John Wick: Chapter 4 picks up months after the events of Parabellum, with the titular assassin healed from his wounds and out for blood. Following a new lead, John Wick is taking the fight straight to the High Table, but they send a dangerous new enemy after his allies, the Marquis Vincent de Gramont. As friends become foes and everyone who has helped him is in danger, John Wick must make his final stand to protect those closest to him and stop the High Table from targeting him and his allies once and for all.
Chad Stahelski returns as director of John Wick: Chapter 4 with a script written by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch. Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, and the late Lance Reddick reprise their roles in John Wick: Chapter 4. Adding to the star-studded franchise, John Wick: Chapter 4 also stars Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, and Clancy Brown.
To celebrate the digital release, Screen Rant spoke with Scott Adkins about playing Killa in John Wick: Chapter 4. He revealed which other characters in media he took inspiration from, which fighting styles he was influenced by, and why he was so excited to work with Stahaleski. Adkins also revealed who else he wants to see the John Wick universe and who from the universe he'd like to share the screen with if Killa somehow were to return.
Scott Adkins on John Wick: Chapter 4
Screen Rant: I love John Wick: Chapter 4! I think your character is so cool, and you fully disappear into the role in such a great way. You do such a good job.
Scott Adkins: Oh, thanks a lot. I appreciate that.
What aspect of Killa immediately drew you in as a character?
Scott Adkins: For me it was the opportunity to be in a John Wick film. To work with Chad Stahelski and Keanu. Chad said "I want you to be in the film." I was like, "Yes, I've been waiting for this." Then he said there was a catch. [I was] like, "Right, okay?" So it was this weird sort of version of this character, which took quite a bit of doing and he wasn't sure if I'd be up for doing that. But I actually was, I thought it was a great challenge. Though, it'd be a really interesting character. I like to create characters and build it from the ground up and sort of disappear into the role. And it was my only chance to be in John Wick film. So I said, yeah.
And as a fan of John Wick going into it, what did you find most surprising about ing the John Wick universe?
Scott Adkins: I wasn't surprised by anything really. I'd worked with Chad before as a second unit director. A lot of respect for him and the stunt team 87Eleven. I knew it wasn't going to be easy. To make action look really good isn't is not easy. It's difficult. So I wasn't surprised by anything. I knew it was going to be a lot of night shoots, because that is how the movies look. SoI knew what to expect.
One of my favorite parts of John Wick is that the action is always very impressive, but it also feels character and story-driven. What is something you wanted to bring to Killa's physicality that helped flesh them out as a character in fight scenes?
Scott Adkins: We thought that if I started doing my jump, spin, back kicks, somersaults, and whatnot in a fat suit it would make that character not believable. You'd just say, "Oh it's Scott in a fat suit." So it was important to us to sell the weight of the suit. The martial arts in the John Wick films, even though the films are over the top, the martial arts is actually quite realistic and grounded. So we kept the martial arts for Killa grounded anyway to fit with everything else. We gave him a bit of a Mike Tyson brawler sort of thing, but we've kept kickboxer. A big, fat German kickboxer. That's what we went for.
What makes Chad stand out as a director compared to other directors you've worked with?
Scott Adkins: He's really smart. He's extremely experienced as a stunt man, as a stunt coordinator, as a second unit director. He understands action, like no other director I've ever worked with. But also, he's really got a keen eye for the set design and architecture, art. A lot of John Wick 4 is inspired by Caravaggio, the artist. The films look beautiful. It's definitely got a distinct style, you can see it and you go, "Oh that's a John Wick film." There's a lot of Chad in there. So aside from the action being top notch, he's just very well read, smart, and that Italian design that goes through the whole thing. He's got his own style, and it's evident, you can see a Chad Stahelski movie.
How did the suit help you sell Killa's weight and make it feel authentic? Because I fully did not recognize you when I first watched it.
Scott Adkins: Well I had to sell the way he moved just a bit more labored. The idea was, if anyone knows it's me, and they know who I am, it's not going to work. But for the people that are just watching it and don't know who I am or don't recognize me. We wanted it to be that there's this bigger guy. When he runs off and he gets shot in the ass. You're not expecting him to pull out a load of kung fu moves on John Wick, and to have the surprise element of that. So we wanted to sell that he was out of shape, but then we realized that probably once upon a time he was a devastating martial artist himself, and can still hold his own.
I also am really excited for the universe of John Wick to expand with things like The Continental and Ballerina. Is there an aspect of Killa's past that you would want to explore if you had the opportunity?
Scott Adkins: I would love to come back to John Wick universe of course. There is the opportunity to do that I suppose. We should do the prequel Killa. How he got fat. Me before and after. Yeah, I would love to come back. I really enjoyed the character. A lot of fun. People seem to really respond to him and of course, the well thought of movies. I'd love to do that. Yeah.
If you had the chance to work in another corner of the John Wick universe, is there anyone you'd like to work with? Or did you kind of like hit the jackpot for yourself?
Scott Adkins: I'm big Mark Dacascos fan. I'd love to have worked with Mark. Love to work with Laurence Fishburne. I didn't even meet him at the premiere. I saw him, but I didn't get to say hello because there was just so much going on. So I'd love to work with Mr. Fishman. So go for those two.
Nice! Oh, that's so cool. What did you want to do for Killa to make him stand out from other antagonists that John Wick fights? Because I've always found it so cool how every fight feels different with John Wick.
