Posted in: AMC, Exclusive, Lionsgate, Movies, TV, Walking Dead | Tagged: Ballerina, The Walking Dead, TWD: Daryl Dixon: The Book of Carol

Norman Reedus On The Differences In Ballerina And TWD's Choreography

Ballerina star Norman Reedus explained how "completely different" the choreography and stuntwork for the new John Wick film were from those in The Walking Dead.

Ballerina has a lot of different players running around, all with their own motivations, but one character that the marketing hasn't told us much about is Daniel Pine, played by Norman Reedus. While most people know him from The Walking Dead, I was personally introduced to him when I saw The Boondock Saints back in college. So Reedus is no stranger to holding a weapon and doing some stunt work. Still, every set and experience is a little bit different, so when we got the chance to talk to Reedus and director Len Wiseman, we asked him what some of the differences were between doing stuntwork on The Walking Dead and stuntwork on Ballerina.

"Oh, it's completely different," Reedus replied. "The fighting style in The Walking Dead is very sloppy. It's grab you by the face and pull your face off type of thing. This is a very choreographed, extended fight sequences. So there's multiple actors and stuntmen all doing multiple things around you at the same time and they rely on your timing and you rely on their timing and their timing and the walls are exploding around you." Reedus began to snap to demonstrate consistent timing. "It's a lot of math. It's a lot different math than I'm used to."

"And he snaps his fingers like that when we're shooting," Wiseman added, also throwing in a little snapping of his own. "Which, ultimately, I was against."

"I need all the help I can get, I'm not good at math," Reedus replied.

"But then, in the edit…" said Wiseman.

"It has a little rhythm to it," Reedus added.

"It worked," Wiseman concluded.

We pointed out that the movie is called Ballerina, so rhythm is a good thing. Reedus elaborated, "Yeah, and I'm barefoot and lots of things are sharp and they're blasting around me. So I've been hit in the face enough to know to pay attention to things." The 'being barefoot' part doesn't exactly sound like a good time with all of that debris and glass around. You'll be able to see our full interview and snapping session with Wiseman and Reedus later this week.

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

It's still a little amazing that John Wick, where the only real notable thing about it leading up to its 2o14 release 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 would be something different. Len Wiseman was brought on to direct, with Wiseman & Shay Hatten, and Emerald Fennell working on the screenplay. Hatten also has a story credit. The cast includes Ana 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.

A brief summary has been released: "Taking place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the film follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), who is beginning her training in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma." The John Wick universe officially expands on June 6, 2025, with the release of Ballerina. Another television show was greenlit back in August 2024, and the casting for the Caine spin-off film has started to drop. We got the confirmation of Chapter 5 and the animated prequel very recently, but it's unclear how far along either project is.

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