How Keanu Reeves Accidentally Renamed John Wick‘s Original Title

I’m trying to stop beating myself up for forgetting names. I’ll explain in a moment with Keanu Reeves’ funny anecdote behind John Wick’s title.

After the critical and financial success of the Matrix franchise, John Wick proved to be Keanu Reeves’s much-needed blockbuster action movie in 2014. Everyone was surprised by his stylized portrayal of a stone-cold assassin, hell-bent on revenge after his dog’s murder.

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Following its success, the 2014 film spawned three sequels. But did you know that before it became a billion-dollar franchise, the movie had an altogether different title? It never saw the light of day thanks to Keanu Reeves’s failure to remember the original title. Honestly, the best filmmaking botch ever in cinema. But first…

A Brief Introduction to the Original John Wick

John Wick is pure TNT and an example of why, in some movies, the plot matters only up to a certain point so that the audience can get invested in the lead character. What matters more is how the story is told, and John Wick spellbinds us with non-stop rhythmic violence.

Story

The story starts with a former hitman, John Wick (Keanu Reeves), who lives a quiet life after his wife tragically passes away, before she gifts him a puppy—the only thing associated with his wife after her death. As he begins to deal with the grief and loss of his wife, Mr. Wick’s home is broken into by some mysterious Russian gangsters with the intention to steal his 1969 Ford Mustang, but they shoot his dog in the process while attacking John Wick himself.

Turns out the leader of the Russian gangsters who stole John Wick’s car is the son of a dangerous Russian gangster, Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist), who is not to be trifled with.

This forces our hero to return to the underworld, which he dearly wanted to escape in the first place. With guns and lots of guns, John Wick relentlessly pursues the crime boss’s son to take his revenge the only way he knows—by killing him, even if he makes enemies along the way whom he has to evade in all the subsequent sequels to survive. The result is mayhem caused by a zen-like assassin with his gun-fu fighting style.

The Original Title

'John Wick: Chapter 4' (2023)Credit: Lionsgate

Writer Derek Kolstad wrote the John Wick script with an entirely different title: Scorn, as told in a 2020 interview with Comicbook. Kolstad thought that Scorn, at the time, reflected a strong one-word title, which suited the logline of a retired assassin going on a killing spree out of grief and rage.

Keanu Reeves Accidentally Renamed the Title (For the Best)

After the script landed in the hands of Keanu Reeves, he connected with the character so deeply that he simply couldn’t remember the original five-letter title. Instead, he kept calling it after the lead assassin’s character name. Eventually, the directors, Chad Stahelsky and David Leitch, and Lionsgate Studios leaned into it.

They realized the character’s name was itself strong and simple enough to become memorable. So, they officially renamed the movie John Wick and rolled with it.

Kolstad stated, “The only reason it’s called John Wick is that Keanu Reeves kept referring to it as John Wick.” He further added, “Marketing was like, ‘Dude, that’s four to five million dollars worth in free advertising so far, so it’s John Wick instead of Scorn.’ I can’t imagine it being Scorn now.”

What Makes the John Wick Title Work?

'John Wick: Chapter 4' (2023)Credit: Lionsgate

John Wick, as a title, directly familiarizes the audience with the main character. It dictates who you're going to follow, and the weight of the title only becomes heavier when we meet the legend of John Wick and his antics on screen.

Also, John Wick feels sharp, punchy, and easy to recall—almost like you’re calling out a comic-book anti-hero’s name.

Moreover, keeping the movie’s name after its main character, especially in action movies, somehow builds an air of mystery and intrigue around the character itself—makes you directly ask the question, “Who is John Wick?” This successful psychological strategy can also be seen in films like Jack Reacher and Jason Bourne, which are also among the biggest action franchises in cinema.

Summing It Up

In a world where catchy titles and distinct-sounding IPs are important to draw the public eye to the picture, coming up with interesting titles is a pretty complex task. But Keanu Reeves has proved that sometimes, forgetting names and speaking from your instincts can be the best branding strategy one can have. That’s why, from now on, I’m not going to beat myself up if I forget names—I’ll go full John Wick style.