How Scott Adkins became Keanu Reeves' biggest threat in John Wick: Chapter 4

When John Wick franchise director Chad Stahelski asked Scott Adkins to play a German criminal named Killa in the action series' fourth installment, the British actor couldn't help but regard the offer with mixed feelings. The good news? Adkins, a veteran of the action movie scene, had long wanted to appear in a John Wick film. The bad? The role of Killa would require the actor to wear a fat suit and facial prosthetics. As a result, the trim Adkins would look so different from his appearance in films like 2006's Undisputed II: Last Standing and 2012's Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning that even diehard fans might not know it was him onscreen.

"I interviewed Chad for my podcast, Art of Action, and then he called me up a few weeks later and said, 'Do you want to be in John Wick 4?'" says Adkins, 46, whose many other credits include The Expendables 2 and Doctor Strange. "I was like, 'Absolutely, I do.' He goes, 'Great; I'm not going to talk to you about the character yet, because I don't want to freak you out.' I'm thinking, what does he mean by that? Three months later, he gets back in touch with me and explains to me the concept of the character. I was just told to think about Signor Ferrari from Casablanca meets Sammo Hung. Honestly, I was really excited about it; I relished the challenge to create a character and disappear into the role, and have fun."

But?

"There was a part of me that was a bit like, oh, is anyone going to recognize me?" Adkins continues. "I'm finally in a John Wick film, but is anyone going to recognize me? But that took a second place to the opportunity to create this interesting part."

Adkins shot his John Wick: Chapter 4 scenes in Berlin, where he got a taste of star Keanu Reeves' famously good manners early on.

"I just came down to set to meet people," says Adkins. "The first time I met Keanu, he was doing an action sequence, and he offers me his chair. I'm like, 'No, no, you stay in the chair, Keanu, while you've got the chance.' But that's the kind of guy he is."

The onscreen relationship between Reeves' John Wick and Adkins' Killa is markedly less cordial. The Brit describes his character as "a fierce assassin, but he's let himself go a little bit. He's not as swift as he may once have been, but when push comes to shove, he still knows how to bring it. There's animosity between John Wick and him for something that Killa may have done to somebody."

This being a John Wick film, it is no huge spoiler to reveal that the animosity ultimately results in a fight between the two characters. Adkins recalls rehearsing how his plus-sized character might battle Reeves' hitman in an unusual fashion.

"I'd have my training hoodie on, and I'd get a massive pillow, and stick it up the front, so you could get an idea of how it feels," he says. "I remember choreographing some stuff with Jeremy Marinas, the fight coordinator, where I was using my belly as a weapon. Then we'd get to the set, and the choreography would be made up on the spot, and we'd have to perform it, which I didn't expect, but I was no stranger to that because that's how they do it in Hong Kong. And Keanu's so well trained that you can show him there and then. Okay, we're going to do this, and he's able to do it. He's a badass."

Reeves is similarly complimentary about Adkins.

"He's such a wonderful actor and gentleman and such a fantastic movie martial artist," says the Matrix star. "It was fun watching him put the character of Killa together, and working with the fat suit, and utilizing the drama, the charm, the deviousness, of the character, and then to have some moments of action. He's great."

Adkins saw the finished John Wick: Chapter 4 for the first time at the film's U.K. premiere in London's Leicester Square. It is fair to say that any misgivings he had about the role vanished before the end.

"I did ADR, but I hadn't seen the whole film," he says. "There's so much action, there's certain sequences that I didn't even know about. So, I'm watching it as an audience member with my jaw on the floor, gobsmacked, suddenly thinking, hang on, I'm in this film. I do think it's one of the best action films ever made. And I've seen a few!"

John Wick: Chapter 4 hits theaters March 24.

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