Laurence Fishburne has confirmed that he will reprise his role as The Bowery King in the upcoming new John Wick film.
The fourth instalment of the Keanu Reeves-led film is due to start filming in the next couple of months in Berlin, followed by shoots in France, Japan and New York ahead of its slated May 2022 release.
Speaking in a new interview, Fishburne, who plays the head of the Bowery, an underworld intelligent network disguised as a homeless shelter, told Collider: “I should be going to Berlin within another couple of months or so.”
Unable to share any real details about the film, Fishburne did talk a little bit about the script, calling it “really, really cool”.
“As much as it’s the same world as the other three films, it’s just deeper,” he explained. “It’s much deeper in terms of the code of the assassin and the relationship that he has with one character in particular who I think Mr. Watanabe is playing… is really the heart and soul of it.”
In addition to Fishburne and Reeves, who will once again star as the titular assassin, John Wick: Chapter 4 is also set to include Shamier Anderson, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgard, and British singer Rina Sawayama in her feature debut.
The film will be directed by Chad Stahelski, produced by Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, with Reeves and Louise Rosner serving as executive producers. The screenplay has been written by Michael Finch instead of franchise creator Derek Kolstad, who revealed in March he would not be working on the next two films in the franchise.
“It wasn’t my decision,” Kolstad told Collider. “When you think of the contractually of these things, the third one I shared the credit with any number of people, they didn’t have to come back to me, and so they didn’t.
“At a certain stage the studio will tell you, your creation is graduated, and you wish it well. I’m still close with [director] Chad [Stahelski], still close with [producer] David [Leitch], and I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m excited to see.”
Lionsgate had intended to shoot the fourth and fifth instalments back-to-back but the studio decided to focus solely on the John Wick: Chapter 4 – as director Chad had previously insisted that the cast and crew would do.
“The way Keanu and I approach it with our writing team is, ‘Look, we have ideas, but it’s not like I’m working with two sets of writers on two movies,'” the filmmaker explained.
“We’re going to write a really good number four. If a really good number four feels solid to Keanu and I, we’ll make that one. That doesn’t mean we won’t plan on a five or start writing five, but we want to make sure we have a solid story.”
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