John Wick 3 Only Featured Two Stunts That Halle Berry Didn’t Perform
Halle Berry completed every John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum stunt herself, except for two. The John Wick franchise has become perhaps the biggest surprise of the past decade, becoming a critical darling and revitalizing Keanu Reeves' career. The first film came out in 2014 and introduced audiences to Reeves' John Wick, a former assassin who gets back in the game when the son of a crime boss kills his dog. A sequel followed three years later and further expanded the world, and John Wick 3 arrived last year to positive reviews. It grossed $326.7 million worldwide and became the highest-earning movie of the franchise, an impressive feat for a time when sequels often underperform.
John Wick 3 begins with Wick on the run from just about every assassin in the world. The end of the second film saw Wick dubbed "excommunicado," or no longer associated with the assassin's guild and therefore fair game for anyone looking to make some serious money. With very little options at his disposal, Wick turns to former ally Sofia (Berry), an assassin who owes Wick a favor. While Sofia only sticks around for a short while, her appearance is memorable thanks to her vicious dogs, as well as her interesting dynamic with Wick. It remains to be seen if she'll appear in the in-development John Wick 4.
Stunt performer Heidi Moneymaker recently sat down for an interview with Looper, where she spoke about the training process Berry underwent for John Wick 3. Moneymaker trained Berry for all her stunts, and while Berry's double practiced very action, Berry insisted on doing almost everything on her own. As Moneymaker explained:
Most of my actors have been fairly game to do stuff, but my number one would be Halle Berry, because I trained her for John Wick 3 and we trained together for six months. She went through more than I can even mention here, but was just, no matter what, was 100% in the role, in the character. We were in Morocco during her fight scenes. Her stunt double rehearsed everything, but there were only two parts of that that Halle didn't do. One was a slide under the table because she could potentially cut her face and we didn't want her to do that, and the other was a dog jumping off her back.
Berry's had experience in other action films like X-Men and Catwoman, but John Wick 3 is arguably the one that tested her the most. The dog stunt was unable to be completed because the dog in question was unable to perform the jump that day, and the replacement dog had the potential to harm Berry. Aside from that, however, fans can watch John Wick 3 with the knowledge that nearly all of Sofia's actions have been performed by Berry herself.
John Wick 4 has yet to begin filming due to Reeves' commitment to The Matrix 4, which suffered a coronavirus-related production delay earlier this year. Because of that, John Wick 4's release has been delayed to May 2022. Still, fans have a lot to look forward to, as it was recently confirmed that John Wick 5 is already in the works. With Wick having completed the third film in a rather precarious position, there's a chance he could seek out Sofia's help once again. After showing off her skills in John Wick 3, Berry might be eager to return to the world of assassins in a future installment. Only time will tell if she actually does come back.
Source: Looper