Don Cheadle will play a jazz musician killer in ‘John Wick’ creator’s new action movie
Don Cheadle is set to star as a jazz musician killer in Canyon, a new action-thriller from John Wick writer Derek Kolstad and director Colin Tilley.
According to Deadline, Canyon takes place “over the course of one scorching night” and follows Canyon – a part-time jazz musician and full-time killer – who “finds himself the unlikely protector of a young siren pulled into a turf war between feuding crime families”.
Kolstad will produce with Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson and Davis Entertainment’s John Davis and Jeremy Stein. Cheadle will also produce through his company The Radicle Act with Karyn Smith-Forge.
Canyon will mark Tilley’s feature film debut after a long career directing music videos for artists such as Halsey, Kendrick Lamar, Rita Ora, Justin Timberlake and more.
Cheadle is best known to mainstream audiences for playing Rhodey/War Machine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Captain Marvel, the Avengers movies, as well as the the Disney+ series Secret Invasion. He was nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars for 2005’s Hotel Rwanda and also starred in the Best Picture winner Crash.
In addition to the John Wick quadrilogy, Kolstad recent penned Nobody 2, which will see Bob Odenkirk return as a family man on a vengeful rampage.
In other John Wick news, the upcoming spin-off Ballerina recently dropped its first official trailer. Set after the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the film stars Ana de Armas as Eve Macarro, a ballerina who is trained to be an assassin in hopes of avenging the death of her family.
Keanu Reeves‘ John Wick does make an appearance in the trailer, although the extent of his role in the film remains unknown.
While the upcoming film marks Ana de Armas’ introduction to the John Wick universe, it will be the second time the character of Eve Maccaro appears in the franchise. Macarro first appeared in Parabellum, but was then portrayed by American ballet dancer Unity Phelan.
Ballerina marks the fifth John Wick film, and the first since 2023’s John Wick: Chapter 4.
In a four-star review of John Wick: Chapter 4 for NME, Jesse Hassenger wrote: “Chapter 4 doesn’t exude the wheel-spinning cynicism of a forever franchise. Stahelski may traffic in excess, but at least he understands it: how choreography, performance and style can make over-the-top spectacle cohere into pleasurably overwhelming action fizz, rather than congealing into a sweaty special effects overload. He also gets that after 169 minutes, some degree of closure is appreciated. There may well be a Chapter 5 but Chapter 4 still feels like a movie giving its all.”
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Chris Edwards
NME
