Posted in: Lionsgate, Movies, TV | Tagged: Ballerina, ian mcshane, john wick, the continental

Ballerina: Ian McShane Sheds Some Light On The Reshoots And Delay

Ian McShane has revealed that Ballerina delayed so they could do reshoots to "make it better" and "protect the franchise."

Last week, we got word that Ballerina, the first spinoff film from the John Wick franchise, had been delayed a year so they could do some reshoots with The Crow remake taking its place in June. At the time, it was being spun that the film was good, and there wasn't any need to worry about the quality of the movie or whether it would be good. However, one of the stars is saying that things aren't as good as they were saying. Ian McShane told BBC's The One Show (via Collider) that they are doing reshoots to "protect the franchise" now that Chad Stahelski has taken on an almost Kevin Feige-like role looking over the entire universe. "They're new-shooting for Ballerina," McShane said. "You know, it's like, they've gotta protect the franchise. We did it about a year ago. And they've looked at it and Chad's come in. And they wanna make it better cause they have to protect [the franchise]."

That desire to make sure that this is good might have to do with the highly lukewarm reaction to the first official spinoff from John Wick, the show on Peacock called The Continental. The reviews weren't great, considering that all four of the John Wick movies have been critically acclaimed, and it was clear the show didn't live up to the hype of the previous films. According to McShane, some might have to do with the fact that people who have been heavily involved with the franchise from day one, like himself and Keanu Reeves, were not consulted. "They never asked anybody about it," he said. "They just went and did it. Just went and did it. Somebody asked Keanu and me about it. We both went, 'I don't know. Nobody ever asked us about it.'" No one wants to tarnish the legacy of these films with subpar spinoffs; they missed once everyone involved seems keen not to miss again with Ballerina.

John Wick: From Indie Darling To Franchise Juggernaut

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 spinoff 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.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!