John Wick: Chapter 4 has introduced a wide variety of new characters to the franchise. After Wick has recovered from the frenetic events of the first three films, the infamous hit man with nothing to lose heads out into the world to connect with friends and kill his foes. This time, Keanu Reeves’ character goes up against the entire bureaucratic system that keeps the world’s assassins together — the High Table. As such, many new characters become important aspects to the franchise’s meticulous world-building.
Between Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Shamier Anderson, Hiroyuki Sanaada, and Rina Sawayana, John Wick 4 is brimming with new characters, but that’s not all. There’s a variety of great actors who join the franchise, individuals from both the acting world of major films and the martial arts world of intense action movies. In both cases, they’re complete pros.
Scott Adkins wears what’s often called a ‘fat suit’ to play the sweaty, gleeful, card-playing German character Killa, and is entirely unrecognizable as a result. Mark Zaror is impressively confident as the right-hand man of Wick’s new nemesis, the High Table’s fanciful member, The Marquis (an unsettling Skarsgård). Natalia Tena plays the intimidating but vulnerable leader of Wick’s old assassin family, the Russian Romani (or Ruska Roma). The three actors spoke with MovieWeb about their characters and the John Wick franchise as a whole.
Natalia Tena Joins the John Wick Franchise as Katia
Tena plays the new matriarch of the Roma family, Wick’s tribe of sorts which audiences caught a glance of in the third film (and with an incredible Anjelica Huston performance). Her character, Katia, became the head of the family after her father and the patriarch of the group was killed by Adkin’s character, Killa. Wick is frequently faced with the consequences of his decision to rise against the High Table, as people like Katia, her father, and many others associated with Wick are punished by the authorities which govern the world of assassins.
“She is like seriously grieving as a new matriarch,” Tena said of her character. Playing Katia means that Tena has now created a character in the John Wick, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and Star Wars franchises. “Every character you come across, you find them through different things, and this one was very much the Russian language and her accent. So I definitely tried to find her in that. The next level, for me, was having a whole day with Chad. He gave up a whole day, just to pull this off. He was sitting with me and the costume designer, and playing dress up the whole afternoon. It was so generous when he’s a very, very busy man.”
“She’s got her own sense of ethics, and I do think she’s quite deeply religious, actually,” said Tena. “I think she’s grieving, but at the same time, she’s getting solace. You see her praying, and I do think she has that element of like religious fervor, but that’s quite heightened at the moment because her dad’s just died. So I think she’s proper Old Testament. She’s very much about retribution and vengeance. That’s her universe, the moment you see her.”
Action Sequences and the Roma Background of John Wick
Like most people, Tena finds the whole John Wick franchise to have some of the best action cinema today, mostly because of its elaborate world-building. “We’re allowed into the criminal world via a very kind of pedestrian thing, which is staying in a hotel. It’s such a fantastic layer to have,” said Tena. She continued:
For me, I remember the first time I saw John Wick, I was like, “This man really, really loved his dog.” I mean, it’s not funny, I love animals more than myself, but it’s just the extreme […] He just does not stop. It’s this relentlessness that draws you in as a viewer. The level of action and the scenes and the stunts. You’re just like, I don’t understand how you’re doing this without killing each other. And they keep developing different techniques. Every action sequence has its own flavor [and] each scene is its own little film in a way, its own little kind of action movie.
Because of this, Tena was a bit sad that she didn’t participate in one of these “little films,” and hopes that the future allows her to have a great action sequence. “Massive disappointment,” said Tena. “I did a show for YouTube called Origin which, unfortunately, wasn’t too long-term […] It was everything a job should be, I loved it so much. And for my character, I do a lot of stunts; she was a human weapon. So I was doing Krav Maga three or four times a week, anytime I could, and did a lot of weight training as well.” Tena continued:
It felt amazing, getting your body to that level of fitness and that strength, and being able to do fight scenes is very empowering, especially as a woman. So I would’ve loved to have a fight scene [in John Wick 4], I would’ve loved it.
While she may not have had an epic action scene, she was still a badass in John Wick: Chapter 4. Being able to explore Wick’s background with the Romas was a unique treat for Tena. “I think the reason why the Roma side is fascinating, is because you get a little insight into Wick’s family. Outside the underworld, it’s like, ‘Who is Wick?’ We kind of developed the idea that Katia’s a niece or a cousin, and obviously it’s been 20 years, and he knew her dad.” She continued:
Now he’s dealing with me, who he knew as probably a late adolescent kid, a rabble-rouser, and who is now the alpha in the room. […] I bet when I was younger, I probably looked up to him a lot. That’s my take on it. I think he was like this older, cooler kind of cousin or uncle character. I was probably a little bit invisible to him. And now it’s like, I am now actually in control of this person.
Marko Zaror on His Tough Guy Villain Chidi
Tatia is an interesting blend of antagonist and protagonist, because she’s extremely mad at Wick. One of the many antagonists in John Wick: Chapter 4, but one of the few who we see throughout the whole film, is the mammoth second-hand man, Chidi. Played by Marko Zaror (Alita: Battle Angel, Undisputed III: Redemption, Machete Kills), Chidi is a seemingly unstoppable, smoothly confident, towering killer who works for the main nemesis of the film, The Marquis (an agent of the High Table played by Bill Skarsgård).
