In the most recent John Wick film, it hurt to watch as John Wick climbed the iconic Sacré-Coeur stairs, only to be hurled to the ground at the top. Repeated viewings of the now-iconic event have left fans impressed by the hero's resilience.
The doggedness of John Wick and the compelling camerawork bring to mind another movie classic: Sylvester Stallone's famous scene in Rocky, in which he finishes his morning exercise by climbing the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
IGN has released a new featurette that goes behind the scenes of the filming of the memorable scene.
The final act is "sort of a mad sprint to the end," as described by the fight choreographer, Jeremy Marinas. Time is of the essence, and they must reach the summit before daylight, raising the stakes of the action even more.
Location coordinator Stephen Dunley outlines the challenges of the set: "we have 300 steps, that just go into the sky and we've got to fight up them we've go to fight back down, we've got to fight up again."
He elaborates, "If you've seen the stairs at Sacré-Coeur, you know they're fairly steep. The great thing about that is that you have a lot of room for creativity.
People are being shot and chipped off of ramps in trees and down railings over the edges, and we have ramps on the side with trees. The setting was used to its full potential, and director Chad Stahelski and his cast and team made the most of every shot.