Chad Stahelski

Chad Stahelski
Stahelski at the John Wick red carpet premiere in Austin, Texas, September 19, 2014
Born	Charles F. Stahelski (1968-09-20) September 20, 1968 (age 52) Palmer, Massachusetts, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Film director, stunt coordinator, second unit director, actor
Years active	1992–present
Known for	The Crow John Wick John Wick: Chapter 2 John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

Chad Stahelski (born September 20, 1968) is an American stuntman and film director. He is known for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and directing the 2014 film John Wick along with David Leitch, as well as solo directing its two sequels. Stahelski also doubled for Brandon Lee after the fatal accident involving Lee on the set of The Crow (1994) and replaced Lee in the film. He has worked as a stunt coordinator and second unit director on several films.

Career[]

Stahelski worked on Alex Proyas' The Crow (1994). Stahelski and fellow stuntmen Jeff Cadiente served as stand-ins for the actor Brandon Lee. Previously on March 31, 1993, while filming, Lee was accidentally wounded on set by defective blank ammunition and later died in hospital during surgery.^[1] Special effects were used to give them Lee's face.^[2] Their work paved the way for resurrecting actors to complete or have new performances, since pioneering CGI techniques were used to complete the film.^[3]

In 1997, Stahelski co-founded action design company with David Leitch.^[4]

He worked as a stunt double for his future John Wick star Keanu Reeves in The Matrix franchise, and later served as a stunt co-ordinator for the films.^[5] In 2009, Stahelski was second-unit director and stunt co-ordinator on Ninja Assassin along with David Leitch.

In 2012, on the set of the film The Expendables 2 for which Stahelski served as stunt coordinator, stuntman Kun Liu was killed by an explosion on set. Liu's family sued Stahelski following the accident.^[6]

In 2014, Stahelski co-directed the action thriller film John Wick along with Leitch, based on the screenplay by Derek Kolstad. The film starred Keanu Reeves and Michael Nyqvist, and was released on October 24, 2014 by Summit Entertainment, grossing over $88 million.^[7][8]

Stahelski acted as sole director for the film's 2017 sequel, John Wick: Chapter 2,^[9] and again for the third film, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019).^[10]

In 2019, Stahelski was the second unit director for the reshoots of Birds of Prey.^[11]

Upcoming work[]

In November 2017, he was signed on to the reboot of the Highlander franchise, which he committed to making a trilogy of, ending with "The Gathering" of the immortals. It would be similar in thematic development with the original Star Wars trilogy, and similar to John Wick action, but with swords replacing gun-play. The reboot trilogy would still include the iconic music by Queen.^[12]

In December 2017, it was announced that Stahelski would be directing a film adaptation of the comic book Kill or Be Killed.^[13]

In February 2018, it was announced that Stahelski would be directing a film adaptation of the Sandman Slim novels.^[14][15]

In May 2018, Stahelski was announced as director of Analog.^[16]

In May 2019, Stahelski was confirmed to be directing John Wick: Chapter 4, which is set for release on May 27, 2022.^[17][18]

In March 2021, it was announced that Stahelski would direct a film adaptation of Ghost of Tsushima.^[19]

Personal life[]

Stahelski was married to fellow stunt performer Heidi Moneymaker,^[20] who worked as Scarlett Johansson's double as Black Widow. She also appeared on Stahelski's film John Wick: Chapter 2.

Stahelski was a friend of Brandon Lee. They trained together at the Inosanto Academy.

Filmography[]

Second-unit director

Stuntwork

References[]

External links[]

• Chad Stahelski at IMDb