“John Wick: Chapter 4” director Chad Stahelski is absolutely no stranger to the action arena, but even he got a little starstruck with Yen and Sanada. He recently spoke to Collider about the process of bringing two legends together — not just as characters with opposing views, but with their own signature styles as well. “Hiroyuki is used to the Japanese way of doing things, very precise,” Stahelski explained. “And you have Donnie that’s really the epitome of Hong Kong action, of ‘Let’s just be great and make it up on the day of, and get the energy.'” Putting these two fighters together meant finding an “organic mix” that served the story — and fortunately, both Sanada and Yen were game:
“When you have guys that come from the action genre world, and they both love to act, it’s funny, they all have that similar thread … They don’t want to be trope-y. They want to try something new. They’re very brave. It’s not falling back into the same, ‘Let’s just do the style I’m good at.’
“[…] They had a good time. I think the respect was there, and super courteous to each other, and literally just, we had all our grand ideas of choreography and stuff, and then it comes down to two guys just doing it really well. And you watch and you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, okay, I’m going to shut up now. Let you guys do your thing.'”