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John Wick Director Reveals Which MCU Movie He Wanted To Make
John Wick director Chad Stahelski reveals the Marvel movie that he would have loved to make. Stahelski has been the driving creative force behind the John Wick films, directing John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2, and John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, for which he also was a producer. Stahelski is still immersed deeply in the John Wick universe, for he is directing and producing John Wick: Chapter 4, and producing for the Ana de Armas John Wick spinoff Ballerina.
While Stahelski’s directorial career has been consumed by the John Wick films, the director has dozens of titles to his name in the area of stunt work. Stahelski has both performed stunt work himself and served as a stunt coordinator for various major films. His stunt credits include The Hunger Games, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Live Free or Die Hard, and the MCU’s Iron Man 2. In addition to his stunt work for Iron Man 2, Stahelski has also worked on an MCU film by serving as a second unit director for Captain America: Civil War. Stahelski has yet to helm his own MCU film.
Stahelski unveils which upcoming MCU film he would have loved to direct had he been given the chance. Stahelski’s MCU film of choice was the reboot of Blade. According to a recent interview with ComicBook, Stahelski actually spoke to Marvel president Kevin Feige about the possibility of directing the Blade film. While Feige was kind to Stahelski about the situation, even Stahelski himself admits he may not have been the right choice for the project. Stahelski explains the situation below:
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"Marvel was very influential in my career. I owe them a great deal. Kevin [Feige] is an awesome guy and I've worked for him many times on second unit. After John Wick 3, he was nice enough to carve out a big chunk of time and have nice talk. He's been a...in a way...a very strong mentor, even though it was a short period of time. I've only talked to him a few times, but he has been very influential in mindset and how to do it. And he actually asked me, 'What could we ever do?' I was like, 'Look, I'm not going to lie to you. I don't know if I fit that kind of studio mold, but Blade would be the one interesting thing I'd like to do'.”
Despite Stahelski’s appeal to Feige, the directorial chair for MCU's Blade reboot ended up being awarded to Bassam Tariq. Tariq is a lesser-known director who made his narrative feature debut in 2020 with Mogul Mowgli. Though Stahelski may be a far more seasoned action director than Tariq, perhaps his initial self-reservation was correct. The John Wick films are R-rated, dark, and edgy, setting them apart from the bulk of the MCU’s style which are mainly PG-13 films and rely on comedy to drive scenes rather than purely intense action. Thus, Stahelski may have indeed not been the right choice for the Marvel universe, whereas Tariq may be more shapeable to the studio mold given he is a nascent feature director.
Even without Blade, Stahelski is certainly still a prominent force in the action genre. The director is steeped in the John Wick world and working on his own projects. Even though he missed out on an MCU film this time around, perhaps future MCU films could be taken on by Stahelski should a film with an edgier turn surface any time soon. For now, Stahelski will be focused on continuing his good reputation with the R-rated John Wick series, where he can have greater control over his edgy style without the huge studio hand of the MCU at play.
