Ballerina’s Norman Reedus & Director Set Record Straight on Reshoot Rumors | Interview
ComingSoon’s Jonathan Sim recently sat down with actor Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead) and director Len Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard) to discuss their new movie From the World of John Wick: Ballerina. They discussed Wiseman’s directorial style, working with Bruce Willis on the fourth Die Hard film, and gave an answer to the rumored Ballerina reshoots by Chad Stahelski on this upcoming action film.
“Taking place between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and Chapter 4, Eve Macarro, a ballerina-assassin, begins to train in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma and sets out to exact revenge for her father’s death,” reads the synopsis.
Ballerina arrives in theaters on June 6, 2025.
Jonathan Sim: So I was reading the press notes for this movie, and Len, you said something very interesting where you said that Norman is so cool because he doesn’t think that he’s cool. So, Norman, I want to give you a chance to respond: what makes Len Wiseman cool?
Norman Reedus: Wow. I’ve worked with him before.
This is a Hawaii Five-O reunion, right?
Reedus: Yeah. I always knew he was cool. He’s easy to work with. He’s got great ideas, and he makes the set comfortable, which is cool. There’s a lot of things about Len that’s cool. You should see his pre-development for projects.
Len Wiseman: I call it mini-vis. We have pre-vis, we have fight vis, and I’ve created this. I used to do miniatures before I was doing props. So instead of doing storyboards, I do, I build these miniature action figures, shoot it, send to Norman for a good laugh.
Reedus: They’re crazy. They’re so good.
Len, I wanna say that you directed a movie previously that I think is very underrated, which is Live Free or Die Hard. I’m a huge, huge fan of that movie.
Wiseman: Thank you.
When you’re operating in these long-existing franchises, how do you bring your own directorial voice into a franchise that’s existed for a long time, especially when you’re directing actors like Bruce Willis as John McClane, or Keanu Reeves as John Wick?
Wiseman: It has to come from a very, very passionate place for me. So like, with Die Hard, I made a Die Hard movie in my backyard when I was 14. That was one of the most influential movies on me in terms of action. In fact, when Bruce Willis found out about that ’cause here I am, I think at that time, I mean, I was quite young. It was my first studio movie. I think I was 32. I don’t know. But anyways, he would call me “kid” a lot. Yeah. And he’d been through it many times. And when he found out that I did a Die Hard movie when I was 14 in my backyard, it just kind of connected with him. He’s like, “You did a Die Hard movie in your backyard, and now you’re directing a real one. You’re like, this is for real for you.” So long way to say, a passionate place to where you don’t really look too much at the pressure of it, the everything. I always take a look at being such a fan. If I was not directing this film, what would I want to see? And try to keep that present in my mind.
I gotta say, this might be my favorite movies of yours. I absolutely loved Ballerina. Iknow that there were some rumors that that there were Ballerina reshoots, but I wanted to ask, because I’ve seen the movie now, what portions of it were perhaps shot by Chad? Because to me, it truly felt like it was your vision the entire time.
Well, well, it is. We took a break, but when we did the first cut, the studio loved what they saw. There were scenes that we had to cut out of the script as budgetarily scheduled. Then when they saw the film and really loved it, embraced it, [they said] “How about we go and shoot those scenes that I know you were passionate about that you really love that we had to take out?” So it wasn’t reshoots, as it was additional shooting. Then Chad was always involved in terms of, I was trying to, at one point, wanted him to come in and do second unit, and I’ve known Chad for a long time. We’ve worked together quite a few times.
But in terms of the rumors and things that are out there, which are just, I guess, it turns into what it is. The personal thing for on the second leg of the shoot, I had a a health situation, I had to go into the hospital. So luckily Chad was there and we talked through in terms of some of the stuff that he’d be shooting until I got back and I’m back. I’m healthy and alive.
Thank you to Norman Reedus and Len Wiseman for discussing From the World of John Wick: Ballerina and its reshoots.
Source: Comingsoon.net