The Big Picture

• From being Brandon Lee's stunt double to directing the John Wick series, Chad Stahelski has left an undeniable mark on the action film industry.
• The tragic death of Brandon Lee led to Stahelski helping complete The Crow using groundbreaking CGI and his mastery of Lee's movements.
• Stahelski's collaboration with Keanu Reeves on The Matrix eventually led to him co-directing the iconic John Wick series, changing action movies forever.

1994's The Crow is an all-time classic movie, but sadly, it's also a tragic one due to the on-set death of star Brandon Lee. It was up to his stunt double, Chad Stahelski, to help complete the film. Stahelski did a lot of stunt work early in his career, but due to his connections, his life was sent on a different path. 110 years ago, he landed a gig that would alter his life forever, one not as a stuntman or even an actor. Instead, Stahelski was tasked with co-directing John Wick. The Keanu Reeves film led to the character becoming an instant action icon, one so revolutionary that Stahelski has directed every single John Wick film since. So just how did he go from a stuntman to one of Hollywood's most influential men behind the camera?

Chad Stahelski Was Brandon Lee's Stunt Double on 'The Crow'

Chad Stahelski didn't meet Brandon Lee through a movie but rather their love of martial arts. In an interview with Bleeding Cool, Stahelski said, "We met through martial arts at a place called Inosanto Martial Arts Academy, which is really famous for martial arts stunt men and all that kind of stuff. It was founded off his father, obviously, that's how we all met." Stahelski spoke of Brandon Lee being a charismatic guy who wanted to be an actor who didn't try to get famous off of the name of his father, Bruce Lee. Stahelski and Lee were friends for five years, working out together on the weekends, when the two were hired for a film that would change them forever.

Brandon Lee was a rising name, thanks to films like Rapid Fire, when he landed the part of Eric Draven in The Crow. The movie was set to turn him into a megastar just like his dad was, and in the end, Brandon would become just that, but sadly, he wouldn't get to live to see it. On March 31, 1993, Brandon Lee was shot and killed during a stunt gone wrong on the set of The Crow. With all of Brandon's work nearly finished, minus a few crucial shots, the decision was made to go on in honor of him.

To complete The Crow, groundbreaking CGI was used to put Lee in different surroundings through unused cuts. Then there was the film's most famous shot, the one of Draven as the Crow walking up to a window as the camera looks in on him. For that scene, Brandon Lee's face was placed on the body of his double, one Chad Stahelski, who was brought in because of Lee's death. Stahelski told Bleeding Cool, "Jeff Imada, the stunt coordinator, called. He said 'Look we know you're really tight with Brandon, we've seen your reel, your move, your walk, you look like him, would you be interested?'"

Wanting to pay tribute to his friend, Stahelski said yes; he met with director Alex Proyas, and watched film with him for two days, so he could learn Brandon's movements. Stahelski's efforts worked. Thanks to the computer effects and his mastery of Lee's movements, the shots are seamless, with it being impossible to know where Lee ends and Stahelski begins.

Working With Keanu Reeves on 'The Matrix' Would Change Chad Stahelski's Life

The 1990s also saw the rise of another actor in Keanu Reeves. He was already a big star thanks to the Bill & Ted films, Point Break, and Speed, but 1999's The Matrix took his career to a new level. The filming style of the Wachowski's left audiences in awe, giving movie fans something we'd never seen before. The Matrix was a massive success, raking in $171 million domestically alone, making it the fifth highest grossing movie of 1999.

Who should be Reeves' stunt double in The Matrix but Chad Stahelski. In an interview with AOL, Stahelski said he was still new as a stuntman when he got the job, thinking it was going to be just a little sci-fi action movie. Not only would it propel his career, but it led to Stahelski and Keanu Reeves becoming good friends, with the former even referring to Reeves as an older brother. The two stayed close, as Stahelski worked as a martial arts choreographer on Reeves' first directing effort, the 2013 film Man of Tai Chi.

Reeves wasn't the only one who wanted to direct. Stahelski was feeling the call too, telling AOL that he wanted "something off the normal beat" when Reeves came to him wanting help cracking a script for his next movie. Stahelski said, "It was a bit of an odd script. Puppy dies and this guy goes on a rampage." It was John Wick.

Chad Stahelski Has Directed Every 'John Wick' Film

Stahelski gave Reeves his opinion on how to approach John Wick, recounting to AOL that it should be like Greek mythology, and a surreal, meta love letter to action films. He told Reeves, "Don't worry about making a movie, but make a myth and make a legend." In an interview with The Source, Stahelski said that he and David Leitch, who were both stunt coordinators and second unit directors, were called by Reeves and Thunder Road Entertainment with the idea of them directing the action scenes in John Wick. When they called Reeves, telling him their idea for the movie and how they wanted to not direct just the action but the entire movie, he backed them up to Thunder Road.

Just like The Matrix did 15 years earlier, John Wick changed how action movies were made. Sure, it's filled with an immense amount of gun violence, but it's not done in the style of simple shootouts. Wick and Leitch made it art, crafting something that's akin to a beautifully shot martial arts film, replacing swords and fists with guns. John Wick was not the routine action movie many thought they were getting. The critical acclaim it received, amassing an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, led to it making $86 million worldwide on just a $20 million budget.

There have been four John Wick films over the past decade, with Chad Stahelski directing every single one, and doing it alone after the first. Each sequel did the impossible, somehow keeping audiences in awe and being bigger and better than what had come before. It's not lost on Stahelski that the John Wick quadrilogy has an immense number of gun stunts, the same type of stunts that accidentally killed his friend Brandon Lee. He explained to Bleeding Cool, "John Wick is 90% guns, firearms. A lot of the safety or the methodology we use, it came about because of that accident. It's retroactive, which sucks, it's like most f—ing things in life. No one wants to change anything until something bad happens."

Chad Stahelski's next directing project is Highlander, starring Henry Cavill. That doesn't necessarily mean he's done with the world of John Wick though, no matter how John Wick 4 ended. As he told Collider, it's the end "for now." Whatever he does next, Chad Stahelski has had a major contribution to film over the past three decades, whether it be helping to save The Crow, doing some incredible stunt work in The Matrix, or creating a series of action films that changed the direction of a genre

John Wick is available to stream on Peacock in the U.S.

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