Donnie Yen is in negotiations to direct his own ‘John Wick’ spin-off movie.
After appearing opposite Keanu Reeves’ titular assassin as rival hitman Caine in 2023’s ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’, the 61-year-old actor is due to reprise the role for his own spin-off film, though Yen has now revealed he is also “talking intimately” with Lionsgate Films about getting behind the camera on the project too.
In an interview with Collider, he said: “I think both the fans, as well as the studio, want this to happen, and we’ll see.
“[But] I don’t know. I can only tell you that much. But yes, we are talking, and we are talking intimately. We’ll see what happens.”
The ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ star added he wanted to “bring something fresh” to the series with his spin-off.
He continued: “But at the same time, I hold responsibility as well as a pressure that I don’t want to ruin the franchise.
“I try to do my best to bring something fresh to the franchise itself. I don’t want to bring down the expectations for the fans. I try to do my best, like always.”
The ‘John Wick’ franchise already received its first spin-off with the Mel Gibson-starring Peacock TV show ‘The Continental ’ in 2023, and is also due to see the movie ‘Ballerina’, which will be led by Ana de Armas, later this year.
The upcoming flick – which will also star Ian McShane, Norman Reedus, Lorenza Izzo and the late Lance Reddick – will follow Eve Macarro (Armas) as she begins her training in the assassin tradition of the Ruska Roma.
While Ana will be joining the ‘John Wick’ series as one of its new action stars, the 36-year-old actress insisted Eve wasn’t simply a female version of Reeves’ assassin – even if there are some “trademarks” that carry over from his character.
She explained: “I think there are some trademarks in the style of the fights in ‘John Wick’, and things that he does that are very particular to him.
“But because in this movie we’re seeing through Eve’s eyes the background of that training that John had, and how these assassins and ballerinas, how these people become these assassins, there are some little details that are the same, but Eve Macarro is Eve Macarro. She’s not John Wick!”
Looking at ‘Ballerina’, Ana revealed “the grenade fight” Eve has with an onslaught of assailants was her favourite action scene of the movie, and teased the sequence “gets very intimate and nasty”.
The ‘Blonde’ star said: “For me, I do love the grenade fight. You see a little bit of that in the trailer, but that grenade fight is really long.
“The location is really cool, the way it happens and is set up is really cool, and it’s a combination of throwing a grenade, which is long distance, but it gets very intimate and nasty. It’s a lot of people in there, so I really like it.”
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