“Chidi is the right hand of The Marquee, and he’s kind of doing his dirty work, because the Marquis’ not going to dirty his hands, of course,” said Zaror, a charming Chilean martial artist. “So I’m his ‘street dog’ who goes out into the street and gets things in order. And I really don’t buy in to this code of honor of the assassin world. My character’s a little frustrated, to be honest. He’s like, just send me, and we’ll make this short. Because I do feel superior, like I am a better fighter, I’m more trained. So this is kind of the position and struggle with my character throughout the movie.”
Zaror is part of some of the film’s most exciting action sequences, from an epic stairway fight to a hotel shoot-out to an incredible vehicle fight around the Arc de Triomphe, the last of which may have been the most challenging and dangerous of them all. “With all those cars, it’s a lot of adrenaline, because you’re running and if you miss your mark, you’re gonna have a car full speed coming towards you. So you’ve gotta be very focused, and you’ve gotta trust the years and years of training and instincts, because everything is happening at the same time.” Zaror continued:
The work with the dog was also very fun and also very challenging. Being able to control yourself, knowing that you have a dog in front of you that wants to like really go at you. So they’re very trained, and it’s very cool once you learn that it’s safe, but there’s always that thought — ‘Hopefully he doesn’t miss his mark.’ Every detail, every scene has its own challenge.
Zaror Says Chad Stahelski Is Changing the Game for Action Movies
Part of what makes excellent fighters like Zaror interested in joining the John Wick franchise is that director Chad Stahelski is helming the films. A former stuntman, Stahelski has become perhaps the most respected filmmaker in American action cinema. “Every frame, every shot, Chad’s always trying to push it. If it’s not with the lighting and aesthetic, it’s the action or the performances,” explained Zaror. “So you want to of course give it your best. Whatever you’re doing, it’s like you want to give it your 200%.”
“Chad, first of all, he’s an amazing martial artist, a true martial artist,” continued Zaror. “He started in the industry hitting the ground. Being in the stunt world, it’s rough, the code is different. The stunt community, it’s a different animal, the way they see everything when you’re hitting the ground, when you’re fighting. Then when you have the camera, and Chad has the camera, he knows exactly what needs to be there.” Zaror elaborated:
You have someone that has been there and understands what it feels like, and then how to communicate that. His expertise in filmmaking, with all these years working with the best, put him in a position where he’s changing the game. Because now, all the industry is looking at the stunt community differently […] They’re looking at them as future directors. They’re listening more to what they have to say.
Zaror had just recently seen the finished film when we spoke. “I was shocked by the movie,” gushed Zaror. “Everybody was so good. Like everybody, every character, every scene. I was shaking. I was like, celebrating. I couldn’t hold myself together when I was watching the movie.”
Scott Adkins on His Big John Wick 4 Character
Zaror wasn’t the only martial artist in the film with that reaction. “I watched it for the first time at the London premiere, on the big screen in IMAX,” said Atkins, “and I wasn’t prepared for what was about to happen, because I only really knew about my sequence. I had no idea what to expect, and it honestly blew me away. I realized right there as I was watching it, that I’m a part of one of the best action films ever made. I mean, obviously, I’m biased, but I was watching it just thinking, ‘Man, this is incredible. This movie is just amazing.’ In terms of action, it’s just incredible.”
Adkins stars a Killa, a constantly sweating, gleeful gangster with a serious weight issue who takes on Wick in one of the film’s most entertaining fight scenes. “It’s John Wick done to the fullest of its abilities. Chad is getting better with every movie,” said Adkins. “It’s an assault on the senses. And obviously, I’m an action junkie. I’m very proud of what we did.” Adkins wholly embraced the film and the role, despite having to sit through three hours of make-up before each scene. He elaborated:
Chad asked me if I wanted to be in John Wick 4; I said, “Of course I do, mate, what’s the part? And then he went on to tell me what it would involve. I really relished the opportunity to disappear into the part, to get as far away from myself as I possibly could, to create the character from the ground up. I mean, it’s a big leap of faith. You don’t know essentially what the end result would be when we started preparing the character, because so much of it is dictated on the prosthetics and how he’ll look. I started with the voice and, if you’re gonna be in a fat suit, you’re gonna have to go big with the performance.
Adkins was comfortable taking that leap of faith, because Chad had trust with Adkins and the character. “I was aware that he trusted me, that I could disappear into the role and create a character,” continued Adkins. “It’s John Wick. I’ve seen the other three films. So I know that it’s not like a realistic movie. It’s kind of like a graphic novel brought to life. So you have a bit of license to go big. And just from reading that, knowing that the character was in a fat suit and also knowing the dialogue, I just felt instinctively that I needed to maybe have fun with the character. That turned out to be the right decision, because he’s almost comedy relief, which you kind of need at that point in the movie.”
“He allowed me to be a better actor by giving me that trust and free rein, and just allowing me to play that part rather than just be the moody henchman, which I’ve done plenty of times and could do again. But he gave me an opportunity to really play it play nice meaty role.” John Wick: Chapter 4 is full of these opportunities, and nearly every single one of them is worthwhile, creating one of the most epic action films of all time as a result. From Summit Entertainment, Thunder Road Pictures, and 87Eleven Productions, Lionsgate has now released John Wick: Chapter 4 in theaters, where it deserves to be seen.
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