- Keanu Reeves didn’t know Norman Reedus had been cast in From the World of John Wick: Ballerina
- The pair are good friends due to their shared obsession with motorsports
- Reedus was surprised that the franchise’s lead star and executive producer had no idea about his involvement
Norman Reedus has revealed – amusingly – that Keanu Reeves didn’t know Reedus had been cast in From the World of John Wick: Ballerina.
The Walking Dead star told TechRadar of his own surprise that Reeves had no idea about Reedus’ involvement in the John Wick universe’s latest entry. In fact, Reedus joked it was “weird” that the man synonymous with the gun-fu franchise – Reeves plays the franchise’s titular hitman, and is an executive producer on its various projects – was seemingly kept in the dark about her hiring.
Reedus and Reeves have become close friends due to their mutual love of motorsports and, in particular, motorcycles. Indeed, Reeves is as well-known for being a motorbike obsessive – so much so he co-founded his own manufacturing company in 2011. Meanwhile, Reedus regularly stars in his own travel docu-series – Ride with Norman Reedus – on US network AMC, which began in 2016 and has run for six seasons so far.
You would think, then, that Reeves would’ve been aware of Reedus’ casting in Ballerina. Not so, the latter revealed to me when I asked if he sought advice from Reeves upon joining the Wick-Verse.
“I didn’t speak to Keanu [beforehand], but I texted him after I got it,” Reedus said. “He was like, ‘Wait, you’re in it?’ I don’t think he knew, which was weird to me because I thought he would!”
When I followed up to ask if that put additional pressure on Reedus to deliver a top-tier performance, he replied: “Yeah, but only because it’s a John Wick movie. You don’t want to be the guy who messes up the John Wick franchise. I’m a big fan of all of those films, so you want to do as good of a job as you can.”
Who is Daniel, the enigmatic character played by Norman Reedus in Ballerina?
We hear you loud and clear, Mister Reedus, but I imagine fans will want to know more about Daniel, i.e. the character you’re playing in the fourth John Wick film (well, chronologically, anyway – for more information on the movie series’ timeline, read my guide on how to watch the John Wick movies in order).
So, without spoiling anything significant, what could Reedus tell me about the mystery individual he’ll portray in Ballerina?
“He comes from one these… he has a history with a militant faction,” Reedus said as he carefully considered his response. “He’s someone with some sort of familial privilege, so I imagined how he grew up, the training he had to do, and then all the bad things he’s probably done in his life.
“But, then there’s this new element that changes Daniel’s perspective on who he is and what he’s doing,” he added, “And so, by the time you meet him in Ballerina, he’s basically willing to fight everybody to protect something other than himself.”
You can find out what I thought of Reedus’ character, as well as the movie as a whole, in my Ballerina review. Before one of 2025’s new movies arrives in theaters on June 6, be sure to catch up on more of my exclusive coverage about it and the wider action thriller franchise below.
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