Chad Stahelski, the director of the John Wick franchise, recently praised Eva Longoria for saving the original film from being pigeonholed just a day before production was set to begin.
The iconic film series, which centers on a hitman unwilling to return to work after retiring, has garnered $1bn across four movies. Still, it has yet to happen when the creators faced a deficit of $6m.
Chad Stahelski Didn’t Know Eva Longoria Saved His Film
Chad Stahelski and David Leitch disclosed that the 49-year-old ‘Desperate Housewives star “came to the rescue” and that the financing “paid back significantly for her.”
Interestingly, Stahelski confessed that he was unaware Longoria was the person who saved his film until after John Wick was released.
Chad Stahelski On How Eva Longoria Helped Him
“About a week before we went to production, we had gap financing,” Stahelski explained while speaking on The Hollywood Reporter‘s It Happened in Hollywood podcast. “We had an investor fall out for about $6 million. So when you’re [making an] $18 million movie, that kills you.”
He added, “We didn’t have any money. So, a lot of the crew left. We were losing locations. We were 24 hours away from failing.”
However, more was needed even after Stahelski, Leitch, and star Keanu Reeves poured all their available funds into the film. The film’s producer, Basil Iwanyk, then revealed that a new investor was secured just a couple of days before the film was set to be canceled.
“We didn’t think twice about it and went right into the movie, only to find out nearly a year later that it was Eva Longoria,” said Stahelski. “So we, the next day, called her up and took her to lunch to say thank you at the Chateau Marmont and just couldn’t thank her enough.”
Chad Stahelski and Eva Longoria Later Joked About Her Investment Instincts
The director and the actress later joked about her sharp investment instincts since the film’s release in 2014.
“She’s like, ‘It was an investment, and I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t know what it was. But it sounded kind of weird and cool,’” he said. “So I hope she got every penny back. I hope she made millions of dollars.”
Eva Longoria Recently Opened Up on Her John Wicks Involvement
This comes shortly after Eva Longoria told Business Insider about her role in the John Wicks movie franchise and revealed that her only regret was not being part of the film’s sequels.
“What I’m p***ed off about is I wasn’t connected to the rest of them,” Longoria said. “This was a one-time thing. That was the gamble. But my only mistake was not being attached to all the films.”
Even though she was not involved in the movies, she disclosed her total earnings. “You know, I would have to check,” Longoria said. “More than double [$6 million], for sure.”
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