Ana de Armas praises Keanu Reeves as she joins 'John Wick' universe with 'Ballerina'

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Ana de Armas is no stranger to the action genre.

She had a memorable scene-stealing role opposite Daniel Craig in the 2021 James Bond film No Time to Die and flexed her action muscles a few years later alongside Chris Evans in Ghosted. So after having a ball making those two films, the 37-year-old Cuban actress wanted to try something even more involved.

And it turns out leading Ballerina, a female-fronted spinoff set in Keanu Reeves’ John Wick cinematic universe, checked all the right boxes.

“As soon as I read the script, I saw the story and I saw the character and how much heart there is in her,” de Armas tells Postmedia in a video interview from New York City. 

Set during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Ballerina casts de Armas as the deadly Eve Macarro, an assassin with the Ruska Roma criminal enterprise who seeks to avenge her father’s brutal murder that she witnessed as a child.

Reeves’ Wick shows up at one point to warn Eve she can choose a different path, one that isn’t destined to be drenched in blood. But she won’t stop until her dad’s killer (Gabriel Byrne) is dead.

In addition to Reeves, the film sees the return of franchise mainstays Ian McShane as Winston Scott, Lance Reddick as Charon and Anjelica Huston as the Director, alongside newcomer Norman Reedus.

De Armas was approached with the script for Ballerina before it was even finished, but she was intrigued about getting a chance to further expand the world of John Wick. 

“I was a big fan of the John Wick films and Keanu — this is our third film together,” de Armas says.

Director Len Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard) says he wanted to direct the film because “it’s kind of the opposite of John Wick’s story.”

“Wick is trying to get out of his life as an assassin; Eve is wanting in — she wants to be a killer. I was interested in exploring the circumstances under which someone chooses that life,” he says.

With a prequel television miniseries The Continental already in the can, there are plans for another spinoff centred around Donnie Yen’s Caine assassin character from John Wick: Chapter 4. Franchise director Chad Stahelski and Reeves are also eyeing a fifth John Wick movie. 

An animated prequel and another TV show dealing with all the machinations behind the families that make up the High Table are also in the works.

Of course, after going through rigorous stunt training for the film, de Armas is hoping for more stories involving Eve.

“What the John Wick franchise has done with Keanu’s character and all the actors in these  films, I thought I couldn’t have a better foundation for my film and myself to embark on this new — hopefully — franchise.”

Following Eve as she embarks on a deadly path of revenge was easily the biggest physical challenge de Armas has ever been tasked with as an actress.

“It was intense and long, but necessary,” she says. She started her day with 90-minute daily workouts. That was followed up with five hours of daily stunt training. Her days ended on a gun range where she learned how to wield all sorts of weapons.

This went on for four months before she shot her first scene. And even when filming was underway in Prague, de Armas was spending almost all of her downtime making Eve’s technique seem believable.

“At the onset, I told Ana that since Eve is just beginning her journey as an assassin, the character is going to, at times, get her ass kicked. Ana’s reply was, ‘Cool. OK, I’m in,’” Wiseman says. “During production she’d show me her bruises from the action and stunts, and they became like merit badges.”

“There were so many things I had to go through and learn about myself to be able to do a movie like this,” de Armas says. “But it was great to also feel my body change … It’s just so rewarding to know that you went through all of that really hard training and it’s paying off.”

Another highlight for de Armas was getting a chance to trade fists (and bullets) with Reeves, whom she worked with on 2015’s Knock Knock and 2016’s Exposed.

“It was pretty iconic,” she says of Eve’s dustup with John. “It was very surreal to have him on set with me. I met him a long time ago, and to have him on my film now, supporting me and giving his blessing to this project was very special. When he walked on set dressed as John Wick … it was an unforgettable moment. We had a lot of fun with that scene. There’s a great dynamic between the two characters and you can see that neither of them want to (fight), but they have to.”

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is now playing in theatres.

mdaniell@postmedia.com