Posted in: Lionsgate, Movies | Tagged: Ballerina

Ana de Armas: Ballerina Is "Exciting," "Dangerous," & "Very John Wick"

Ana de Armas says a trailer for Ballerina is coming soon but says the film is "dangerous, it's sexy, it's very John Wick. I think people are going to be surprised."

When word came down that Ballerina, the first big screen spin-off of John Wick, was getting not only delayed but going back for reshoots after Lionsgate reached an overall deal with franchise creator Chad Stahelski, people assumed the worst as they always do. Reshoots are part of the process, and Stahelski was not involved with the project initially, and then he was and wanted some changes made. There isn't anything there that should be throwing up all of the warning lights for people. It's Lionsgate knowing that they only have one more shot to make a John Wick spin-off work after The Continental underperformed critically and commercially. We got to see some footage from the film at CinemaCon, but we haven't heard anything since. However, star Ana de Armas is at the Toronto International Film Festival doing press for the film Eden, and Collider asked her about the reshoots.

"Oh my gosh, I love Chad," de Armas said when talking about Stahelski coming on to Ballerina. "I have to say every time they have you have reshoots, it's not good, you don't feel good about it, but I really have to say; he was so right about it. All we did in those reshoots had to be there. We got amazing footage. It's really spectacular. A trailer is coming out soon, I've been told. I saw it, and it's beautiful. I'm very proud of it. It's really exciting. It's dangerous, it's sexy, it's very John Wick. I think people are going to be surprised. I'm biased. Of course, I like the movie, but I think it's really cool. It's going to be amazing."

Ballerina Is The First Big Screen Spin-Off Of John Wick

It's still a little amazing that John Wick, the action movie in 2014 where the only real notable thing about it was that they managed to snag Reeves as its leading man, has turned into the franchise juggernaut it is today. That is what happens when you have good people working on a film from the beginning because it would have been easy for John Wick to fade into obscurity with a ton of other disposable action movies. However, the creative team of director Chad Stahelski and screenwriter Derek Kolstad took the time to build a fascinating world around that action movie. The world of John Wick is the thing that everyone fell in love with on top of the fact that Reeves is the best at this.

So it wasn't surprising that a sequel was greenlit, and it was even less surprising that in 2017, it was announced that a spin-off film and television show were in the works. The Continental focused on the hotel that plays a central part in the assassin world that John Wick moves in, and Ballerina will be something different. Len Wiseman was brought on to direct with Wiseman & Shay Hatten and Emerald Fennell working on the screenplay, and Hatten also has a story credit. The cast includes de Armas and returning John Wick players Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, and Lance Reddick. We also have some new faces, including Norman Reedus, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Gabriel Byrne. We don't know much about the story, but it does have a release date of June 6, 2025.

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