‘John Wick’ Producer Recalls ‘Ominous’ First Test Screening – ‘God Bless Michael Nyqvist’
Many studio and independent movies test screen movies to audiences to get feedback about a specific cut. John Wick producer Basil Iwanyk worried that the results could be negative. Nevertheless, they needed to get a feel for how it would play. One scene with John Wick actor Michael Nyqvist ultimately saved what was initially an “ominous” first test screening that made the producer feel confident about the action movie that would later become a sensation.
‘John Wick’ producer Basil Iwanyk worried the crowd wouldn’t like the animal violence
Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman wrote in their book, They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog, about the wild journey of getting John Wick made. Iwanyk showed the movie to a few individuals whose reactions were “lukewarm,” so he wanted to show it to an actual test audience in Orange County, California. The producer previously worked on The Town, which some audiences negatively commented on because they didn’t like the criminals shooting at police officers. He worried that a similar issue could arise with John Wick.
“Guys, there will be a group of people in this audience who will say, ‘We have issues with violence to the animal, and we have a bigger issue to all this killing because of an animal,'” Iwanyk told directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. “We’ll put all them aside, and we’ll just pay attention to the people who love the movie.’ And they were like, ‘That sounds ominous.’ ‘It’s going to be ominous. This is the first one.'”
However, Iwanyk didn’t account for the power that Nyqvist’s John Wick performance as Viggo Tarasov would have.
‘John Wick’ actor Michael Nyqvist saved the ‘ominous’ first test screening
They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog detailed the first John Wick test screening that would ultimately change how he felt about the movie. The crowds didn’t initially know what they were watching and what to expect from it. They showed a longer cut of John Wick with more footage of the wife and the dog, but Nyqvist would soon make his impact on the screen.
“And then there’s the scene where—I’ll never forget this in my entire career, literally until the day I die—Michael Nyqvist calls John Leguizamo and says, ‘Why did you hit my son?’ in a menacing tone,” Iwanyk said. “And Leguizamo goes, ‘He stole John Wick’s car and killed his dog.’ And Michael Nyqvist goes, ‘Oh.’ The entire f***ing theater erupted in laughter and cheers.”
Iwanyk continued: “And the audience realized, ‘I’m allowed to have fun with this.’ And we had them. I’m telling you, we had them. Every single moment afterwards. It was incredible! They realized, ‘This is supposed to be fun!’ God bless Michael Nyqvist.”
Lionsgate stepped up to the plate
Iwanyk was confident that John Wick would be a huge success after Nyqvist’s huge save. However, the film would encounter yet another hurdle. CAA showed the movie to distributors, and everybody passed on it, except for Lionsgate. Iwanyk figured that the movie would see a streaming-only release, but the head of marketing at Lionsgate put together an “awesome” trailer.
Between initial social media buzz, film festival runs, and word-of-mouth based on positive critic reviews, John Wick would succeed for many more reasons other than Nyqvist’s performance. The movie only opened to $12.5 million at the box office, but it was successful enough for the studio to give the green light to a sequel. The franchise universe only continued to expand, with John Wick 4 and 5 already in the works.
