Out promoting the 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray disc release of “John Wick: Chapter 4,” filmmaker Chad Stahelski has confirmed he’s almost finished a director’s cut of the film – one that will push the movie to around the three-hour mark.
Releasing in cinemas in late March, the $100 million budget film has been an astounding success – raking in $432.4 million at the worldwide box-office (easily the best so far of the series) along with drawing stellar reviews.
The title came to digital the other week and now disc. Speaking with ComicBookMovie.com to promote the disc release, he was asked about reports that there was initially a longer cut of this film.
He was then asked if said cut would ever see the light of day, be it as a collection of deleted scenes or an extended cut someday. Stahelski not only confirmed the latter but says it is almost complete.
“Yeah, I’ve been working on the Director’s Cut, the extended cut, which we’ve almost finished. There’s about another, I think, 10 to 15 minutes we put back in.
We cut out a big chunk of Berlin, a whole character called The Frau, which is a pretty funny scene with John, and another scene between him and Tracker, a few other little action beats that we put back in.
I mean, yeah, there’s always stuff we take out because it doesn’t fit the pacing. I think the stuff is all super quality, I love the choreo, I love the characters. It just didn’t – as a whole, it changed the pace of the film, and I didn’t think I could get, you know, two hour and 38 minute film in there if it felt slow.
I think we got away with it because it felt driven, it felt like it was very purposeful, and I didn’t want to upset that pace. And, if it has to go, it has to go.”
The “John Wick” franchise will be back on screens very soon with “The Continental” TV series in September, and the Len Wiseman-directed spin-off “Ballerina” starring Ana de Armas in cinemas next year.
Stahelski confirms he’s seen “a lot of the footage” shot for “Ballerina” which has a “really interesting take on how his lead character interacts with John Wick and how it punches to a different side of our world.” He adds that the film is “still really early” in post-production.
