It is the dawn of a new day in the John Wick universe—new laws, new ideals, and new management; a whole new world order simply in the character that is The High Table’s cruel leader, Marquis Vincent Bisset de Gramont. Wick now has a way out, win or lose: challenge ‘the Marquis’ to single combat. If Wick wins, the High Table will keep its pledge, and Wick will no longer be a target. Whatever happens, John Wick knows he left a nice life behind a long time ago.
The John Wick ensemble has always had fantastic character performers, but the coupling of Keanu Reeves’ John Wick and a very famous Japanese superstar in the latest installment of the franchise is what we call a stroke of luck for fans of both Japanese pop and the franchise alike. A Japanese pop star in an American franchise anchored on its affinity for Asian filming style, and she’s playing Akira? Yes, please. The material she’s been given is three-dimensional, and her performance is full of grit and emotion; it’s almost more than the world deserves.
The Japanese pop star turned actress
Part of what makes the fourth installment of the action series so noteworthy is the extension of the John Wick universe onto a larger scale, which includes new and interesting characters.
Japanese pop star Rina Sawayama’s work as Akira Shimazu is one of the film’s highlights; she rapidly establishes a fantastic, complicated character that has a huge influence on the plot and demands additional adventures in a spinoff or a sequel.
Akira is the daughter of the manager of the Osaka Continental and a member of the High Table, Shimazu Koji.
Because the Osaka Continental is one of the most powerful and well-armed inside this hidden society of assassins, John seeks ad-hoc asylum there, when he is wanted by ‘the Marquis’.
Akira initially opposes her father’s choice to protect John, and her objection is eventually justified since, despite the official High Table rule that bans combat within its grounds, the Marquis’ troops storm their site, and Akira is forced to witness as her precious sanctuary is consumed in a slaughter of violence and mayhem.
How the unthinkable happened
Director Chad Stahelski in a conversation with the folks at BuzzFeed, revealed that he found
Rina Sawayama fit the role of Akira thanks to YouTube. He said,
“Well, we were looking to cast Akira, we’d written that part, and we were on the hunt for someone. Late one night in Berlin, I was just going through YouTube, and I just literally typed in “Japanese pop star”, I swear to god. There was a music video of Rina, and she had this orange wig on, and I just thought she had a really interesting look. The way she moved and how her face changed in different angles, there was something about her I just really dug. A day later, we had her on a Zoom call going, “Hey, how would you like to be in a John Wick movie?””
Though it seems like this is Keanu Reeves‘ last appearance in and as John Wick, Ana de Armas is set to portray a female assassin in the upcoming spinoff flick Ballerina. If the two sagas are to cross paths, since Reeves, Ian McShane, and the late Lance Reddick will feature in Ballerina, a female-led John Wick spinoff would seem only logical to star a character as immediately recognizable as Rina Sawayama’s Akira.
Source: BuzzFeed
