John Wick is an American neo-noir action-thriller media franchise created by screenwriter Derek Kolstad and starring Keanu Reeves as John Wick, a former hitman who is forced back into the criminal underworld he had abandoned.
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John Wick was an orphan, and was taken in by the Tarasov Russian Mafia where he was raised as an assassin.
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John Wick was so ruthless that the mafia boss Viggo Tarasov respected and feared him.
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At the beginning of the first film, Wick had been retired from being a hitman for five years.
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John Wick was the final gift from his recently deceased wife, Helen.
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John Wick is on the run, being hunted with a $14 million 'open' contract on his life for breaking a foundational rule: taking a life on Continental Hotel grounds.
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John Wick should have already been executed, but the Continental's manager, Winston Scott, has given him a one-hour grace period before he is excommunicado—his membership will be revoked and he will be banned from all services and cut off from other members.
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John Wick uses favors and contacts accrued in his former life to stay alive as he fights his way out of New York City.
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John Wick revealed, during the same interview, that a 100-page "scriptment" had been written for the film.
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John Wick confirmed that he and his team will work closely with Wiseman on the action sequences and stunts for the film, while acknowledging that Wiseman's filmmaking style will add variety to the franchise.
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John Wick stated that everyone involved had discussed the possibility, and agreed to do it if a good enough story was created.
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Later that month, director Ilya Naishuller stated that there is potential for crossover with the John Wick franchise, noting that the same creative teams and studios made the films.
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John Wick announced that the project's plot had been difficult to develop, with the studio having taken various pitches from different creative teams, before the creators of Wayne presented the concept that they settled upon.
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Premise for John Wick was conceived by screenwriter Derek Kolstad who began work on a treatment about a retired contract killer coming out to seek vengeance, entitled Scorn.
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When Basil Iwanyk, head of Thunder Road Pictures, had first read Kolstad's original screenplay, he was immediately drawn to the main character of John Wick, stating: "The tone of the script was subversive and really fun".
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John Wick admired the emotional weight and action elements of the piece.
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The title of the film was later changed from Scorn to John Wick, as according to Kolstad, "Keanu liked the name so much, that Reeves kept telling everyone that he was making a film called 'John Wick", and the producers agreed, changing the title.
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In February 2015, directors Stahelski and Leitch stated that a John Wick sequel had begun development, which was later titled John Wick: Chapter 2.
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John Wick is an officially-licensed playable character in the heist-based video game Payday 2.
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