Lana Wachowski films Matrix 4 action scenes herself, reveals John Wick director

While it has been the norm for many Hollywood filmmakers to rely on a second unit to help them pull off complex action sequences, some do it themselves with the principal unit. Most recently, Extraction director Sam Hargrave strapped himself to a car to shoot a 12-min-long chase sequence.

Filmmaker Lana Wachowski is doing something similar for Matrix 4, according to John Wick directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, who have worked in the stunt department of the previous Matrix films.

“What makes [Lana] so great is she directs her own action,” said Stahelski in an interaction with Collider.com. “We’ve had second unit directors on some of the [Matrix films] just because of the logistics involved. But of late, and especially on Matrix 4, she’s directing her own action. The second units for them are mostly establishing shots, the B-sides of some of the compositions for some locations. But Lana, she does her own action. She weaves it into the main unit stuff, which is why their stuff looks so good.”

Stahelski had served as a stunt coordinator and stunt double of Keanu Reeves in the first Matrix film, while Leitch worked on the stunts in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. Both jointly directed the first John Wick film before Leitch went independently to helm Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, and the Fast & Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw. Stahelski single-handedly directed the John Wick sequels.

The Matrix 4 team filmed four weeks of footage before the pandemic disrupted their schedules. Stahelski and David are involved in a minor supervising role. "They (stunt team) asked us to help out with the choreography and some of the physical training for the guys. I’m helping out a little bit for a sequence, I think Dave’s helping out for a sequence."

Stahelski also said the fourth John Wick is most likely going to release on the previously announced date of May 21, 2021. Keanu Reeves will be shooting for it once he wraps up Matrix 4.