Eva Longoria played a surprising role in the development of the John Wick franchise.
The 49-year-old star — who exited the 2024 Academy Museum Gala barefoot — had a hand in helping the Keanu Reeves-starring film series come to fruition as she filled a $6 million investment discrepancy, earning her a production credit on the original movie in 2014.
Directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch dished to Business Insider that the project almost didn’t happen due to an investor falling through.
‘We were less than a week out, and we lost almost $6 million on a gap financing,’ Stahelski revealed. ‘We were financing independently to get the bond, but one of the investors couldn’t raise the money in time.’
Longoria ‘came to the rescue, and she provided the gap financing, literally less than 24 hours before we had to lock the doors on the movie and walk away,’ he added.
The directors didn’t know Eva was the one who put up the money until the action film was released.
To thank her, they took her to lunch.
Leitch reflected, ‘We were reminiscing. She was like, “Wow, that was the best money I’ve ever spent.” It paid back significantly for her.’
Keanu’s salary for the John Wick films was revealed earlier this year.
The first film earned him a base salary between $1 million and $2 million, the second between $2 million and $2.5 million, and the fourth installment earned the Canadian actor a whopping $15 million.
Although Eva has evolved into an entrepreneur with businesses like her production company UnbeliEVAble Entertainment, a clothing line, and a cookbook, she first entered Hollywood as a performer.
In early October she took to Instagram to mark the 20th anniversary of her wildly successful ABC series Desperate Housewives.
The Marc Cherry-created program ran for eight seasons over 180 episodes between 2004 and 2012.
She shared a slew of photos from the set with co-stars Felicity Huffman, Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross, and Brenda Strong.
’20 years of Desperate Housewives!! I get so emotional thinking about how this show changed everything for me,’ Longoria began the caption.
The mother-of-one added, ‘So many memories, so many episodes (we used to film 24 episodes a season back then!), and so many iconic outfits.’
The note continued, ‘Everything I know about filmmaking and TV I learned on that show,’ she added before praising the show’s creator.
‘I’m so grateful for my forever mentor, Marc Cherry, and for the women who took me under their wing and showed me the way,’ she concluded, with the hashtag #DesperateHousewives.’
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