‘No one wants to see this on screen’: This is the saddest scene in the John Wick saga, and Keanu Reeves insisted it be in the film

After 4 feature films we sometimes forget, but that’s how it all started! In the first opus of the now famous John Wick saga, the terrifying killer played by Keanu Reeves came out of retirement for a very specific reason: to get revenge on the men who killed his dog.

A cute little beagle named Daisy was actually a posthumous gift from his wife Helen, who died early in the film. And even if the rest of the feature film John Wick shows extreme violence towards his enemies, it is very often the killing of this poor little puppy that is remembered as the most excruciating feature film.

During the production of John Wick (which was actually saved by actress Eva Longoria), many were reluctant to include the dog’s death at the beginning of the film, as directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski later explained in an interview. Business Insider :

“We were told it was bad luck. (…) They told us: ‘You can’t do that, it’s like Fidèle Vagabond. Nobody wants to see that on screen, you’re going to alienate the audience.’ (…)“David Leitch said.

“They didn’t realize we were making a genre film. We’re die-hard genre fans, and we know that difficult moments like this make for memorable scenes.”

Before shooting the scene, the two filmmakers agreed that the image would appear blurry and that the dog’s death would be primarily caused by the animal’s blood trailing in John Wick’s direction after the famous scene ended.

“On the big day, Keanu was playing with the dog. He was crying. He was beaten. He was in terrible shape in his pajamas.”Chad Stahelski recalls.

“Everyone behind the monitors must have been thinking, ‘This is the worst idea these new directors are up to.’ In the weeks that followed, we were offered an alternate ending to reveal that the puppy wasn’t actually dead, but Keanu sided with us.

If you shed a few tears before this harrowing scene from the first John Wick, it’s thanks to (or because of) David Leitch, Chad Stahelski, and also Keanu Reeves.

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