While you might not know Dan Laustsen’s name, you’ve definitely seen his work. As the cinematographer on films like Mimic, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Crimson Peak, The Shape of Water, John Wick: Chapter 2, and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (just to name a few), Laustsen has shown a great eye behind the camera, helping many filmmakers bring their vision to life. With Laustsen’s latest work, Nightmare Alley, now playing in theaters, I recently conducted an extended interview with him about making the film noir with Guillermo del Toro, which will be online later this week. However, to tease the upcoming conversation, here’s a piece of that interview with Laustsen about working on the John Wick films with director Chad Stahelski and their upcoming collaboration on the fourth John Wick film.
John Wick 4 wrapped filming last month, yet Lionsgate has pushed the release date back to March 24, 2023. While not much is known about the story, we do know that John Wick 4 will be an international affair. We previously revealed that Wick’s next film will take the skilled assassin to Berlin and Paris, as well as New York City and Japan.
John Wick 4 will also see the return of Ian McShane’s Winston and Lance Reddick’s Charon. Shamier Anderson, Bill Skarsgård, Hiroyuki Sanada, Scott Adkins, and Clancy Brown have all been added to the cast. Martial arts legend Donnie Yen will also be playing the character Caine, described as an old friend of Wick who share the same enemies as the titular assassin. Yen previously told us making John Wick 4 and working with Reeves has been his favorite experience in Hollywood.
During my interview with Laustsen, he talked about how he first got involved in John Wick how Stahelski told him we wanted to shoot John Wick: Chapter 2 like a Bernardo Bertolucci movie, but with lots of action, what it was like filming 18 weeks of night shoots on John Wick 4, and what that meant for the cast and crew, why he shoots John Wick with wide angle lenses, how much work went into figuring out how to film the big motorcycle chase in John Wick: Chapter 3, how the fourth film will open up the world of John Wick, why he loves working with both Reeves and Yen, and more.
If you’re a fan of the John Wick movies and want to hear what it’s like behind-the-scenes trying to bring these films to life, push play on the video above. I’ve also listed out exactly what Dan Laustsen talks about below. Look for my full interview with Laustsen on Friday.
Dan Laustsen
- What has it been like working with Chad Stahelski on the John Wick movies?
- How he got involved in the films.
- How Stahelski told him he wanted to shoot John Wick 2 like a Bertolucci movie with a lot of action.
- Why he wants to shoot the scenes wide so you can really see Reeves doing his own action.
- How they shot 18 weeks of night shoots on John Wick 4 and what that really means.
- What can he tease about what they wanted to do while filming in Berlin and Paris?
- The challenges of filming in Europe.
- How the 4th film will open up the John Wick world.
- What is it like working on the huge action set pieces that people love?
- What it was like trying to film the big motorcycle chase on the bridge in John Wick 3.
- How John Wick 4 has a limited second unit compared to John Wick 3.
- What was it like working with Donnie Yen on John Wick 4?
