Promising a spectacular action packed revenge thriller, Deadline has reported that actor and martial arts action star, and The Hunger Games 2: Catching Fire co-star Daniel Bernhardt (Bloodsport 2, 3 and 4, The Cutter, Parker) has been added to the cast of the next Keanu Reeves-starring action vehicle, John Wick. Based on a screenplay by The Package scribe Mark Kolstad, the film features Reeves in the title role, following the story of a former hitman whose late wife’s dog is murdered by a thug and his friends who steal his 1969 Ford Mustang, leading Wick to a climatic showdown with the thug’s father, a Russian New York crime boss who makes Wick a target.
Produced by Basil Ilwaynk and Mike Witherill, and executive produced by Reeves along with Kevin Scott Frakes and Raj Brinder Singh for Thunder Road Pictures and H & W Movie Partners, the New York-based production of John Wick was intially announced back in May, marking the forthcoming directorial debut for Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, the owners and operators of California-based Hollywood stunt training, film and choreography studio, 87Eleven Action Design. The film, featuring fight direction by 87Eleven’s own Jonathan Eusebio and Jon Valera, will also star actress Bridget Moynahan as Wick’s wife, in addition to actors Michael Nyqvist and Alfie Allen as the nefarious father and son crime family. Actress Adrianne Palicki and actors Dean Winters and Willem Dafoe round out the current main cast, with Bernhardt playing one of Nyqvist‘s henchmen, and Dafoe playing friend to Reeves‘ character who is ultimately hired to kill him.
Reeves is currently set to appear in the upcomimg fantasy samurai action adventure, 47 Ronin, set to release in Japan on December 6, and in North America on Christmas Eve this month. Dafoe will also appear in director Scott Cooper’s upcoming family crime drama, Out Of The Furnace in the U.S. on December 6.
John Wick also makes the latest project to see Reeves and Bernhardt back on the screen since starring opposite each other in 2003’s The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions where Stahelski also served as stunt coordinator. Earlier this year in an interview with The Action Elite founder and editor Eoin Friel, Bernhardt discussed plans for a previous shortfilm he directed in 2010 with then-leading actor Leitch titled Fetch. Click HERE for the interview.
John Wick will tentatively release in 2014, with dates and distribution announcements pending.