John Wick's Director Has Already Watched Chapter 4 Over A Hundred Times
The eagerly anticipated "John Wick: Chapter 4" hit theaters on March 24, 2023, and fans are clamoring to check out the latest installment of the further adventures of the Baba Yaga. Those fans may be jealous to hear that the film's director, Chad Stahelski, has already seen the movie over 100 times. While it's common for a director to watch their movie numerous times before its release, 100 certainly feels like no small feat considering the movie's runtime is said to be nearly three hours long.
Coming in at a lofty 169 minutes, "John Wick: Chapter 4" is the longest film yet in the franchise. In an interview with Collider, Stahelski said he doesn't mind a long movie as a viewer, making him the perfect audience for his new epic. He said, "Look, I'm from a different generation ... I could watch 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' all day long. I watched 'Lawrence of Arabia' in one sitting. I can literally watch, and I have watched, in less than a weekend the entire Peter Jackson extended cut of 'Lord of the Rings' on all three films. I'm good, and I soak it up."
In terms of the new "John Wick," Stahelski, who also directed the previous three films in the series, knows his audience and definitely thinks the runtime is absolutely justified. He said, "We know there's a certain kind of pacing for action movies. We get that there's this certain kind of appetite. Luckily, we have a little bit of margin because we have a little bit of world-building with the action in 'John Wick.'"
Stahelski has watched Chapter 4 so many times to make sure it's just right
"John Wick: Chapter 4" director Chad Stahelski has rewatched the new film in the franchise an exhausting number of times, to make sure it's ready for public consumption and no second in its 169-minute runtime is wasted. The director said to Collider, "Look, I've watched this thing now, this version of the cut, close to 100 times, and another 100 by the end of the month at least." Taking on a task like that sounds difficult. One would assume it becomes kind of bland and routine to watch your own movie that many times. But Stahelski hasn't felt any fatigue yet. "I don't get bored at all. It's my own film. I know it's weird to say, but I watch[ed] it and I was like, 'Oh, I'm still in the movie,'" he added.
If he's giving all that time to the movie, one would hope Stahelski is a fan of what they've accomplished with the third sequel. "I feel pretty good about it. Keanu [Reeves] and I, and the really tight circle that I have around us, we've watched it every week. We have a little group," he revealed. Stahelski noted they've had their reasons for watching it over and over again, noting to his movie-watching group, "'Let's just watch it one more time to make sure we're not talking ourselves into something.'" The epic runtime of "Chapter 4" wasn't a surprise to the director at all. "We wrote a longer script ... We've always expected it to be more." He continued, "If I watched it and I start[ed] looking at my watch, I know it's time to cut. But I don't look at my watch in this. So I feel pretty good where it's at."