- Ballerina‘s director has revealed which combat sequence was essentially the most tough to movie
- It wasn’t the flamethrower or club-based motion set-pieces
- The duel between Eve and John Wick was additionally an “unimaginable day on set”
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina‘s director has revealed which combat sequence was essentially the most difficult to movie.
Speaking to TechRadar forward of Ballerina‘s June 6 launch, Len Wiseman admitted “one of many hardest moments” of your complete shoot is one which audiences will not count on it to be, both.
Full spoilers instantly comply with for the Ana de Armas-led motion thriller. Do not proceed except you’ve got watched it.
Okay, which set-piece prompted essentially the most complications? It’s obtained nothing to do with the third act’s deadly flamethrower-based sequence. Act 1’s nightclub brawl, a basic staple of the John Wick film sequence, wasn’t as taxing because the scene that Wiseman has in thoughts, both.
According to the filmmaker behind one among June 2025’s new films, essentially the most tough second to seize was a part of the alpine restaurant duel between de Armas’ Eve Macarro and a member of the cult led by Gabriel Byrne’s Chancellor. The purpose it was so difficult? The plates, which Eve and her fellow combatant assault one another with throughout a smirk-inducing sequence, stored breaking after they should not have.
“The restaurant combat is a favourite of mine as a result of there have been numerous essential story beats that have been touchdown, and it was extremely enjoyable to shoot,” Wiseman instructed me.
“But the plate sequence was one of many hardest moments to movie. They’re breakaway plates, so that they have one job [to break upon impact without hurting the actors], they usually do it properly.
“The downside is, whenever you choose them up, they instantly shatter. So, they [the actors] needed to delicately choose up each after which deliver them down on their opponent with actual power. The quantity of instances they grabbed a plate they usually’d shatter… I misplaced rely of what number of instances we needed to glue them again collectively. I keep in mind the props division asking me if 100 plates could be sufficient, and I stated ‘yeah’. Well, we went via all 100 plates a number of instances, so you possibly can think about what state they have been in once we have been carried out!”
Understandably, every motion sequence within the fourth John Wick movie (chronologically, anyway – learn my John Wick films so as information for extra particulars) got here with its personal set of challenges. That included the one-on-one between Eve and Keanu Reeves’ iconic hitman, which takes place in Ballerina‘s ultimate act.
“That was an unimaginable day on the set,” Wiseman stated of taking pictures the confrontation between Eve and the franchise’s titular murderer.
“It’s a second within the film that is actually enjoyable and tense, however we have been properly conscious that we wanted to make sure there was a steadiness to the combat. John Wick is the so-called Baba Yaga, and whereas he is extra skilled and expert than Eve, we did not need her to really feel upstaged in her personal film. So, we needed her to carry her personal at instances, and for this combat to have a function for what he is providing her by way of her character growth. It’s not only a combat, it is a combat that has which means.”
Ballerina is out now in theaters worldwide. If you’ve got watched it, see for those who agree with my ideas on the most recent Wick flick by studying my Ballerina evaluation. Alternatively, take a look at extra unique content material from my chats with Wiseman, plus actors Ian McShane and Norman Reedus, beneath.
