In the 4th episode of his adventures, John Wick strolls through the streets of the French capital to knock out the bad guy. In which areas of Paris was the film shot?
In John Wick 4, our favorite hitman discovers a way to defeat the criminal organization known as the Big Table.
But before gaining his freedom, he must face a new enemy who has forged powerful alliances across the world and is turning John’s old friends into enemies.
To reach its end, Baba Yaga will go through Osaka, New York, Berlin and especially Paris! The city of light will be the scene of the ultimate revenge of the hero played by Keanu Reeves. But does the film crew really have all the Parisian scenes in the capital? We decrypt!
THE KING IS BACK
Laurence Fishburne once again takes on the role of Bowery King, an essential cog in the underworld. From his underground HQ, he pilots a spy network that gives itself the appearance of a refuge for the homeless.
King Bowery is ready to help Wick who must face the ultimate challenge. “Bowery King is the character who knows the world of John Wick the best. He embodies this world all by himself”explains Laurence Fishburne.
These different Parisian sequences with Laurence Fishburne were shot in the Saint-Martin canal, at the Porte des Lilas metro station and in an air-raid shelter never before seen in the cinema.
Production had to install a specific ventilation system and hire 80 cleaning staff for two weeks to ensure that the working environment, located in the basement of the capital’s most modern districts, was perfectly secure.
“It was a dream to find oneself in the basements of Paris. Chad borrowed from Kurosawa and Sergio Leone and was inspired by their respective styles to shoot in the City of Light”underlines the actor.
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THE MARQUIS IN PARIS
Unlike the Bowery King, who remains holed up in the Parisian underground, the Marquis, camped by Bill Skarsgård, frequents the most exclusive places which he can enjoy as he pleases thanks to his fortune and his power.
“Never, in a film, had I found myself in such sumptuous and prestigious places – the Louvre, the Louis Vuitton Foundation, the Trocadero with a view of the Eiffel Tower, and the Opera… The Marquis likes to work in a luxurious setting”confides the actor.
Indeed, as we can see in particular in the excerpt above, the film crew notably filmed one of the most important scenes for the plot of the film on the forecourt of the Trocadéro. We can see John Wick negotiating the terms of the final duel with the Marquis with a breathtaking view of the Eiffel Tower.
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THE PLACE OF THE STAR IN BERLIN?
The sequence of Wick’s chase towards the Sacré-Coeur, where his duel with the Marquis takes place, takes on the appearance of a Homeric shootout when our hero takes the wheel of a “muscle car”, dented but formidable,
At the wheel of this car, Baba Yaga crosses Paris with hundreds of killers on his trail. Reeves trained for nine months to hone his driving skills, which impressed everyone on set. “No actor in Hollywood drives better than Keanu because he trains relentlessly”says Chad Stahelski.
The shooting that broke out on Place de l’Étoile, near the Arc de Triomphe, was one of the highlights of this 4th opus. Since it was impossible to close traffic for several weeks, the production came up with an ingenious solution.
Chad Stahelski’s team set up their cameras in a disused airport in Berlin, Tegel. “We did all the work on the line on the tarmac, and we filmed the shootout like judo takes on several lines of traffic. We had tested the gun-fu in the previous chapters, and now we are putting it into practice the car-fu”explains Keanu Reeves.
THE STAIRS OF MONTMARTRE
Finally, for the grand finale, the John Wick 4 team filmed on the steps leading to the Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre. This absolutely daunting action scene required 7 long nights of filming.
In this absolutely mind-blowing sequence, John Wick has just 13 minutes to get rid of fearsomely effective killers before his fateful duel against the Marquis.
“We shot one of the most spectacular stair falls in the world as Wick tumbles down 300 steps. the other. It was a great space to orchestrate stunts there.”says stunt coordinator Stephen Dunlevy.