Yesterday, we learned about a John Wick anime prequel that’s in the works. Today? It turns out that Eva Longoria saved the first movie from getting shut down at the last minute.
Wait, what?! Yep, a $6 million investment from the famous actress, director, and businesswoman was all that separated the franchise-starter from an early grave. Via Variety, the shocking revelation came from Business Insider’s chat with directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch.
“We were less than a week out and we lost almost $6 million on a gap financing… We were financing independently to get the bond, but one of the investors couldn’t raise the money in time,” Stahelski said. Both the filmmakers and star Keanu Reeves had already put money of their own into the project, with producer Basil Iwanyk maxing out “three of his personal credit cards to contribute his own funds to the budget.”
Still, there was a gap left wide open with less than 24 hours to go, and it was Eva Longoria who “came to the rescue.” The reason? CAA (Creative Artists Agency) “was helping the team put the movie’s financing together and, in a last ditch effort to save the project, offered some of its actors an opportunity to invest in the film.” While she wasn’t sure at first about her investment, she later said, according to Leitch, that “investing in ‘John Wick’ was ‘the best money’ she’d ever spent.” Yeah, no s**t. John Wick is now a massive property that won’t go to sleep anytime soon.
Funny story aside, it’s awesome to see fellow creatives helping each other out and taking a chance on potentially interesting projects, especially when they have deep wallets. John Wick has now become one of the biggest action franchises of all time, with a ridiculous number of spinoff projects set to expand the universe in Reeves’ (temporary) absence. Moreover, John Wick has influenced a great number of action movies over the last decade, so Eva Longoria unwittingly helped reshape the ‘pure action’ genre for years to come.