Back in August of last year, a lot of speculation surrounded the report about “John Wick” director Chad Stahelski being brought in to help with some reshoots for the upcoming comic book film, “Birds of Prey.” Was WB unhappy with director Cathy Yan’s work? Did the action need a “John Wick” kick in the ass? Or is Stahelski just more of a consultant that will help Yan with figuring out some issues with the film? Well, in a new interview with Collider, Yan shed some light on the inclusion of the “John Wick” filmmaker and what he brought to the production.
And believe it or not, as shocking as it may seem, the inclusion of Stahelski wasn’t nearly as abrupt as the reports made it seem. Yan said that the filmmaker’s stunt guys had already been brought on to help train the actors and Stahelski just joined to help with some second unit directing.
“He did some of the second unit directing for the reshoots, but also his company—because we were lucky enough to get him, his company 87eleven we’d worked with for the entirety of the shoot, and that’s because I really liked the way they did action,” said Yan. “It felt very practical. Our stunt coordinator Jonathan Eusebio and I really got along and we really love like the old Jackie Chan movies, and the way that those stunts were done and the way that you shoot that kind of action—which is what 87eleven is sort of known for, as well.”
She continued, “So they’d been training our ladies for months, and they did most of their own stunt work. Then when it came time to actually adding even more action in reshoots, it was just amazing to get to work with Chad too.”
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Unlike other instances where another director was brought in to shepherd reshoots (such as with “Rogue One,” “Dolittle,” etc…), it appears that the relationship between Yan and Stahelski wasn’t combative at all and, in fact, was completely supportive. Of course, do we know all the ins and outs of the behind-the-scenes aspects of “Birds of Prey?” No, we don’t. But at some point, we just have to chalk some things up as less of a big deal as we originally might have thought.
And judging by the first reactions to “Birds of Prey,” it appears that whatever help Stahelski and his stunt crew were able to bring to the film worked quite well.
“Birds of Prey” arrives in theaters on February 7.