Hot off “John Wick: Chapter 4,” Chad Stahelski is gearing up for his next big project, a reboot of “Highlander” for Lionsgate.
We haven’t gotten many details about this upcoming film, which has been in development hell for many years now. Henry Cavill is onboard to star in the lead role.
Now, we finally have Stahelski telling Collider that the aim is to start production in January 2025:
We start shooting in January in Scotland, that's why I go right after I leave. I go to Scotland on Monday to do the final location scout.
The film will no doubt have Stahelski's penchant for ballet-like action, particularly in sword fighting, and that in itself tells us that the reboot will be very different, stylistically-speaking, to the 1986 original, which ended up spawning three TERRIBLE sequels.
“It’s another opportunity to do a property that I love," Stahelski tells Collider. "I love what it's about, I love working with immortality and love stories through time. I think it's a good way to take a great period piece, and sci-fi, and mix them together."
I gather Stahelski is currently still heavily involved in the “Ballerina” reshoots? Earlier in the year, Len Wiseman’s John Wick spinoff, starring Ana de Armas, was not only delayed by a year, but reshoots and “additional action sequences” had to occur on the film, with Stahelski being present on-set as a shadow director.
Stahelski, 56, started off his career as a stuntman, first achieving prominence as a stunt performer and coordinator, and Keanu Reeves’ double, in 1999’s “The Matrix.” He graduated to film directing with 2014’s “John Wick,” and, ever since then, his filmography has been only composed of ‘John Wick’ movies, four of them. He hasn’t branched out into anything else, and “Highlander” will be his first directing gig away from that franchise.