Scott Adkins: Every fight does feel different. We had my men with the axes in this one. The style of the fight was great in the club and the set design was amazing. The music is fantastic. Actually, they were playing that music while we were doing the fighting. I didn't realize. I thought it was some music from previous John Wick film, but I now that it was that. With the water and everything. It's very stylized, that section of the movie, like even more stylized then a lot of it. It looks amazing. Proud to be part of it.
I love the water coming down. That was such a cool like piece of it too. I don't know how you did that.
Scott Adkins: Apparently Chad Stahelski's father was a plumber and they had some water features in the house similar to that. That's where he got the idea from, but then when you're pump it on three floors in this industrial building, it's a little bit more difficult to get all that water up there. But it was amazing.
What did you learn from working on John Wick that you want to take into future projects?
Scott Adkins: I just really appreciated how Chad took the time with the cinematographer Dan Laustsen and of course, the set design by Kevin Cavanaugh really make those shots look incredibly cinematic. To give everyone the time to be able to do that, because that's what makes movies really. That's what cinema is. It's those amazing shots that they do and the action within it. But he always had an eye to making sure that everything just looked pristine and classy. I appreciate that, of course.
You've worked with so many great action stars. What makes Keanu stand out from the others that you've worked with?
Scott Adkins: He's just got this likability hasn't he? Because it's Keanu. He's so likable. So as John Wick even though he's the ultimate badass assassin and goes on a killing spree and kills more than 50 men, stabs him in the head and shoots them repeatedly close range in the face, but because it's Keanu and everyone loves Keanu. He is such a dedicated action performer and he's so hard working. He doesn't stop. He doesn't complain. He gets on with it. It's not easy. And you've got to appreciate that because he doesn't need to do it and he's not getting younger. But he does it time and time again and you've got to appreciate that.
I honestly have no idea how he does it. Every movie, the stunts get more insane like the stairs in this. I'm just like, how did anyone do that?
Scott Adkins: It's crazy. Yeah, loved it.
And then when you were crafting, Killa, did you look at any other characters from media to really kind of figure out what you wanted to do with him?
Scott Adkins: The guy that I based him on the most was Ronald Lacey from Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Gestapo guy. "Yes Fräulein what shall we talk about." That was the voice that made sense. And we looked at the guy from Casablanca, the gambling guy. And Sammo Hung [a] bigger sort of going with the martial arts. I ended up wearing the same suit as Sammo Hung from SPL. So Chad was obviously thinking of Sammo a lot.
I totally see the Indiana Jones one. In movies in general, we're seeing kind of an interesting balance of CGI and practical effects. What do you think about that, especially with stunt work? Do you tend to be more of a fan of the practical effects where everything is really there? What do you think of the more CGI-heavy stuff?
Scott Adkins: I'm definitely a fan of the practical stuff. You got to use the CGI sparingly. Use it when there's no other choice. Use it when you've got to keep people safe. But if you're doing too much of that, it reads like untrue and reads like a comic book like a cartoon. So you have to do as much practical as you can.
I agree. Personally, I appreciate when practical is what's used. How much of Killa's backstory did you have kind of created for yourself going into this? Because we don't really get into it in the movie, but I'm curious how much you wanted to have to really establish who this guy was.
Scott Adkins: I did a fair bit, but I won't say what it is because even if he was brought by in some strange twist of fate whatever the writer writes, is what the writer writes. What I got in my head worse to me at the time, but I've been in that situation before. And then the whole past is rewritten. And you think "Well, I wasn't doing it that way, but okay, whatever. You're the writer."
Is there any other big franchise that you would like to dive into next? I think you're great in this I would love to see you and more things like this too.
Scott Adkins: Nothing in particular. Just want to keep making interesting movies and working with the directors. Maybe some more bigger films. That'd be nice. Nothing in particular. Just some big budget movies where the pay me lots of money, please.
I'm joking, but not really.
Is there anyone else that you've worked with in the past that you think would be perfect to the John Wick universe?
Scott Adkins: I think Jason Momoa would be good. I haven't worked with him, but he would be good wouldn't he. He'd be great in the John Wick universe. I'm sure there's loads, but Jason Momoa he would be pretty cool.
He was fantastic and Fast X, and now I want to see him in John Wick. You are phenomenal in this movie, and I just want to see Killa in even more. Honestly, you could come in as another character as well.
Scott Adkins: Yeah, bring me back as Killa's thin brother looking for revenge.
Yeah, you just wrote the next movie your set.
Scott Adkins: I'll do another German accent. I'll rip off another actor that did a different German accent.
About John Wick: Chapter 4
Following the events of Parabellum, John Wick has found a new path to defeating the High Table and is taking the fight to them. But before he can try to earn his freedom, a powerful new enemy will turn even more people against Wick, including one of his oldest and most dangerous friends.
Check out our other John Wick: Chapter 4 interviews here:
- Keanu Reeves
- Laurence Fishburne
- Chad Stahelski
- Ian McShane & Lance Reddick
- Natalia Tena
- Writers Shay Hatten & Michael Finch
- Stunt Coordinators Scott Rogers & Stephen Dunlevy
John Wick: Chapter 4 is on Digital now. It will be available on 4K Ultra HD™ Combo Pack, Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, DVD, & On Demand on June 13 from Lionsgate.
