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John Wick: Chapter 4 was inspired by a video game for one of its iconic action scenes
Director of John Wick: Chapter 4, Chad Stahelski has revealed the video game inspiration for one of the most important action scenes in the new film. John Wick: Chapter 4 is the latest and, for some, the best installment in one of the most successful action franchises in quite some time.
The series of the famous assassin is known for its ultra-violent action scenes, and the fourth installment is no exception. Many fans could tell that the scene in question seemed like it was an obvious reference to Hotline Miami. However, director Chad Stahelski cited a totally different game when speaking to Slash Film, a lesser known title known as Hong Kong Massacre.
“If you’re ever lacking in creativity, cuff yourself and then figure it out, because then you’ll be doing something you haven’t done before,” Stahelski said. “So the best shots were never very good for us, with lighting or choreography, because it gets old quickly. But I had seen this video game and I’m going to scream, I think it was called ‘Hong Kong Massacre’, they did this top shot and we had been doing a lot with the big muzzle flashes and it just clicked like, ‘Well if I’m on top we shoot like this and we shoot like this, and it draws these cool lines with the muzzle flash, and if I get the flash effect right, it’s like Etch A Sketch. It looks really cool.” And it was a different way of amplifying the action and keeping you in that video game mode that John Wick is known for, that kind of first person shooter.”
John Wick: Chapter 4 is currently playing in theaters.
John Wick 4’s god’s-eye gunfight has been called the “Hotline Miami” scene but I was surprised to see Chad name an even more obscure indie game as inspiration
HONG KONG MASSACRE is Hotline Miami x John Woo, and JW4 beautifully adopts its top-down look & gargantuan muzzle flashes pic.twitter.com/hGU3A47icE
—ChristianV (@GenreFilmAddict) March 26, 2023
