Norman Reedus On Ballerina And TWD Differences In Stunt Preparation

Posted in: Lionsgate, Movies, TV | Tagged: Ballerina, len wiseman, norman reedus

Norman Reedus says the action scenes in Ballerina are “very choreographed,” compared to the “very sloppy” style in The Walking Dead.

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When people think of the John Wick movies, they think of the action scenes and all of the elaborate ways those films have found to inflict violence on other human beings. When you hear the name, Norman Reedus, there is a decent chance that you think of The Walking Dead and the violence his character has inflicted on zombies and other humans since the show started airing in 2010. Reedus has been bouncing around the industry when he isn’t shooting a very demanding television show, and this summer, he’s joining the John Wick universe in Ballerina. We don’t know much about his character yet or what role he will play; Lionsgate wants this movie to do well, so everyone involved is already talking about it. Reedus and director Len Wiseman recently spoke to Collider about the stunts in the film. Reedus was asked about the differences in approach and preparation between the two very different franchises.

“It’s a different fighting style, totally,” Reedus said. “The Walking Dead is very sloppy; this is very choreographed, and a lot of people put it together to make it safe and look spectacular. I’m pretty good with weapons after all this time, but it’s always a math problem, even on the TV show. Everything’s math. The fighting’s math. You show an arrow, bend out of frame, you come up without the arrow digitally, and you show another arrow. There’s a math there.”

Wiseman has previously spoken about the work that went into crafting stunts and fight scenes that were unique to him but also felt like they were part of the larger John Wick universe. The movie is called Ballerina, so it makes sense that Wiseman would compare the set-up and execution of fight scenes to dance.

“Yeah, it looks fluid, but our first scene together, there were so many things by the number because, also, a lot of stuff was blowing up around us,” Liseman elaborated. “So it’s these calls. It’s like a dance rehearsal that you go through. So it is a bit like a grid math equation, and then a lot of rehearsal.” It sounds like this first scene involved throwing Reedus into “a lot of sharp stuff” without any shoes, and Wiseman said, “It was like, ‘Stand here, don’t look there. That’s gonna blow up in your face.'” It really sounds like everyone involved with this movie put a ton of thought into every element of the film, including the all-too-important stuntwork and fight scenes, and everything we’ve seen so far looks promising. Maybe there is reason to be excited about Ballerina when it is released in June.

Ballerina Is The First Big Screen Spin-Off Of John Wick

It’s still a little amazing that John Wick, the action movie in 2014 where the only real notable thing about it was that they managed to snag Reeves as its leading man, has turned into the franchise juggernaut it is today. That is what happens when you have good people working on a film from the beginning because it would have been easy for John Wick to fade into obscurity with a ton of other disposable action movies. However, the creative team of director Chad Stahelski and screenwriter Derek Kolstad took the time to build a fascinating world around that action movie. The world of John Wick is the thing that everyone fell in love with on top of the fact that Reeves is the best at this.

So it wasn’t surprising that a sequel was greenlit, and it was even less surprising that in 2017, it was announced that a spin-off film and television show were in the works. The Continental focused on the hotel that plays a central part in the assassin world that John Wick moves in, and Ballerina will be something different. Len Wiseman was brought on to direct, with Wiseman & Shay Hatten, and Emerald Fennell working on the screenplay. Hatten also has a story credit. The cast includes de Armas and returning John Wick players Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, and Lance Reddick. We also have some new faces, including Norman Reedus, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Gabriel Byrne. A brief summary has been released, “Taking place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the film follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), who is beginning her training in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma.” From The World of John Wick: Ballerina is set to be released on June 6, 2025.

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