of keeping things together.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Came out last year. Dave Bautista is in it as well. It's it's like this, it's like this is the hotel like John Wick can then visit. I thought it was like a uh, medical like a like a it was I thought it was like a like a an undercover medical facility where people went to get help when they were like really really hurt or whatever. They went there to get patched up. See, he was like. Yeah, because if you go to a hospital, you're automatically getting booked. If you get if there's a shot that goes off and you go to your local hospital, it's going on the record. So you got to go to these places. Yeah. So they say. But anyhow, that's what they that's what that reminded me of.
Casey G. Smith: Like I wanted to check that movie out actually. The trailers it looked it looked pretty good.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I think it's on Hoopla. Get your library card and log in to Hoopla.
Casey G. Smith: Okay. I will check it out. I've got my library card. I'll look into that. Your local libraries, ladies and gentlemen. Free, support them and let them support you. Uh, assassin movies, because in my brain, I'm like, what kind of assassin movies? What's the movie with, uh, uh, uh, Angeline Jolie and they're like throwing the bullets. Wanted. Yes. It's another one, man. So there's like a lot of tropes in this film that are in that film. Mm-hm. And that was a good one too.
Casey G. Smith: That was a good one. The graphic novel was I think even better. Really gross. I think I let you borrow that. Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I can concur. Yeah. That's out there. Yeah. And it's like, yeah, it has its own mythology, they had their own rules, they had their thing. That's true. That's true. Studios. No, no, no. I'm skip skip this one. No when to cut and and trust, which again, is basically what you just said. Uh, you know, trusting your audience and knowing that you can cut certain things out because that opening scene with with Keanu's wife, they had something much more elaborate involved with them actually playing out the scenes and the interactions and they they trusted their audience and made it nice and short. So, in addition to that, studios might fight you over the most minute details. Uh, again, you mentioned earlier about Keanu's beard and how the, um, the two directors had to literally kind of go to bat and fight for him. And if they'll fight them over that, you can only imagine what other things they may have said. Oh, we don't like this or that and just kind of know when to uh, stand your ground.
Reginald Titus Jr.: When shooting in New York, you have access to great actors. So kind of keep that in mind when you're looking for different locations. You know, you want to set in New York, a lot of, you know, a lot of people talk about LA and, you know, if you have access to people, a lot of actors don't want to move, you know, travel. They want to work there and sometimes they'll take some pay cut just to stay close to home. So, but anyhow, if you want to shoot in New York, just know that you have access to to great actors there. And I think he was mentioning that because, uh, uh, they had the keymaker from The Matrix, uh, that was sewing up John Wick. Right, right. Yeah, he was the the good doctor. Um, also in the in the scene where John Wick is is tied down to the to the to the chair, that lighting setup, they used some lights from Home Depot, uh, to get the classical renovation. Sometimes you don't always have to spend the most to get the looks that you need when it comes to props, you know, look around just about almost any and everything could be utilized and or or maybe reused or repurposed.
Casey G. Smith: When shooting an action sequence, give your character physical obstacles to overcome.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Exactly. Same point. Coming up next. You'll find yourself rooting for the character. And, uh, what what was some of the obstacles like trying to get the knife away from somebody and then you get it and then you finally stab them. Or Keanu Reeves, like in that scene you were just talking about, being tied up with the little plastic ties. Builds builds that sense of drama. Oh, one thing, um, that they they do often in the film is that they intercut small flashbacks within the dialogue. So, some like, okay, for example, when when Viggo calls Keanu. Well, you think you're at the end of the movie because John Wick has killed Viggo's son. He's killed him. He's getting in his car. That's some people could have where the credits would would roll. But yet, Viggo is gone and and and and captured Willem, you know, Dafoe in his home and then calls John. And while they're having the conversation, you're getting flashbacks of how they tortured and killed Willem Dafoe's character. But that's all happening while he's talking to Keanu in the present. You're we're getting flashbacks of something that was maybe, you know, an hour or a couple hours before. And that's that's that happens two to three times in the film. Conversation's happening, but yet, they're intercutting flashbacks. I thought that's a pretty unique technique. And they gave shout out to their editor. I don't know who that editor is. Yeah. Elizabeth, uh, Ronalds. Elizabeth Ronald's Stutter. Stutter. Elizabeth. Oh, but she here she's credited, I guess, as Elizabeth Ronalds. Elizabeth Ronalds. So, they gave a lot of credit to her because them being first-time directors like that, uh, they would hold on to more sequences a little bit longer. And I know that feeling like, you like it because you just like the scene. Sure. But you need to somebody needs to cut it up. So, they gave their shouts out to her because she was willing to cut. Oh, yeah. And, and then lastly, you know, you can learn from, uh, some of the classics. So, they they gave a shout out to Akira Kurosawa, um, and said, you know, um, he said, when you can, add the elements. Hence hence the scene at the end with, uh, John Wick and Viggo fighting in the rain. That is one thing that I thought that was a little jarring, how quickly the rain shows up after he jumps out of the car. All of a sudden it's just like, like, wait a minute. And they even they even make, uh, light of that, uh, in the commentary. It's just, boom, it's just rain all of a sudden. So, but yeah, that's all I got.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Makes it dramatic. Indeed it does. And you end how you started, a rainy cemetery. So, that's it for John Wick, 2014. Definitely I recommend checking this film out. The commentary, the special features. Not necessarily for the technical, but just for, um, how, you know, these guys they're older, you know, they've been in the industry for about 20 years as stunt stunt coordinators and, um, second unit directors. And how they were able to switch that into a career of directing, where they're able to utilize their background in stunt work and their background in second unit work. So they can get, they actually get they're getting like, um, uh, one director for the price, like two directors for the price of one. Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. You know, they're we're seeing, um, yeah, more and more successful directing duos. You know, between, pardon me, between them. Wachowski siblings, um, Joe and Anthony Russo, you know, Captain Marvel was directed by two directors, uh, as well. That's right. Yep. I feel like I'm I'm I'm forgetting. Cohen Brothers. The Cohen Brothers, of course. Farley Brothers back in the day, I think they did the Naked Gun movies. Oh, wow. But I mean as far as like, it's like recent, uh, recent, kind of newer, newer duos there. Definitely some that are. It's not too many I follow. But yeah, Russo is probably the most like prolific as far as like them and the Cohen Brothers, I guess. Sure. They also won an MTV award for yeah, in Game. Mhm. Of course. Give them everything. Yes. Indeed. Uh, next time, we're going to dive into what film? John Wick 2. Yes. More headshots. That's right. Did they use the same directors? Yes, they did. Mm-hm. Did they use the same writers? Yes, they did. Derek. Can we, uh, like I said, it gets better. Derek, did you help us out on the second one? We shall see. Yeah. Um, and where can they catch us? At facebook.com/filmmakercommentary. You can also like, rate, and subscribe on iTunes. You can also find us on SoundCloud as well as Stitcher Radio. If you want to follow Reginald, you can find him on Twitter, simply @ReggieTitus, as well as on Instagram at Reginald Titus Jr. That's J R. You can also follow us on Instagram, simply @FilmmakerCommentary. If you want to follow me, I'm simply at @CaseyGSmith32 on both Twitter and Instagram. If there's a film out there that does have commentary that you'd like for us to review, simply reach out to us through these different means and we'll be happy to check it out and give it a review. Until next time, peace. Bye.