0 John’s new best friend in John Wick (2014)
The loss of Johns dog in the first film is too painful to watch, and it would hurt even more to revisit in detail here. Losing the gift John received (posthumously) from his late wife sparked the super-assassins journey back into the world of gold coins and guns. It also set him on the path to find another animal to care for, one that needed him as much as he needed it.
In the final moments of John Wick, a badly injured John stumbles into a veterinary hospital to tend to his wounds. There, he finds several dogs in cages waiting to be put asleep. Even with a small army of shadowy killers on his tail, John stops to help one of these dogs: a pitbull. Like his new, nameless best friend, John, too, is in need of someone to take care of him. Sure, the symbolism here is not subtle at all, but attention must be paid to the fact that an action film like this eases off the trigger to give its story a genuinely earned dramatic beat. John lost one of the best dogs in movie history in order to find another one, and himself.
John Wick 2 and 3: Burton and Cha Cha the Pit Bulls
At the end of the original John Wick film, John is treating his wounds in a vet’s office when he sees a gray pit bull puppy in a cage, scheduled to be euthanized. John releases the dog and they walk off together in a bittersweet ending — two lost, lonely souls who now, at least, have each other.
Perhaps not wanting to get too attached to the dog, given his traumatic past, John doesn’t name the pit bull, referring to him only as “boy” or “dog.” He also doesn’t train the dog to fight, and the unnamed pup only appears in a few nonviolent scenes in John Wick 2 and 3.
Unlike Sofia, who has trained both their dogs to fight, the dog isnt trained by John for combat. John tends to leave the dog in the New York Continental when hes off to fight. The dog is never seen during a fight scene. The dog is basic trained, as he can sit and stay by Johns commands.
John Wick (2014) New Dog
The John Wick franchise is likely known for 3 things by now; Keanu Reeves being back, Keanu Reeves Training Regime, and dogs.
The John Wick franchise is likely known for 3 things by now; Keanu Reeves being back, Keanu Reeves Training Regime, and dogs. Its strange to think that a series of action films that have done so well critically and financially are equally as popular with people that go nuts for high-octane tightly choreographed gun-fu action sequences, and lovers of canine companions.
Dogs have been so centric to the John Wick films that theyve acted as motivation for Wicks revenge, helped him in his recovery, and even kicked ass alongside their human co-stars. With that in mind, its no surprise that there are many dog-related factoids pertaining to Mr.Wick and his films, that many fans have yet to discover. Here are a few.
Across three films John Wick has had two faithful four-legged companions, in both franchise sequels John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum, John is joined by a yet to be named pitbull. Originally though, Wick owned a beagle named Daisy, left to him by his deceased wife who was tragically murdered spurring the events of the first film.
Arguably, the death of Wicks pup was the thing that made John Wicks unending revenge kill-streak relatable, but originally distributors at Thunder Road told the films directors “You kill the dog, you alienate the audience, and the movies done.” Obviously, Leitch and Stahelski disagreed.
Speaking of Daisy, the dog whos death inspired the line “Yeah, Im thinking Im back.” was played by an animal actor named Andy. It was actually his first role, at 8 months old, purchased from a breeder specifically for the film. According to Animal Actors International trainer Kim Krafsky, in an interview with New York Post, a beagle was picked because “Theres this thing about them, theyre just cute”.
Andy actually took to the press circuit with the rest of the cast, enjoying fans screaming for his autograph on the red carpet no doubt. Following his big-screen debut, Andy took some time out of the rat-race on the Animal Actors International farm in New Jersey.
Unfortunately, we lost Daisy in the first ten minutes of the original installment of John Wick, but in the films final scenes John adopts a pit-bull to save it from being put down. This dog has actually been played by two different animals in both Chapter 2 and Parabellum. Chapter 2 saw the part played by Burton (who Keanu took to calling Bubba), and then Cha Cha in Parabellum.
Johns second furry sidekick has yet to be given a name in the franchise, likely because the assassin doesnt want to get too attached until his gory journey is complete, but heres betting the final film ends with a scene naming the canine.
Theres a rule in Hollywood, “Never work with children or animals” often inferred that they will steal every scene theyre in, and often make shotting said scenes more difficult. This was definitely the case while filming the third John Wick in New York, when the animal actor Cha Cha who plays Wicks pitbull, picked a fight with a horse.
Luckily Cha Cha came out of the altercation unharmed and likely caused the onset chaos due to the stress of shooting in such a loud and high-pressure environment. On the bright side, she was perfectly cast, only John Wicks dog would be rowdy enough to take on a horse.
In John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum John Wick calls in a favor from the manager of the Casablanca branch of the Continental Hotel, Sofia Al-Awar. Played by Halle Berry, the character constantly has two Belgian Malinois Shepherds by her side, but these dogs werent played by only two dogs.
They were in fact played by five separate stunt dogs so that different animal actors could be used for different stunts, and so that no individual dog became too stressed or fatigued. The dogs were named; Santana, Tai, Sam 7, Boyca, and Ikar, and each had a special relationship with their on and off-screen handler, Halle Berry.
