‘John Wick 2’: Keanu Reeves Thanked Common for a Throwing Stunt
Actors Keanu Reeves and Common worked really well together on John Wick 2. They had some intense fighting scenes together, but they ultimately turned out so well because of their own individual work ethics. Reeves once thanked Common for allowing him to throw his co-star around on John Wick 2 in a way that would be utterly convincing.
Common trained hard for ‘John Wick 2’
Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman’s They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog gives a closer look at the John Wick franchise. Reeves is often the focus of the action-packed franchise, but these films also have fantastic supporting casts. Common plays Cassian, who’s a hitman and bodyguard to crime lord Gianna D’Antonio. He’s a major antagonist of the sequel.
Reeves’ John Wick 2 stuntman, Jackson Spidell, touched on just how hard Common worked to get the extensive stuntwork down.
“There was a lot of really intricate choreography that Common trained his ass off for,” Spidell said. “He knew he had to step up to go against Keanu with his character. And he did. He was in the gym all the time, and between his start to his finish, he made so much progress, and he just really had a lot of heart going into it, which was amazing.”
Keanu Reeves thanked Common for a ‘John Wick 2’ throwing stunt
Reeves has robust experience working in the action franchise long before working on John Wick 2. The actor had to employ an excessive amount of stunt work for The Matrix franchise, although it’s a different fighting style. Nevertheless, Reeves acknowledged that John Wick 2 displayed his ability to do “movie kung fu,” as opposed to real-life martial arts. He ultimately thanked Common for working with him in their fight scene that required some throwing.
“I don’t know any real jujitsu, judo, or anything like that,” Reeves said. “I do movie kung fu, but with that, you can fake a punch, but you can’t really fake a judo throw. You can get help from the person who you’re throwing, because they can kind of launch themselves—thank you, Common. At the same time, Common got really good at throwing people, too, so it’s really a cooperation. In the real world, I don’t do any of that.”
Both actors are perfectionists
Reeves and Common would realize that they have a wonderful working relationship on the John Wick 2 set. This is largely a result of their perfectionist work ethics. As a result, they constantly pushed themselves to get the best performances and stuntwork out of one another.
“As far as I’m concerned, in the real world, I feel like I can kick ass,” Common said. “They watched what I could do and then took me back to the basics at 87eleven, and I just learned so much. It was a lot of work, but I wanted Chad [Stahelski] to know that I was committed, that I was going to give my heart and soul to this.”
Common continued: “And getting to work with Keanu and seeing how he would come in every day after doing all these different scenes and having all this work to do and other things, like fight coordination, just bringing 110 percent. I have this perfectionist in me that Keanu has, and every time we were rehearsing, we didn’t end it on the right note.”
