John Wick only got its name because Keanu Reeves kept saying the wrong title

Film had previously been called ‘Scorn’

John Wick only received its title because Keanu Reeves kept forgetting what it was originally meant to be called, a new interview has revealed.

Derek Kolstad, who wrote the original John Wick, as well as its two sequels, John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, told Comicbook.com that Reeves kept referring to the original film by the wrong name. It had previously been titled “Scorn”.

“The only reason it’s called John Wick,” he said, “is that Keanu kept referring to it as John Wick.“

“Marketing was like, ‘Dude, that’s four to five million dollars in free advertising so far, so it’s John Wick instead of “Scorn”’.

“I can’t imagine it being ‘Scorn’ now,” he added.

Kolstad also addressed the industry shutdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, and emphasised the importance of good branding, of which Reeves’s inadvertent name change was an example.

“I think everyone out here has been a little bit rattled by what productions are going to look like, what movies are going to look like,” he said.

“And yet, when you look at IP, when you look at a successful franchise, it becomes all the more important and all the more important reason to do it well.”